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Ethical consumption Exposé Ethical consumption: A holistic approach towards an understanding of the attitude-intention-behaviour gap Submitted by Monika Maier European Master of Business Studies The gap between attitude, intention and behaviour: A holistic approach towards an understanding of the ethically minded consumer Kassel, October 21 st , 2013

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E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n

Exposé

Ethical consumption:

A holistic approach towards an understanding of the

attitude-intention-behaviour gap

Submitted by Monika Maier

European Master of Business Studies

The gap between attitude, intention and behaviour:

A holistic approach towards an understanding of the

ethically minded consumer

Kassel, October 21st, 2013

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 2

Abstract

Ethical and sustainable consumption became important in the past decade and is still a present

issue. A steadily growing number of consumers seem to care more and more about what they

consume, where it comes from and how it is produced. Although it is confirmed by different studies

that people care more about ethical issues it is also widely accepted that there is gap when it comes

to the final purchase decision. This means that people behave less ethically than they originally

wanted.

As little attention has been paid to this gap and it is still poorly understood the purpose of the study

in hand is to obtain a deeper knowledge about the ethically minded consumer and the nature of this

gap. This includes a closer look on ethical consumption and influencing factors in general as well as

the ability to justify unethical decision-making.

The gap will be analysed in a differentiated manner. Therefore, a conceptual model is developed

with which eight combinations of attitude, intention and behaviour are deducted. Based on this a

mixed-research method will be applied by combining online-survey and in-depth interviews in

order to approach the different aspects in an adequate way.

A better understanding of the ethically minded consumer and the discrepancy between attitude and

behaviour is important to both researchers and marketers and shall finally provide practical

implications on how to address related products effectively.

KEY WORDS: ethical consumption, attitude-intention/intention-behaviour gap, influencing factors,

purchase decision making process, neutralization techniques

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 3

Table of content

Table of figures .................................................................................................................................... 4

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5

2 Problem statement and justification ............................................................................................. 6

3 Purpose and research questions .................................................................................................... 7

4 Theoretical foundation ................................................................................................................. 9

4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 9

4.2 Ethical consumption ............................................................................................................ 12

4.2.1 Definition and differentiation of ethical terminologies ................................................ 12

4.2.2 Ethical decision-making ............................................................................................... 13

4.2.3 Discussion about the existence of the ethical consumer .............................................. 14

4.3 Factors influencing the purchase decision ........................................................................... 15

4.4 Attitude-intention-behaviour gap ........................................................................................ 16

4.5 Neutralisation techniques: How unethical decision-making can be justified ...................... 17

5 Conceptual model to analyse the gap ......................................................................................... 18

6 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 19

7 Overview of Chapters ................................................................................................................. 20

8 Plan of Work .............................................................................................................................. 21

References .......................................................................................................................................... 22

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 4

Table of figures

Figure 1: Illustration of the attitude-intention-behaviour process, the existing gaps and the

interaction with influencing factors. .................................................................................... 7

Figure 2: Ethical decision-making process and the focus for further discussions. ............................ 13

Figure 3: Conceptual model for the derivation of eight possible AIB-combinations. ....................... 18

Figure 4: Different phases of the field research ................................................................................. 19

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 5

1 Introduction

Since the concerns about business ethics started to grow in the beginning of the 1980s great

advancement took place in this field. In the meanwhile, leading business schools have introduced

lectures in business ethics; books, articles and specialised journals are dedicated to related topics.

Moreover, especially during the past years many websites which provide corresponding

information, rankings, discussions and smart phone apps have been created (Viriyavidhayavongs &

Yothmontree, 2002).

