Understanding Ethical Consumers: A New Approach Towards Modeling Ethical Consumer Behaviours

Abstract

In recent years a greater shift of market power towards consumers is observed and consumers are referred to as “the new counterbalancing force to capitalists” (Murphy & Bendell, 2001). In this context, individuals may take consumer decisions evaluating different dimensions of the augmented product offering, including its ethical features (Brinkmann & Peattie, 2008). This has led to the gradual consolidation of the ethical consumers that express ethical concerns about issues such as environmental degradation and sweatshops in Third World countries through their consumer decisions.