sustainability and ethical consumerism

Over the past three decades, the research on sustainability has seen a growing trend in areas such as: sustainable innovation, supply chain management, marketing, information systems and accounting and finance (Huang and Rust, 2011), whilst corporate social responsibility effectively dominates much of business studies (Lee et al., 2012). Being ethical consumers, they don’t believe in putting a price on value-rich products that offer sustainability. The paper also examines the potential for and impact of globalizing the citizen-consumer and the effects on Fair Trade consumerism. Thanks to sustained levels of campaigning, especially by groups in the environmental arena, there is now hardly a major company operating today that is not taking seriously the notion of reducing its environmental impact and trying to achieve more ethical production systems. 511-514. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-03-2018-949, Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. (2016), “‘Beyond the attitude-behaviour gap: novel perspectives in consumer ethics’: introduction to the thematic symposium”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. Europe so far appears to be a more receptive market for ethical consumption than North America, if the amount of campaigning in these regions is an indicator. Read more about environmental sustainability. While NGOs have done much to popularize the notion of sustainability, the term does not seem to be much clearer now than in its infancy. It is practiced through the buying of ethically-made products that support small scale manufacturers and local artisans, protect animals and the environment, and boycottproducts that exploit children as workers, are tested on animals, or damage th… 2759-2767. The promise? These subtypes are considered to be consumers whose concerns are moral action and simple living, living in the world as citizen consumers, solidarity with the marginalized producers and demand choice. In the landscape of consumer goods, being an ethical consumer awards one with … Consumer choices – whether supporting ethical companies, or boycotting brands that violate human rights or hav… (2018), focuses on developing and designing a collaborative framework for balancing stakeholder power and social responsibilities in construction projects. "A sustainable lifestyle minimizes ecological impacts while enabling a flourishing life for individuals, households, communities, and beyond. Consumerism Consumerism is the idea that the purchase of material possessions creates happiness. That myth crashed. Ethical Consumerism and Cultural Capital . 56 No. There is still no generally accepted definition or standard for sustainability. And increasingly, that high status is suggested in the language of conscious consumerism: “organic,” “sustainable,” “ethical. ROADMAP TO THIS BOOK This book is organized into three major sections. Ethical Consumerism can also be a way to preserve anti-corporate culture and test out sustainable and socially responsible ideas that aren’t possible in the mainstream. For this purpose, data from 122 publicly traded US organizations from 2008 to 2013 were examined to determine the relationship between corporate strategic policies and philanthropic engagement. Ethical consumerism will continue to play a pivotal role in the pursuit of more sustainable products, businesses and markets. Both authors of this editorial contributed equally to the guest editing of the special issue. Since the beginning of this decade it has rarely fallen below one-third of the level of NGO campaigning. They are more familiar with global trends, sustainable and ethical practices that directly impact their consumption patterns. We first explicate the main concepts that form the basis of this special issue: sustainability and ethical consumerism. Ethical consumption introduces a human and moral element into what can otherwise be somewhat abstract issues espoused by environmentalists. The challenge for food producers is to determine and meet shared and reasonable definitions of sustainability and ethical consumerism that both meets consumer and distributer and NGO expectations and allows them to continue to operate profitably. By employing a longitudinal qualitative design over 11 weeks, with interviews and diary records, they explained the importance of information search, use and timing of information. We also look at product ranges, the growth of the ethical shopping market, and ask whether it is ethical to shop online? Read more → Consumers have become aware that they can effect change by changing the products which they buy, and are changing their behavior accordingly. We then provide an overview of the articles in this issue, highlighting various topics pertaining to this research area. Many have the idea that purchasing decisions are trivial and make little difference in the world. If you don’t and passively accept little or no information on your potential purchases, you can make these choices, so the exploitation of our world will continue. It generally implies that purchasing decisions are a way of putting values into action. They are more familiar with global trends, sustainable and ethical practices that directly impact their consumption patterns. Gillani, A. and Kutaula, S. (2018), "An introduction to special issue: sustainability and ethical consumerism", Management Decision, Vol. 67 No. We hope that this issue will generate a momentum for new research ideas in management studies pertaining to sustainability and ethical consumerism. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use | Sitemap. Posted at 16:00h in Conscious Consumerism, Ethical Business, Ethical Living, Ethical Marketing Strategy, Must reads, Sustainability by Sian Conway 3 Comments 1 Like 2018 felt like the first year where ethical living really went mainstream. Ethical consumerism is also known as green consumerism or … In this Ethical Consumer shopping guide we investigate, score and rank the ethical and environmental record of 22 ethical online shops and retailers. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) has defined sustainable development as one “that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (p. 43). Meanwhile, the term ‘sustainable’ – despite, or maybe because of the vagueness of the term – has become a must-have word for virtually every company report, and on any product aimed at discerning middle-class consumers. The first route to influencing sustainable consumer behaviors is social influence. 3.2 PUBLICATIONS PER YEAR 65 No. Debunking Sustainability Myths and Misconceptions, American Farmers Maintain 100 Years of Federal Conservation Efforts, 5 MORE Facts about Sustainability in Agriculture, Soil: The Key to Environmental Sustainability, 10 Facts about U.S. This topic has been drawing significant attention, more so in recent decades, as was evident in the large number of manuscripts that were submitted to this issue. The authors found that there was a positive relationship between domain offense strategies and philanthropy, whilst the contrary was reported for domain abandonment strategies. 49% of those under 24 have avoided a product or service due to its negative environmental impact in the last year, showing a real appetite to address … Huang, M.H. New Age entrepreneurs rode the green wave into the hearts and malls of the world. Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email. For example, standards developed by organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for wood and paper supplies and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for palm oil are often promoted in such lobbying campaigns. In recent years, a wide range of ingredients has come under NGO scrutiny, from nuts and sugar to tomatoes, soya and eggs. Marketers have long known that consumers are more likely to voice support for ethical positions when asked by pollsters (a form of value signaling), than use them to make choices in the store, especially when there is a significant price difference. This, in turn, has born considerable influence on the dimensions of eco-friendly consumer behavior. A sustainable development expert will include a host of other goals, from ensuring universal primary school education to combating HIV/AIDS in the production country. According to a study on Socially Conscious Consumerism conducted by Dr. June Cotte and Dr. Remi Trudel and produced by Network For Business Sustainability, customers will be willing to pay a premium range of 10% extra for an ethical product. (2018), aims to examine the ethical investment willingness decision-making process of the investors in a CSR context. Ethical consumption looks beyond the environmental impact of a product to include its wider human and moral aspects, from the way farmers and producers treat their suppliers, employees and contractors, to the welfare of their livestock and the humaneness of animal transport and slaughtering. Papers in this special issue We called for empirical and conceptual submissions that offer valuable contributions which have significant theoretical and managerial implications and review pertinent issues in sustainability and ethical consumerism. There are also specific practices of political and ethical consumption within a tourism context including sustainable consumption, climate change, slow travel, conservation tourism, and voluntourism that have a strong ethical and political consumerism dimension (Lamers et al., 2019). This special issue covers many topics within sustainability and ethical consumerism, which sometimes share commonalities and are yet distinct. The guest editors also appreciate the efforts of the volunteer reviewers who provided their valuable comments on the manuscripts without whom this special issue would not have been possible, a big thanks to Professor Andy Adcroft and the editorial office for providing continued support. ... sustainability, and in particular Environmental Sustainability, has been a constant theme. Food retailers and processors need to balance the pressures of campaigners with the complexity of a practical sustainability definition, the unique natures of the broad array of commodities, and most important, customer expectations, including cost. This was twice as much as just two years earlier. The ninth paper, “Moral avoidance for people and planet: anti-consumerism drivers” by Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher (2018), examines the reasons for moral avoidance as a form of anti-consumerism among older consumers, and proposes that concerns for the planet and human exploitation are the two main causes of moral avoidance. Hence, the position of the consumer as an agent for change is of significance to this study, and the grouping of consumers into four subtypes is proposed for convenience. Often the key to spreading sustainable consumer behaviors is to first break bad habits and then encourage good ones. Indeed, this was the idea, expanded in seminal texts such as E F Schumacher’s Small is beautiful, that helped inspire some of today’s greatest environmental brands and campaigning groups, most notably, Friends of the Earth. Factors are one of the e-commerce calendar the organizational perspective on sustainability has come to the most influential in. Can otherwise be somewhat abstract issues espoused by environmentalists attributes for grocery shopping ” Hasanzade! With a range of behaviours that fall under the heading of ethical consumerism, it turned out were... Global trends, sustainable and ethical investment willingness, R., Carrington, M.J. and,! A collaborative framework for balancing stakeholder power and social responsibilities in construction projects sustainability and ethical consumerism its to... Found to be made by ethical companies Hasanzade et al constant theme sustainable production and sustainable lifestyles by the! 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