This increasing interest becomes also evident when looking at the consumer‟s side: For instance the

development of turnover of fair trade certified products in Germany rose from 51 Mio. € in 2002 up

to 400 Mio. € in 2011 ("Absatz Fairtrade-Produkte im Einzelnen", n.d.). In 2011 there was an

increase in turnover of +18% compared to the previous year. In the first half of 2012 even a plus of

35% was recorded compared to the first half of 2011 ("Fairtrade wächst", 2012). Also the

worldwide development registers a constant increase: +12% from 2010 to 2011 ("Fairtrade

weltweit", n.d.). But not only the consumption of products which are perceived as ethically correct

is still on an upwards trend. Also the number of consumers‟ participation in product boycotts or

large-scale protests against multinational corporations is increasing (Devinney, Auger, & Eckhardt,

2010, p. 10). Boycotting products of unethically acting companies is also seen as a new and major

mode of individualised political participation (Deth, 2009, p. 5). In addition, the internet facilitates

this new form of participation, especially via social networks and the permanent access via smart

phones. These developments illustrate the already important role and the still growing interest in

ethical consumption and related fields.

In contrast to that there are also sceptical voices which questioned whether “ethics matter in

purchase behaviour” (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001) or whether “consumers really care about corporate

responsibility” (Boulstridge & Carrigan, 2000). Some current studies even did not question this

anymore but already tried to understand “why ethical consumers don‟t walk their talk” (Carrington,

Neville, & Whitwell, 2010). Devinney et al. (2010) actually considered the ethical consumers as

being not more than a myth but also admitted that they have been working already for ten years on

the question “Do consumers really care?” and they still did not find an answer (Devinney et al.,

2010, p. XV). This makes evident that ethical consumption behavior is a very complex process, not

least because of the multitude of ethical issues (Shaw & Clarke, 1999, p. 111).

Nevertheless, it is widely accepted that consumers do not always behave as they pretend or want to.

This means that there is a gap between what people say they would do and what they finally do (e.g.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 6

(Auger & Devinney, 2007, p. 361; Hassan, Shaw, Shiu, Walsh, & Parry, 2013, p. 182; Roberts,

1996, p. 80). Due to the fact that this gap remains poorly understood (Carrington et al., 2010,

p. 141) this thesis is dedicated to a deeper analysis of this gap.

2 Problem statement and justification

As mentioned above there is a gap between what people say they would do and what they finally

do. However, as indicated before this gap is not only poorly understood up to now but also the

general question whether consumers are ethically concerned remains without answer.

The problem arising here is that many interviews and surveys approaches which are conducted to

obtain a better understanding of consumers‟ behaviour do not provide reliable results (e.g. Auger

& Devinney, 2007). This has basically two reasons: Firstly, people tend to respond as per what is

socially expected (social desirability). Secondly, models that reflect consumer behaviour and which

are applied by the researcher possibly underestimate the complexity of consumer behaviour and the

decision-making process (Devinney et al., 2010, p. 12). This lack of validity and reliability can be

seen as one reason for the contradictious results of such surveys and lead, for instance, to wrong

conclusions concerning the market volume of a new product.

Closing this gap is likely to be impossible but reducing it might be feasible and would have a

positive impact on different levels. Firstly, the quality of market research can be improved so that

sales figures can be estimated more reliable. Secondly, companies affected by a large gap between

their customers‟ attitude, intention and behaviour might increase their sales. And finally also the

consumer benefits from a reduced gap as internal conflicts, tension and feeling of guilt can be

reduced (Chatzidakis, Hibbert, & Smith, 2006, p. 697). In addition, the increasing market of and

interest in ethical products and firms‟ behaviour described in the beginning let assume that ethical

considerations will remain an evolving topic and continue to influence consumers‟ purchase

behaviour. As a consequence, it is necessary to have a sound understanding of this gap and the

influencing factors since this also leads to deeper insights into consumer behaviour in general.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 7

3 Purpose and research questions

The purpose of this study lies on obtaining a deeper knowledge about the nature of the gap between

attitude, intention and behaviour (AIB) in order to improve the understanding of the ethically

minded consumer. Although the literature presents approaches to give reasons for the gap, the gap

itself is not sufficiently investigated (e.g. Chatzidakis et al., 2006; Hassan et al., 2013). Therefore, a

conceptual model will be developed (section 5) with which eight combinations of attitude, intention

and behaviour and thus eight potential consumer categories are deducted and examined

individually. Focusing on these eight categories the interaction with different influencing factors

shall be investigated. In addition, it is to be explored how large each of the eight categories is and

what role the different influencing factors play.

