Literature Review

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ETHICAL CONSUMERISM:
THE ROLE PLAYED BY
CONSUMER IDENTITY AND SELF
Student Number: 2224030
Module Code: MKTU9M5
Word Count: 2998

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ETHICAL CONSUMERISM: THE ROLE
PLAYED BY CONSUMER IDENTITY AND
SELF
INTRODUCTION
Ethical consumerism, defined as the
purchase of products produced in a way
that limits or avoids the social and
environmental negative consequences of
global trade (Uusitalo and Oksanen, 2004),
is becoming increasingly important both in
the minds of consumers and within
business strategies. In fact, most people
define themselves as environmentally
conscious. At the same time, the vast
majority of firms have developed a CSR or
a Sustainability dedicated business
section, in response to the results of many
researches within this field that have
clearly shown the positive effects that
ethical and sustainable approaches have
on profitability, market shares, customer
satisfaction and employee commitment
(Moser, 2015).
However, the green and the fair trade
sectors of the market are not having the
expected success. People seem to have
many different responses to green and
ethical marketing and to the related global
issues. A great amount of buyers tend to
define themselves as environmentally
conscious without actually engaging with
environmentally-friendly products. For
what concerns fair trade consumerism, the
attitude-behaviour gap is even wider as
everyone claims to care about human
rights, while very few people translate fair
trades principles on to consumer purchase
behaviour (Strong, 1997).
What is the role played by consumer
identity and self within this context?
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The Literature Review will be based on the
connection between the context of the
ethical and sustainable consumption and
the consumer identity. The theoretical
lenses that have been selected to
investigate the topic and address the main
questions are:
I. The Extended Self theory which will
support the understanding of how
people decide to build or not to build
their pro-environment self-image
through the association with green
purchasing behaviour and to what
extent sustainable products are seen
as an extension of their identity (Belk,
1988). These two elements will
s u b s e q u e n t l y d e t e r m i n e t h e
magnitude of the influence that the
individuals’ identity features have on
their consumer behaviour.
II. The Symbolic Interactionism theory
which refers to the fact that people
form their identity through the social
role that they are supposed to have
within peer groups (Leigh and Gabel,
1992). Consequently, social groups
and the opinion of people influence
consumers who tend to consume
products that communicate their
desired self to the external social
environment. This theoretical lens will
be useful to identify the stereotypical
characteristics that people gain in the
eyes of peers when purchasing ethical
products.
III. The Neutralisation theory which will
be crucial to understand how people
that are not consistent with their
environmentally conscious attitude
when it comes to actually buying
ethical products rationalise their
decision (Johnstone and Tan, 2015). It
is necessary for them to rationalise the
choice because otherwise they would
feel guilty and their self-esteem would
be negatively affected.
KEY THEMES
Three specific questions will be
deconstructed and investigated through
the knowledge provided by previous
literature and the chosen theoretical
lenses.
T h e fi r s t t h e m e h a s b e e n v e r y
controversially discussed in previous
literature and concerns the definition of
which are the antecedents or drivers of
consumer behaviour. Many attributes have

