Bringing Ethical Consumption to the Forefront in Emerging Markets: The Role of Product Categorization
Emerging markets are a growing force, and the resulting increase in wealth - especially among the middle class - promotes conspicuous consumption with potentially negative impacts for societal and environmental well-being. Efforts to encourage ethical consumer behavior in emerging markets often meet...
| Subtitles: | "Special Issue on Ethical Consumerism in Emerging Markets: Opportunities and Challenges" |
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| Authors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer
2024
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| In: |
Journal of business ethics
Year: 2024, Volume: 191, Issue: 4, Pages: 777-792 |
| Further subjects: | B
Consumption context
B Ethical consumption B Emerging markets B Fair Trade B Categorization |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Emerging markets are a growing force, and the resulting increase in wealth - especially among the middle class - promotes conspicuous consumption with potentially negative impacts for societal and environmental well-being. Efforts to encourage ethical consumer behavior in emerging markets often meet various forms of consumer resistance. One reason that ethical consumption may suffer in emerging markets is because consumers have difficulty considering ethical other-focused attributes, such as Fair Trade or eco-friendly options, especially if those attributes do not directly benefit the self. Our research demonstrates a simple way to encourage more ethical consumption in emerging markets, without economic incentives. In particular, when consumers see narrow (vs. broad) product categories, they are more likely to incorporate both salient (self-focused) and non-salient (other-focused) attributes into their decision. Thus, narrow product categories encourage consumers to consider ethical attributes to a greater extent than they normally would. This finding holds in private settings, across various product categories (i.e., coffee, tea, juice) and contexts (i.e., online and in the field), and in different emerging markets (e.g., India, South Africa, and Iran). |
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| ISSN: | 1573-0697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05667-2 |