The following figure illustrates the differentiation between attitude, intention and behaviour and

shows that there are two gaps instead of only one attitude-behaviour or intention-behaviour gap as

usually mentioned in the literature (section 4.4). The interaction with the different influencing

factors is also depicted whereby it is differentiated between the influencing factors relevant in all

purchase decisions and the influencing factors which play especially in ethical purchase decisions

an essential role.

Figure 1: Illustration of the attitude-intention-behaviour process, the existing gaps and the interaction with influencing factors.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 8

Due to the complex field of ethical consumer behaviour elaborations on certain related issues would

go beyond the purpose of this study. The limitations to be set refer to further influencing factors.

Firstly, the impact of the environment, which typically includes social, cultural, economic and

organisational factors, will not be discussed (for this see e.g. Ferrell and Gresham, 1985; Hunt and

Vitell, 1986, both cited in Jones, 1991, p. 370). Secondly, also the characteristics of the moral issue

(moral intensity) would go too far (for moral intensity see e.g. Jones, 1991).

Moreover, by taking into account the different results in the literature it is not expected to find one

sole answer. The search for the absolute truth is possible the reason why questions such as “Do

consumers really care?” (Boulstridge & Carrigan, 2000; Creyer & Ross, 1997; Devinney et al.,

2010, p. XV) remain so far unanswered. Instead, it is suggested to broaden the horizon and to

acknowledge that there is not always a clear “yes” or “no”, “right” or “wrong”, “good” or “bad” –

especially when it comes to ethical and moral issues. Therefore, the question should rather be to

what extent or under which circumstances do consumers care about ethics. This, in turn, means that

one cannot discuss the ethical consumer as an absolute appearance but in fact consider him or her as

being „selectively‟, „occasionally‟ or „part-time‟ ethical. The term “selectively ethical” was already

used by Carrigan and Attalla (2001; p. 570) as they found that consumers care only about certain

kinds of social issues.

In accordance to the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the AIB-gap different research

questions shall be raised. As it is unclear whether the ethical consumer exists or not the first

question is:

RQ1: To what extent does the ethical consumer exist?

The aim is to understand whether basically every consumer is ethically concerned but behaves only

„selectively‟, „occasionally‟ or in „part-time‟ according to this.

The second question refers to the nature of the AIB-gap and shall provide insights into the

relevance of each gap. This means that it is to be revealed how many consumers are usually

hindered to transform their attitude into intention and their intention into behaviour.

RQ2: On which level do consumers mostly exit the AIB-process?

In order to examine the possible combinations a conceptual model is created (section 5).

The third research question shall clarify how consumers justify the discrepancy between their

attitude and behaviour by using neutralisation techniques (section 4.5).

RQ3: Which of the neutralisation techniques are mostly used to justify unethical decisions?

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 9

4 Theoretical foundation

This chapter contains the review of literature that will provide the needed background for the

research in hand. In the beginning, an overview of the most relevant research papers and books is

presented. Subsequent to this each topic will be discussed and evaluated in a separate section.

Firstly, it is necessary to present the terminology used and discuss the existing knowledge

concerning ethical consumption in general. Secondly, the general factors influencing consumers‟

behaviour are introduced as they are also valid for ethical decision-making. After presenting the

current understanding of the AIB-gap the five neutralisation techniques and the impact of

uncertainty in ethical decision-making are described. Each section will be concluded by

emphasising the implications for the research that is to be developed and conducted.

