Ethical Consumerism: A Critical Review

This assignment delves into the complexities of ethical consumerism through a critical literature review. It examines three key themes: factors driving ethical consumption decisions, attitudes and behaviors of ethical consumers, and the inherent contradictions often present within this movement. The review synthesizes research findings from various sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of ethical consumerism.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW ON ETHICAL CONSUMERS
LITERATURE REVIEW ON ETHICAL CONSUMERS
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1LITERATURE REVIEW ON ETHICAL CONSUMERS
Introduction
Literature reviews is the process of search and make evaluation on the
available literature, which should be based on the topic or subject area of study. It has four
major objectives, that include surveying the literature, synthesizing the information into short
summery, critically analyzing the information of the literature and presenting it in a
constructive way in the paper (Rowley, Jennifer and Frances 2014).
The purpose of this easy is to show literature reviews, compare, and contrast different
articles on ethical consumers. The report will conclude with a summary of the literatures and
thus identify the gaps in the literatures.
Literature Reviews
Factors related to Ethical Consumers
According to Solomon et al., (2012) the ethical consumer follows the rule of ethical
consumerism. Ethical consumers are those who buy products that are ethically produced and
not damaging to the society or environment. the products, which are ethically produce
include fair trade objects, organic product, energy efficient bulbs, recycled paper, renewable
energy efficient electricity and wood products that are approved by the Forest Stewardship
Council. The ethical consumer avoids products such as gas-guzzling cars and battery eggs.
The authors in the literature have identified the roles and regulation of the Ethical Consumer
Research Association. This association publishes its concerns in its authentic magazine with
detailed review of the ethical consumerism rules. The authors have argued that pressure
groups that support the ethical consumerism raise problems regularly about the concerns of
ethical consumerism (Davies, Zoe Lee and Ine 2012). Thus, they identify companies that do
not follow the rule. However, it is difficult to decide what should be the object of buying and

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what should be not based on which one is following the rule of ethical consumerism and
which ethical fund has been investing on the products.
Solomon (2014), in his book has discussed the responsibilities of ethical consumers
have been discussed, which adds much value to the previous literature and draws similarity to
it. It is explored and suggested by him that ethical consumers should buy their necessary
products from their nearby location or purchase the products, which are produced locally,
thus, providing chances to grow them as well as support the ethical consumerism. The
literature has assured to its reader the involvement of the food miles, that is the amount of
energy invested for having the products. The ethical consumers have responsibilities to
minimize the energy investment as to help in the conservation program. However, it can be
said that the ethical consumer would tend to buy their products from nearby farmer’s market,
thus, neglect the workers exploitation. The consumers should look at the companies as well
as the products to evaluate the most appropriate ethically produced products.
It can be stated that ethical consumerism is a shared responsibility of both the
consumers and manufacturers. The company and buyer should have equal responsibility to
follow the rule while making the world more environment friendly and equal rights to oblige.
Attitudes and Behaviors in Ethical Consumerisms
According to Carrington et al., (2014), an exploratory study has been presented about
the factors threatening the ethical consumption in their journal. The journal has produced a
completely different viewpoint relating to ethical consumers behavior. In the journal, it has
been argued that though ethical consumption is enlarging among the consumers and the
corporate companies however, there is some ethical purchasing gap and attitude behavior gap
described by (Tseng, Shih and Shiu 2013). A large scale of study by Shen et al., (2012) has
shown that more than one third of the consumers in United Kingdom has portrayed them as

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ethical buyers yet, fair trade or other ethically accredited products have achieved 1-3% of
share in the market. It can be said that only 30% of consumers care for the ethical standards
however, nearly 3% of buying reflects the standards of the ethical consumerism. This can be
termed as ethical purchasing gap and attitude behavior gap. However, it is discussed in the
journal the factors that influence the consumer’s ethical behavior. The factors are decision
making, consumption experiences and purchase experiences. The Hunt and Vitell’s general
theory of marketing has been discussed in the context of decision- making in spite of the little
studies that have been conducted about the ethics playing the role in individual purchasing
behavior. The study found from the journal has suggested that the consumers are not fully
aware about the ethical issues and the consumption choices. However, the models and the
theories, which have been discussed in the journal, suggested that the behaviors of the
consumers are the direct consequence of the intention and attitudes, which are not fitting with
the ethical consumption gap.
According to Solomon and Michael (2014), the consumer’s behavior has been
discussed widely. Here the demographic factors are shown as the poor indicator of ethical
consumerism as different studies show different viewpoint. One study shows that ethical
sensibility has grown with the age. The sensible factors, which are necessary for the ethical
consumers should increase as the age of the consumers are increased. The age adds value to
the awareness or maturity of the consumers. Another study has shown that the notion of
ethical consumerism is largely present in women and persons with lower level of educational
qualification. There are also moral maturity factors that control the consumers’ behaviors.
Those factors are one’s own believe and confidence. However, the consumers with strong
believe follow the action more confidently however; the consumers with low confidence
follow the rule more lightly. The finding show complicated nature of the decision making of
the consumers. The others factor that influences the consumers’ ethics are situational factors

