Do What Consumers Say Matter? The Misalignment of Preferences with Unconstrained Ethical Intentions

Auger, Pat; Devinney, Timothy M.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.901861

Cited by 80 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…While numbers of studies in ethical consumption have shown an intention to behave ethically (e.g., Carrigan et al, 2004;Low and Davenport, 2007), authors (e.g., Auger and Devinney, 2007;Bray et al, 2011;Carrigan and Attalla, 2001;Carrigan et al, 2011;d'Astous and Legendre, 2009;Papaoikonomou et al, 2012) have also identified that there is a "significant difference between what consumers say about the importance of consumption-related ethical issues and their actual behaviour" (d 'Astous and Legendre, 2009, p. 255). Cowe and Williams (2000) labelled this the 30:3 phenomenon -in their study while 30% of UK consumers claimed to espouse ethical standards only 3% of purchases examined reflected those standards.…”

Section: Attitude-behaviour Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One explanation for the gap is that social desirability bias leads to inflated measures of consumers' intentions (Auger and Devinney, 2007;Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Griskevicius et al (2010) found that some people espoused "green" behaviour because they wished to appear superior to others and were thus status motivated.…”

Section: Attitude-behaviour Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the effect of social desirability on measures of consumers' intentions (Auger and Devinney, 2007;Carrigan and Attalla, 2001) it was important that we were able to understand the respondents' underlying motivations. By analysing the persuasive arguments we were able to see the transference of these motivations in encouraging their friends to be ethical.…”

Section: Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the identification in the literature of possible social desirability bias in self-reported behaviour (Auger and Devinney, 2007;Carrigan et al, 2010;Griskevicius et al, 2010) reporting , a 33-item social desirability scale (Crowne and Marlowe, 1960) was also used to see if the respondents were the type of individuals who would like to portray themselves positively. That is to say, they would attempt to depict themselves as similar to the norms and standards of their society and community.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This would suggest that the use of 'bags for life' in the period 2009 -2012 had not become sufficiently embedded and integrated behaviour (May and Finch, 2009) Increasing social concern about the environment is reflected in the growth in consumers' interest in ethical consumption (Newholm and Shaw, 2007;The Co-operative Group, 2012). Despite this, authors (Auger and Devinney, 2007;Bray et al, 2011;Carrigan and Attala, 2001;Carrington et al, 2010;Chatzidakis et al, 2007;Cowe and Williams, 2000;d'Astous and Legendre, 2009;Papaoikonomou et al, 2012) point to an attitude-behaviour gap where although people may express a positive attitude toward being ethical or socially responsible in their consumption, they do not always act on that attitude. This paper uses a variety of case study data and participant surveys to consider whether a switch to 'bags for life' has embedded since the report on carrier bag usage to WRAP in 2005 (Andrew Irving Associates, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

2013

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Abstract:The aim of this paper is to understand why some ethical behaviours fail to embed, and importantly what can be done about it. We address this by looking at an example where ethical behaviour has not become the norm, i.e. the widespread, habitual, use of 'bags for life'. This is an interesting case because whilst a consistent message of 'saving the environment' has been the basis of the promotion of 'bags for life' in the United Kingdom for many years, their uptake has only recently become more widespread and still remains at low levels. Through an exploratory study, we unpack some of the contextual barriers which may influence ethical consumerism. We do this by examining the attitudes which influenced people to start using 'bags for life', and how people persuade others to use 'bags for life'. We use a case study analysis to try and understand why ethical behaviour change has stalled and not become sustained. We find that both individuals and institutions play a significant interaction role in encouraging a sustained behavioural change towards ethical consumerism.

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Section: Attitude-behaviour Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Attitude-behaviour Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

2013

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Measuring Retailers' Sustainable Development

et al. 2016

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This study aimed to develop a framework and measurement items for retailers to assess sustainability while avoiding potential subjectivity by combining top‐down and bottom‐up approaches, and verifying their validity based on consumer perceptions of sustainable retailing. The framework consisted of 54 measurement items categorized into a three‐order hierarchical model. At the top level of the model, there were three third‐order dimensions respectively related to consumers, retailers, and society. At the middle level, eight second‐order sub‐dimensions associated with retailing mix were classified into the aforementioned third‐order dimensions. At the bottom level, there were 21 first‐order sub‐dimensions related to the sustainable retailing activities. The development of sustainability assessment by combining top‐down and bottom‐up approaches and including consumer perceptions will allow retailers to assess their sustainability more strategically, as it will reduce the subjectivity and increase consumers' recognition of sustainable retailing. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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The impact of motivation, intention, and contextual factors on green purchasing behavior: New energy vehicles as an example

Zhou

Wang

et al. 2020

Bus Strat Env

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Green purchasing behavior is of great significance to the realization of carbon reduction goals. Through in‐depth interviews, this study uses new energy vehicles to explore the driving factors of green purchase. It applies grounded theory for a qualitative analysis, the results of which show that behavior motivation, behavior intentions, residential characteristics, social norms, behavior ability, and institutional and technological context are the main factors of green purchase, albeit in inconsistent ways. It is found that behavior motivation indirectly affects green purchase through behavior intention; residents' characteristics, behavioral ability, social norms, and the institutional and technological context have moderating effects on the relationship between behavior intention and green purchase, indicating the existence of an “intention–behavior” gap. The study proposes the comprehensive model of Motivation–Intention–Context–Behavior to explain the driving factors for green purchase and provides policy implications on marketing strategy to companies producing green products.

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Do What Consumers Say Matter? The Misalignment of Preferences with Unconstrained Ethical Intentions

Cited by 80 publications

References 36 publications

Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

Measuring Retailers' Sustainable Development

The impact of motivation, intention, and contextual factors on green purchasing behavior: New energy vehicles as an example

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