4.1 Overview

The following table lists the selection of the most important research papers and books on which the

fundamental understanding and the field research will be based. Since many of these sources also

discuss related topics the classifications to the different subjects serve only as a rough orientation.

The complete references as well as additional sources for related topics are in the reference list.

A. Consumer ethics in purchase behaviour - do consumers care or not?

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 10

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 11

B. Ethical decision-making and neutralization techniques

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 12

4.2 Ethical consumption

4.2.1 Definition and differentiation of ethical terminologies

Ethics is generally defined as a set of moral principles and values about what behaviour ought to be

(Steiner and Steiner, 1980 as cited in Vitell & Festervand, 1987, p. 111). This set is also supposed

to even guide behaviour (Sherwin, 1983 as cited in Creyer & Ross, 1997, p. 422). However, this set

of moral principles which is used as a basis for judgements is not fixed and therefore it results in

different understandings of what is ethical and unethical behaviour (Creyer & Ross, 1997, p. 422).

Since the definition of “ethics” is a rather philosophical question which leads to excessive

discussions, no further elaboration is provided here.

Also “ethical consumer behaviour” is broadly defined as “decision making, purchases and other

consumption experiences that are affected by the consumer‟s ethical concerns” (Cooper-Martin and

Holbrook, 1993, p. 113 as cited in Chatzidakis et al., 2006, p. 693). Hereby it is to differentiate

between “ethical consumerism” and “consumer ethics” (Chatzidakis et al., 2006, p. 693). The latter

refers to a misbehaviour which usually takes place in retail settings such as stealing or omitting to

declare undercharging (e.g. Vitell & Muncy, 1992). This perspective, however, is not subject of this

work. In contrast, “ethical consumerism” or “ethical consumption” is seen as an evolution of

consumerism which takes into account ethical aspects of products and firms‟ activities (e.g.

Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Carrington et al., 2010 Creyer & Ross, 1997). These ethical aspects refer

to dimensions such as employees‟ working conditions, treatment and safety of customers,

responsibility towards society, environmental impacts and animal testing (Boulstridge & Carrigan,

2000, p. 360; Viriyavidhayavongs & Yothmontree, 2002, p. 2). Although, Devinney et al. (2010;

p. 9) argued that “the label “ethical” consumerism carries mythological baggage” and therefore has

to be rejected this terminology will be used further on. Alternatives provided such as “consumer

social responsibility” (Devinney, Auger, Eckhardt, & Birtchnell, 2006) or “sustainable

consumption” (Defila, 2011) might indeed reflect reality more apposite but could be interpreted as

not including dimensions such as animal-testing.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 13

4.2.2 Ethical decision-making

The ethical decision-making process is a well covered topic in the existing literature so that only a

short overview is presented here. An extensive list of empirical researches of ethical decision-

making in business is provided by Loe et al. (2000, pp. 188-194). In addition, Brady and

Gougoumanova (2011, p. 13) give an overview of different authors and their approaches to the

ethical decision-making process.

A fundamental model for ethical decision-making is Rest‟s four-stage model whose core elements

are consistent with many successive models advanced, for instance, by Hunt and Vitell (1986,

rev.1993) or Ferrell and Gresham (1985) (both cited in Chatzidakis et al., 2006, p. 695). Therefore,

it was also used by Jones (1991, p. 370) as a basis for his synthesis of different ethical decision-

making models. As depicted by Chatzidakis et al. (2006, p. 696) Rest‟s model suggests that an

individual pass through four stages when making an ethical decision:

1. Recognition of a moral issue

2. Making a Moral judgement

3. Establishment of a moral intent

4. Engagement in moral behaviour

Hereby it is to mention that success at one stage does not necessarily lead to success in following

stages. This means for instance that a person who judges organic food as being better for the

environment (stage 2) might not establish the intention to buy corresponding products (stage 3).

