Ethical Consumerism: Movement From Desire to Decision to Buy Green

Abstract

Understanding what spurs consumers to buy environmentally sustainable (ES) or so-called green products can be elusive. Most people agree that buying green is an attempt to do the right thing. Yet there is variability in individuals’ adherence to this espoused belief, as expressed in their overall product choices and purchase decisions. We expect that the decision to buy green is influenced by both deliberate and automatic cognitive and affective processes that require self-regulatory management. To add clarity to the literature on ethical consumerism, we present theoretical propositions that add granularity toward understanding what supports movement from having a desire to buy green to actually making a purchase decision in an online setting. This area is ripe for inquiry, presenting a lever to affect social change in the virtual marketing domain.