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been investigated in previous literature to
find the ones directly influencing consumer
purchasing choices with regards to ethical
products.
The second question that will be
addressed relates to the differences in the
perception of the self and subsequently in
the purchasing behaviour of green
products between collectivist societies
(e.g. India) and individualistic societies
(e.g. Portugal, Spain, UK).
The third element of discussion will cover
the way in which people who define
themselves as environmentally conscious
but do not follow this principle in their
purchasing behaviour rationalise their
choice in order not to lower their self-
esteem and damage the perception they
have of their own identity.
BENEFITS OF THE LITERATURE
REVIEW
The literature review will give and overall
view on ethical consumerism, the process
that brings customers to buy or not to buy
ethical products and the outcomes. This
topic has been covered in many papers
and researches during the last decades,
what differs is that this literature review will
analyse this trends without referring to one
particular country or to a group of similar
countries. Instead, it will go through the
differences between eastern and western
societies, bringing together in one paper
the diversity of the results collected by
researchers all over the world.
Moreover, the connection between identity
and green purchasing behaviour will be
analysed in depth and some implications
for marketers will be identified.
DRIVERS OF ETHICAL CONSUMERISM:
A BROADER VIEW
Akehurst et al. (2012) have developed a
research among the adult population of
Portugal analysing both demographic and
psychographic variables. Demographic
variables (i.e. sex, age, education, income)
have shown irrelevant impact on green
purchasing behaviour. On the other hand,
psychographic variables seemed to be
quite effective on customer behaviour.
Findings have shown that altruism has a
great influence on the purchasing
decisions of consumers. In fact, altruism is
by definition the concern about others and
it can be extended in terms of the general
concern about the well being of everyone
else. The welfare of the environment
around us influences the present and the
future health and prosperity of the human
race. Another interesting factor that
Akehurst et al. (2012) have found to have
a strong impact on the choice of
purchasing green products is the
Perceived Consumer Behaviour (PCE).
Johnstone and Tan (2015) support this
theory as they also found, through their
research, that individuals tend to think that
if no one else worries about trying to be
green and make the world a better place, it
is pointless that only some individuals do.
People find hard to understand the
importance and impact of their individual
action towards the cause, as they cannot
immediately see it. Subsequently,
individuals that are surrounded by other
ethical consumers are more likely to
believe in the effectiveness of their actions
and to engage a green purchasing
behaviour.
Fraj and Martinez’s (2006) work is based
on a sample of 595 Spanish individuals
and their purpose was to identify which
values and lifestyles provide valid
explanation for ethical consumerism. The
conclusions that have been drawn explain
ecological behaviour through two main
antecedents. The first one is the value
given to ecological matters and the second
one is the enterprising spirit of consumers.
It is easy to justify the first element they
have identified, while the enterprising spirit
can be deconstructed and seen as a self-
fulfilment feeling, a constant need to strive
for improvement. People who care about
being the best version of themselves and
always try to improve, resulted to apply
this attitude also when concerning the

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environment, which they try to improve
through ethical consumerism. In fact,
consumers presenting enterprising spirit
resulted to be characterised by having an
ecological lifestyle (Fraj and Martinez,
2006). Thus, ecological values along with
active, enterprising and improvement-
focused lifestyle seem to be determining
factors of ecological consumer behaviour.
Khare (2015) has looked for the
antecedents to ethical purchasing
behaviour within the Indian emerging
economy. Findings have shown that green
self-identity, peer influence and past green
buying behaviour accounted for 54.9
percent for ethical consumerism (Khare,
2015). These results clearly demonstrate
that most of Indian people purchasing
green products feel a connection between
their purchases and their identity. In fact,
not only one of the main reasons for their
green buying behaviour is that they see
ethics as a reflection of their own identity
and want to apply this principle to their
buying behaviour as well, but they also
and most importantly want and feel proud
to show their peers their green identity
through the purchases they make.
In conclusion, it can be said that the most
relevant driving forces determining ethical
consumerism are altruism, perceived
consumer behaviour, ecological values,
enterprising spirit, green self-identity, peer
influence and past green buying behaviour.
The theory of the extended self can
explain four of them:
• Altruism and enterprising spirit are
closely related and refer to the desire to
improve the quality of life. This desire is
a feature which is part of the individuals’
identity and the will to reflect this
characteristic in the buying behaviour is
clear.
• Ecological values and green self identity
are the same thing and represent an
internal feature that people want to
develop and display to others also
through the products they purchase,
resulting in a symbolic consumption of
products they identify with and that
represent an extension of their self.
The theory of symbolic interactionism
clarifies the other three elements:
• Perceived consumer behaviour can be
defined as the influence that what other
people choose to do has on the
customer, which is very similar to peer
influence. People feel the need to be
like their peers to be accepted and are
reluctant to do something if they are not
sure about the fact that the majority of
other people will do the same (Gupta
and Ogden, 2009).
• Past green buying behaviour also
relates to influence groups as someone
who has been initiated to the purchase
of green products by someone they
trust is more likely to start consuming
ethically.
COLLECTIVIST SOCIETIES VERSUS
I N D I V I D U A L I S T S O C I E T I E S : A
COMPARISON
Through the analysis of a number of
experiments and researches developed in
different parts of the world, it has become
clear that the perception of the self varies
significantly depending on the context and
the cultural background of individuals. As it
has been explained above through findings
and theoretical lenses, the concept of
identity is closely related to the ethical
consumption patterns. It is interesting to
investigate how different societies can
shape the individuals’ perception of their
identity and consequently change their
customer behaviour.
The comparison will be based on two
types of societies: collectivist societies,
such as the Indian society and individualist
societies, such as the USA.
In an emerging country like India,
information and awareness about green
products and marketing and the related
behaviours are limited and their popularity
is just starting to increase Khare (2015). In
collectivist societies, peer influence and
group conformance are considered