In the following discussions it is implied that the recognition of a moral or ethical issue (stage 1) is

given so that the focus lies only on the stages 2 to 4 and are renamed as attitude, intention and

behaviour which is illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 2: Ethical decision-making process and the focus for further discussions.

Attitude Intention

Make a moral

judgement

Establish a moralintent

Recognise a moral issue

assumed as being given

Engage in moral

behaviour

Behaviour

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 14

4.2.3 Discussion about the existence of the ethical consumer

As indicated in the beginning there are numerous controversial discussions in the literature

concerning the question whether the ethical consumer does exist or not. The results and opinions

range from confirmation to negation. Creyer and Ross (1997, p. 428) found that ethical

considerations are important during the purchase decision, that consumers reward ethical behaviour

by agreeing on paying higher prices for complying product and that they the punish unethical firms

by accepting products only at lower prices. They even suggested that ethics represent more and

more a core part of consumers‟ decision making (p. 432). These results are confirmed by

Viriyavidhayavongs and Yothmontree (2002, p. 10). However, by analysing the underlying

questionnaires it can be assumed that the questions posed favoured answers in accordance to social

expectations and did not consider that actual behaviour might turn out to be not in line with the

responses obtained. Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that, as initially presented, the current

development of corresponding products such as fair trade or organic labels as well as regular

product boycotts confirm an increasing awareness of and interest in ethical considerations.

Opposed to the results presenting a positive picture of consumers‟ ethical involvement other authors

hold a more sceptical or even denying view. Boulstridge and Carrigan (2000) claim for instance that

ethics may not be as important in influencing consumer behaviour as believed so far (p. 361) and

that factors such as price, quality, brand familiarity and convenience are the most important

decision factors (p. 359; p. 363). The latter is also confirmed by Carrigan and Attalla (2001, p. 569)

who identified price, value, brand and fashion trend as being crucial factors influencing the buying

behaviour. Finally, Boulstridge and Carrigan (2000, p. 360; p. 364) stated that consumers are more

likely to reward and support positive actions than to punish a firm‟s bad behaviour. This, however,

contradicts the findings of Carrigan and Attalla (2001, p. 568) who argued that a firm‟s poor ethical

record would not affect consumers‟ purchase intentions nor would respondents pay a higher price

for products that were produced in a socially responsible way. They found also that consumers are

unwilling to undertake extra inconvenience for ethical purchases (p. 570). This rather negative

perspective of consumers‟ ethical involvement also revealed that consumers are likely to experience

inner conflicts and to feel uncomfortable which, in turns, leads to a kind of helplessness (p. 569)

and unhealthy scepticism towards ethical consumption (p. 571). On the one hand consumers are

confused about which company is “guilty” and which behaves “correctly” so that they are sceptical

towards most of the firms. On the other hand they believe that an individual‟s behaviour has little

impact in changing anything (p. 571).

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 15

These broad and various discussions are not surprising if one takes into account that consumer

behaviour – especially when it comes to ethical considerations – is a highly complex process (Shaw

& Clarke, 1999, p. 111). Different understandings and dimensions of ethics as well as personal

emotions are involved. Therefore, the results discussed by diverse authors are likely to be

influenced by the selection of the sample, the usually narrow scope of the study, the direction into

which the often used interviews might be led and the perspective under which the results are

interpreted. Already the fundamental question “What does ethical consumption mean?” leads to

various outcomes. Shall one consider rather the environmental impact of a product or under which

working conditions it was produced? Is a safe work place more important than fair wages? What

about animal testing or the usage of scarce resources? What if “fair trade” contradicts the

exploitation of the rain forest? And how can a consumer know that the environmental impact of

regional apples stored in cold warehouses might be higher compared to apples shipped from New

Zealand?