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and post-purchase factors. The situational factors include restricted availability of the ethical
products and limited consumption choice. However, the ethical consumers want to buy those
products for which they do not need to pay extra and negotiated with quality. The post
purchase factor is related to the guilt, which comes after purchasing the product. However,
most of the factors have been taken from specific contextual study or research papers about
ethical consumptions, which posit different and contrasting viewpoints.
Contradiction of the Ethical Consumerism
According to the Lekakis and Eleftheria (2013) contradiction regarding the ethical
consumerism has been discussed. The authors have discussed the product description in the
context of the social politics. The social politics like colonialism or neo colonialism have
been dominating the trade market as the author is looking at the fact that Starbucks coffee is
not the promise for social change being as a ethical products, however, it has carried the
people and the places where the coffee has been made. The coffee making is enrooted with
cultural and racial difference, which are vastly identified by the colonial power and they have
termed them as the others. Any local production from the colonial world has carried the
history of oppression, exploitation, system domination and enslavement. However, in this
context the ethical consumerism is a vague term. It should be started with product buying and
choosing in the colonial history. Even, in the history of India, the freedom fighters at one
point of time rejected the products produced by the English. This could be an example of
ethical consumerism dated back in the history. However, the study has argued that ethical
consumerism is not the term or concept of the modern world. People can trace its marks in
the historical junctures.
Another study by has elongated the previous approach by extending the insight of the
ethical consumerism. The authors Pecoraro, Maria and Outi (2014) have identified the ethical
consumerism as the ideological foundation of capitalism. The problems, which are raised in

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the framework of ethical consumerism is relating to reconstitute of global capitalism. Here, it
is taken the enterprises as the social responsible development. The huge amount of money
has been invested on the ethical products, which is another way to enrich the global
capitalism. The awareness, which have been generated by defining the roles and
responsibilities of the ethical consumers and the problems related to it are largely associated
with global capitalism. The authors are the practitioner of Marxism thus, by identifying the
problems and contradiction of the ethical consumerism the author want to build a barrier to
resist the global capitalism in the name of ethical consumerism.
Summary
It can be concluded by stating that ethical consumerism is a ongoing debate across the
globe. Many researches are being conducted for implementing the ethical consumerism.
Some study shows the different viewpoint of the ethical consumerism. Some study show the
contradiction in the consumers’ behavior of the ethical consumerism. However, in this
literature review, three different themes have been taken, which are factors related to ethical
consumerism, attitudes and behaviors in the ethical consumerism and the contradiction in
ethical consumerism. It has been tried to produce different points of view in each theme by
reviewing different research journal and literature. By successfully doing the literature review
it can be said that a study is needed which encompasses all the contradicting points in ethical
consumerism.

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References
Carrington, Michal J., Benjamin A. Neville, and Gregory J. Whitwell. "Lost in translation:
Exploring the ethical consumer intention–behavior gap." Journal of Business Research 67,
no. 1 (2014): 2759-2767.
Davies, Iain A., Zoe Lee, and Ine Ahonkhai. "Do consumers care about ethical-
luxury?." Journal of Business Ethics 106, no. 1 (2012): 37-51.
Lekakis, Eleftheria J. Coffee activism and the politics of fair trade and ethical consumption in
the global north: political consumerism and cultural citizenship. Springer, 2013.
Pecoraro, Maria Grazia, and Outi Uusitalo. "Conflicting values of ethical consumption in
diverse worlds–A cultural approach." Journal of Consumer Culture 14, no. 1 (2014): 45-65.
Rowley, Jennifer, and Frances Slack. "Conducting a literature review." Management research
news 27, no. 6 (2014): 31-39.
Shen, Bin, Yulan Wang, Chris KY Lo, and Momoko Shum. "The impact of ethical fashion on
consumer purchase behavior." Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An
International Journal 16, no. 2 (2012): 234-245.
Solomon, Michael R. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Vol. 10. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014.
Solomon, Michael R. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Vol. 10. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014.
Solomon, Michael, Rebekah Russell-Bennett, and Josephine Previte. Consumer behaviour.
Pearson Higher Education AU, 2012.

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Tseng, Shih-Chang, and Shiu-Wan Hung. "A framework identifying the gaps between
customers' expectations and their perceptions in green products." Journal of Cleaner
Production 59 (2013): 174-184.
White, Katherine, Rhiannon MacDonnell, and John H. Ellard. "Belief in a just world:
Consumer intentions and behaviors toward ethical products." American Marketing
Association, 2013.