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fundamental principles which lie at the
basis of the culture itself. Consumers
perceive their identity as derived from the
group they are part of, and consequently
Indian customers prefer adhering to
norms, rules and common practices if it
means the possibility to be part of a social
group.
Within individualistic developed nations
such as the USA, green marketing is quite
aggressive and people are surrounded by
incredibly large amounts of information
about ethical consumerism. However,
many people find it confusing and suspect
as they are not sure of which companies
are truly ethical and which are developing
a greenwashing process (Johnstone and
Tan, 2015). Individualistic societies tend to
make people less likely to conform to a
new consumption pattern, as people are
more interested in their own opinion and
thoughts as individuals and tend to
question more and be more sceptic. Within
individualistic cultures, people are slightly
less interested in being accepted in
specific social groups as they do not
consider it as crucial as in collectivist
societies, their push towards ethical
consumption comes mainly from their own
values and only in part from social
pressure (Moser, 2015).
To sum up, it can be stated that the main
difference between collectivist and
individualist societies is that in collectivist
societies people tend to perceive their
identity as strictly connected to the social
group they belong to and, as a
consequence, their purchasing behaviour
depends on what they are expected to do
within the group. In other words, members
of collectivist societies value their
membership more than their personal
preferences (Decropet al., 2007). Within
individualistic societies, instead, people
define themselves as individuals and like
to think that their features are unique. This
mindset lead them to be more sceptic and
to differentiate from others, resulting in
purchasing decisions that are mainly
driven by their own opinions and
preferences.
THE ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAP: HOW
PEOPLE RATIONALISE THEIR LACK OF
CONSISTENCY
Research (e.g. international surveys,
opinion polls) shows that consumers are
concerned about the environment (Gupta
and Ogden, 2009) (Johnstone and Tan,
2015). However, 59 percent of Americans
claim they do not even think about
participating in ethical activities (Gupta and
Ogden, 2009). Moreover, experiments with
focus groups provide plenty of examples of
individuals who define themselves as
environmentally conscious, but still are
incapable of performing a truly ethical
consumer behaviour, for example:
“In my flat I flick off the lights and only fill
up the kettle about half way and my
flatmates they’ll be like, what are you doing
that for? They’re throwing out bottles and
things like this and you’re just making this
sort of effort and you just think, what’s the
point?” (Johnstone and Tan, 2015).
If ethical principles are part of their identity,
how do customers protect their self identity
and self esteem from their lack of
consistency? Johnstone and Tan (2015)
have found that most people tend to use
neutralisation techniques to justify their
personal norm-violating behaviour. The
most popular neutralisation techniques
seem to be the denial of responsibility, the
denial of injury and the appeal to higher
loyalties (Johnstone and Tan, 2015).
The denial of responsibility is often based
on factors like monetary cost, great
amount of time spent on deciding which
products are more reliable, unclear
marketing messages and lack of
government intervention with adequate
policies and norms.
The denial of injury is supported by
common belief arguments such as that
non-green products have never killed
anyone and that there is no evidence they