Additionally, today‟s society is exposed to a rapidly changing environment which has an impact on

consumers‟ behaviour. The quickly developing information technologies for instance influence the

way of how consumers actively search for or passively obtain information about products, prices or

companies. Furthermore, especially during the last decade big discussions about the global climate

change and environmental disasters such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 or the BP oil

disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 led to increased awareness and concerns regarding

environmental pollution. The same is true for other ethical issues such as unreasonable working

conditions or exploitation of natural sources which hit regularly the headlines due to Foxconn,

Samsung, Nestlé or other large enterprises. Depending on this daily changing news, consumers are

influenced and might tend to consume under more or less ethical considerations.

4.3 Factors influencing the purchase decision

In this section a brief overview of the general factors influencing consumer behaviour shall be

provided as they also influence the ethically minded consumer. These factors are categorised into

external, internal, situational and permanent factors which are discussed briefly (a similar

categorisation is provided by Kleinhückelkotten, 2011, pp. 138-141). The strong impact that those

factors can have will be presented for time pressure and the Good Samaritan Experiment (Devinney

et al., 2010, p. 6).

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 16

4.4 Attitude-intention-behaviour gap

Widely accepted in the literature is the existence of a gap between what people say they would do

and what they finally do. While an increasing number of consumers is interested in and motivated

by ethical consumerism, a change in consumers‟ behaviour is far less noticeable (Carrington et al.,

2010, p. 139). Several studies confirm that the ethically minded consumer does not always behave

according to the expressed attitude or intention (Boulstridge & Carrigan, 2000, p. 361; Carrigan

& Attalla, 2001, p. 564; Devinney et al., 2010, p. 2).

The question how deep this gap is differs from study to study. Vershoor suggested that 75% of

consumers argue that they would switch the brand or retailer in order to support a good cause

associated with a certain product (cited in Boulstridge & Carrigan, 2000, p. 359). In contrast, the

Cone/Roper study found that 51% of the respondents stated that they would be likely to pay a higher

price for a product linked to a cause they care about (cited in Simon, 1995, p. 23). However, the

formulation likely let assume that this result does not reflect reality. The study found as well that

although these respondents declared a kind of ethically attitude only 20% said that they had actually

bought a corresponding product in the past year. These proportions are found by the futerra-study in

2005 as being even lower (as cited in Carrington et al., 2010, p. 139). It revealed that while 30% of

the respondents declared that they would buy ethically, only 3% actually do so. This broad variety

of percentages shows that there is no clarity about the extent of the gap and that the results might

highly depend on how questions are posed. This means, that if answers as per social desirability are

fostered the gap is likely to be inflated. Social desirability means that respondents can be reluctant

or unable to answer honestly to sensitive topics in order to defend their ego or impress. As a

consequence, data can be biased towards what is perceived as being “right” or socially expected

(Fisher, 1993, p. 303).

Although the social desirability bias is well known, surveys continue to predict behaviour based on

attitude and intention and regularly fail in doing so (Devinney et al., 2010, p. 3). This lack of

validity finally results in contradictious discussions about the existence and behaviour of the ethical

consumer (as shown in section 4.2.2). Even though this gap is debated in most of the studies related

to ethical consumer behaviour “minimal attention has been paid to the critical gap“ (Carrington et

al., 2010, p. 154) so that there is little research focusing directly on the gap itself. Therefore, it is not

surprising that this phenomena is partly declared as attitude-behaviour gap (e.g. Boulstridge

& Carrigan, 2000; Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Roberts, 1996) or as intention-behaviour gap (e.g.

Carrington et al., 2010) but is not differentiated in detail and still poorly understood.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 17

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980 as cited in Shaw, Shiu, Hassan,

Bekin, & Hogg, 2007, p. 31) and the further developed Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen,

1985 as cited in Shaw et al., 2007, p. 31) provide a framework for the relationship between attitude

and behaviour. Especially the TPB has been widely applied in behavioural domains and was further

developed for the ethical consumer behaviour context (Carrington et al., 2010; Shaw et al., 2007).

Carrington et al. (2010) constructed a conceptual model of the intention-behaviour gap by bringing

together implementation intentions, actual behavioural control and situational context. Those are

considered as moderators influencing the translation from intention into behaviour. It was

concluded that by formulating an intention to translate it into actual behaviour a strongly positive

effect in bridging the gap may be reached (p. 154). Intention is hold as being an important precursor

to action (Shaw et al., 2007, p. 31). In addition, Carrington et al. (2010; p. 142) mentioned that there

are two gaps: firstly, the gap between consumer attitude and purchase intention and secondly, the

gap between the latter and the actual buying behaviour. However, this differentiation is not further

developed and their conceptual model focuses only on the second gap, namely the intention-

behaviour gap.

As a conclusion a lack can be seen in (1) the differentiation between and (2) the integration of both,

attitude and intention as well as (3) a deeper examination in terms of different combinations of

attitude, intention and behaviour. Moreover, no attention is paid to the possibility of (4) a vice-

versa-gap, this means that some consumers might not really care about ethical issues but finally

purchase correspondent products, for instance because it is currently fashionable or they feel guilty.

4.5 Neutralisation techniques: How unethical decision-making can be justified

When consumers behave in a way which is contradictious to their expressed ethical concerns or

social norms psychological tension arises (Chatzidakis et al., 2006, p. 694). This section presents

how consumers cope with this inner tension and decision conflicts by justifying and neutralising

their unethical decision making. Originally, the neutralisation techniques were introduced by Sykes

and Matza in 1957 (as cited in Strutton, Vitell, & Pelton, 1994, p. 254) in order to explain juvenile

delinquency and were adapted by Strutton et al. (1994) in a consumer context. Chatzidakis et al.

(2006) applied it finally to consumer‟s (un)ethical decision making.

The neutralisation techniques are seen as not only following unethical behaviour but also can

proceed it. The ability to neutralise can interfere with the translation from attitude into intention and

finally into behaviour and thus gives one explanation for the existence of the gap (Chatzidakis et

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 18

al., 2006, p. 694). By understanding those techniques and justifications it might be possible to reply

the arguments which are used by consumers to justify unethical product choices. Therefore, it is

suggested that further research is needed in order to reveal which of these neutralisation techniques

are mostly used (Chatzidakis et al., 2006, p. 697).

5 Conceptual model to analyse the gap

As indicated earlier a conceptual model shall serve as a basis in order to examine the different

combinations between attitude, intention and behaviour. Therefore, it is suggested that after an

ethical problem is recognised the consumer can have either a positive/supportive (+) or a

neutral/ignoring (O) attitude. A purely negative attitude, intention or behaviour will not be

considered as it is assumed that consumers are in general not against ethical considerations. Since

success on one stage does not imply success on the following stage it is possible that although a

consumer has a positive attitude (+) he or she might not actually intent to follow the positive

attitude. This would mean that the intention is neutral (O). The same logic is applied for the third

stage, namely the behaviour which means that the consumer finally either purchase (+) or not (O)

according to ethical considerations. Following this logic, eight +/O combinations are possible which

are illustrated in the figure below.

Figure 3: Conceptual model for the derivation of eight possible AIB-combinations.

These eight combinations represent the possibilities of how a consumer can pass through the

decision-making process, ranging from the ideal ethical consumer (category 1; C1) to the fully

uninvolved consumer (C8). It can be seen that the gap does not only exist between a positive

attitude and a failure in behaviour but that it might be also vice-versa. This means, that a consumer

can purchase ethical products without having a positive attitude (C5) or a real intention (C7). Based

on this, the purpose is to reveal how big each of these categories is and to analyse each of them.

Thereby it is not intended to create consumer profiles but to understand the existence of the

different combinations.

++

+ ++

+ +1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Behaviour

Intention

Attitude

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 19

6 Methodology

After an intensive desk research which includes the analysis of existing studies and surveys, a field

research is to be conducted.