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actually harm the environment. The
opposite argument is also made stating
that it is useless to put into practice ethical
principles as long as most people keep on
harming the environment. As stated before
and demonstrated in the customer citation
at the beginning of the paragraph, people
are unlikely to take action if they do not
believe that others will do the same. In
fact, green buyers are usually high trusters
who expect that other people will act in
their same way (Gupta and Ogden, 2009).
The appeal to higher loyalties is one of the
most utilised methods to rationalise the
deviancy and often refers to the
commitment to familial duties, such as the
fact that if you are trying to raise your
children and have no money and a lot of
things to do, you need to choose what is
best for your family.
In conclusion, it can be said that there is a
strong connection between the purchasing
choices and the perception of the self and
identity. In fact, when people do not
manage to be consistent with their ethical
principles when buying, they feel the need
to justify their lack of coherence through
neutralisation techniques. However, these
justifications are quite weak. The denial of
responsibility can be addressed by
marketers and policy makers by improving
communications and norms. The denial of
injury can be denied by simply providing
some information on the effects of ethical
consumption and non-ethical consumption
on the environment. The appeal to higher
loyalties can easily be invalidated by
pointing out that the welfare of the
environment is something concerning
everyone and that this is the world in which
future generations will have to live, people
cannot state they are using intoxicating
products because raising children is more
important while they are destroying the
world in which the same children will have
to live.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Findings from researches developed all
over the world, concerning both emerging
and developed economies, western and
eastern countries have shown that the
main factors determining consumer
behaviour are: altruism, perceived
consumer behaviour (Akehurst et al.,
2012), ecological values, enterprising spirit
(Fraj and Martinez, 2006), green self-
identity, peer influence and past green
buying behaviour (Khare, 2015). Each of
these factors is related to the self and
identity of individuals, as demonstrated
through the extended self theory and the
symbolic interactionism theory.
Consumers belonging to collectivist
societies such as India define their identity
through their role in society and are more
likely to be influenced by peer groups in
their purchasing decisions, while members
of individualistic societies tend to define
their identity through their ‘unique’
characteristics and value more their own
preferences and values which are the
drivers of their consumption choices.
These differences between cultural
contexts lead to diversity in the perception
of the identity and purchasing behaviour is
strongly influenced, demonstrating once
more the importance of the self in
customer behaviour.
The concept of identity is linked to
purchasing decisions in a way that makes
it difficult for customers to accept that they
are not being consistent with the ethical
principles they claim to have when
choosing not to consume green products.
Accepting their lack of consistency would
lower their self-esteem and, in order to
protect it, they try to rationalise their choice
through neutralisation techniques such as
the denial of responsibility, the denial of
injury and the appeal to higher loyalties.
Implications for marketers would be to
encourage experienced green consumers
to help other people understand the
benefits of ethical consumerism, applying
a ‘learning by doing strategy’ (Tadajewski
and Wagner‐Tsukamoto, 2006). In this
way, people would also feel more
comfortable surrounded by peers and

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would be more likely to trust them.
Moreover, marketers should explain more
in detail the positive effects that every
single action of every single person can
have on the environment, in order to stop
people thinking they will have no impact if
other people do not start behaving
ecologically. Also, providing customers
with more precise information and policies
concerning ecological behaviour would
deny neutralisation techniques, showing
the weakness of the arguments and
stopping people from using them to justify
themselves.
Future research should collect actual
purchasing data and focus more on those
instead of using surveys and interviews as
people are not always accurate in
evaluating themselves. Moreover, the
stereotype of the ethical consumer should
be analysed more in depth in order to
overcome it and make people take global
issues seriously.
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