The research design foresees a mixed-research method by combining a qualitative and a

quantitative method in order to obtain different, complementary views of the researched issues and

to benefit from the strengths of both methods (Zachariadis, Scott, & Barrett, 2013, p. 865). The

sequencing of the different phases is illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 4: Different phases of the field research

The research starts with in-depth interviews to gain valuable insights for the creation of the

questionnaire (phase I). By using this insights and existing questionnaires from other surveys an

own questionnaire will be created. In a short pilot-phase (phase II) it is to be verified whether the

questionnaire is feasible and adequate for a valid and reliable data collection. Subsequent to

possible adjustments the quantitative survey will be launched by means of a self-administrated,

anonymous online questionnaire (phase III-a). During this collection phase 15±10 in-depth

interviews (phase III-b) will be conducted until a point of saturation, where additional interviews

provide little new knowledge (Kvale, 1996, p. 102).

The composition of sample shall be representative regarding gender, age and profession. Due to the

accessibility to respondents via an online questionnaire it is expected that the majority of

respondents will be between 18 and 40 years. Also the nationality of the respondents will be mixed

as cultural differences are regarded as having a much lower impact on consumers‟ ethical

considerations as suggested in previous work (Devinney et al., 2010, p. 109). However, the

economical, political and legal environment might influence the importance an individual places on

ethical issues (Singhapakdi, Karande, Rao, & Vitell, 2001). As the European countries can be seen

as roughly similar in terms of these aspects, responses will be collected from different European

countries.

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 20

As introduced in section 4.4 the social desirability bias is a well known phenomena and is inherent

in all surveys that deal with consumers‟ willingness to adopt social responsible or ethical behaviour

(Auger & Devinney, 2007, p. 265). As a consequence, this bias has to be taken into account when

creating the survey instruments and analysing the results. For instance, indirect questioning by the

use of projective techniques is deemed as very helpful when dealing with sensitive topics in order to

bypass answers influenced by social desirability (Belk, Ger, & Askegaard, 2003, p. 332; Fisher,

1993).

7 Overview of Chapters

Abstract

1 Introduction

2 Problem statement and justification

3 Purpose and research questions (incl. limitations)

4 Theoretical foundation

4.1 Overview

4.2 Ethical consumption

4.2.1 Definition and differentiation of ethical terminologies

4.2.2 Ethical decision-making

4.2.3 Discussion about the existence of the ethical consumer

4.3 Factors influencing the purchase decision

4.4 Attitude-intention-behaviour gap

4.5 Neutralization techniques: How unethical decision-making can be justified

4.6 Uncertainty in decision-making

5 Conceptual model to analyse the gap

6 Methodology

7 Analysis and results

8 Discussion

8.1 Summary

8.2 Managerial implications

8.3 Limitations (incl. further research)

References

Appendix

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 21

8 Plan of Work

Week 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Activity Month

PRIMARY TASKS

Desk research

- Literature Review

- Development of Research

Preparation Research tools

- Drafting (questionnaire & interview)

- Pre-Interviews (Phase I)

- Pre-Test questionnaire (Phase II)

Data collection

- Online-survey (Phase III-a)

- Interviews (Phase III-b)

Data analysis

- Analysing results

- Drawing conclusions

SECUNDARY TASKS

Writing Exposé

Writing Thesis (theory, Interm. Report)

Preparation Interm. Presentation

Preparation Interm. Report

Writing Thesis (data analysis)

Review & Finalization →

Deadlines 21. 19.

Meetings 4. 2./3.

Interm. Report + Presentation 22./23.

21st Oct Hand in Exposé

4th Nov Colloquium

2nd/3rd Dec Colloquium

19th Dec Hand in presentation intermediate report

22nd/23rd Intermediate Report + Presentation

Jan 14 Feb 14 Mar 14 Apr 14Sep 13 Oct 13 Nov 13 Dec 13

E t h i c a l c o n s u m p t i o n | 22

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