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In the past few years, companies have made significant contributions towards Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) as a strategy to improve business image. Nonetheless, many of these strategies have been unsuccessful because companies have failed to recognise the importance of consumers’ ethical beliefs and their religiosity in forming their perception towards CSR. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the level of importance of consumers’ ethical beliefs and social responsibilities (CnSR) and to examine the impact of consumers’ religiosity and ethical beliefs on CnSR.

Data were derived from a sample of undergraduate and postgraduate students at three large universities (i.e. one public and two private universities) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (N = 416). Indonesia is the largest Muslim population in the world.

7The study found that consumers value social responsibilities differently and that not all dimensions are important. Moreover, consumer ethical beliefs and religiosity significantly influence CnSR. The results of this study will contribute to the debate on consumer ethics and social responsibility research.

The current study has some limitations which, in turn, provide avenues for future research. The research context (one city in one country) may limit its generalizability. Future studies may focus on more cities and/or cross-country sections (developed versus developing countries) as well as use non-student populations.

Companies operating in Indonesia need to respect and value religiosity in Indonesia. Collaborating with a faith-based institution may help improve the effectiveness of CSR programmes launched by companies.

This is one of the first few studies exploring CSR in Indonesia.

The aim of this study is to explore drivers of corporate community involvement (CCI) initiatives and the challenges faced by companies in measuring the social impact of their initiatives in Australia.

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with various corporate social responsibility (CSR) or CCI managers from Australian companies and their not-for-profit (NFP) partners. The final sample consists of 27 managers from a mix of industries.

The study shows that stakeholder's salience may have an impact on CCI activities, especially in the area of measurements and reporting activities. Moreover, while some companies have attempted to measure the social impact of their initiatives, a large number of companies have not. This is all the more surprising given the recent focus in marketing on accountability and measurement. The results show three challenges: lack of interest, lack of resources and lack of consensus. Subsequently, the authors offer some research propositions to underline these challenges.

This study focuses on CCI which is one of the most visible parts of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It draws on interviews with various managers in charge of companies' CSR or CCI.

In the debate whether ethics should be separated from religion or otherwise, few have investigated the impact of religious beliefs and ethical ideologies on consumer ethics. Thus, the purpose of this study to investigate the influence of consumers’ religion, moral philosophy and generational cohort on their perception toward various consumers’ ethical behavior practices.

The study uses sample from three different cohorts (Generation Y, Generation X and Baby boomers) in Australia. The final numbers of respondents are 251. Male and female respondents are almost equal in number (52 and 48 per cent, respectively). Most participants are single (56 per cent), and 24 per cent are married. The age cohorts are Gen-Y (70 per cent), Gen-X (16 per cent) and Baby boomers (14 per cent). In terms of religion, 46 per cent of the respondents were identified as Christian or Catholic, whereas 42 per cent reported having no religion.

The results show that religiosity had the strongest effect compared to moral ideologies and generation cohorts. It can be assumed that at least for religious consumers, when two ideas collide between religion and ethical ideologies, religious principles may supersede ethical ideologies. The study offers several implications for marketers, educators and public policy makers.

The current study has several limitations, especially the use of convenience sampling that may limit the generalizability of the findings. Consumers in Australia may behave differently from general consumers or other cohorts with regard to their ethical judgments.

This is one of the first few studies exploring consumer ethics in Australia. We may conclude that in some ethical situations, religion will supersede ethical ideologies. Accordingly, it is important not to remove religion from ethics education, especially for religious consumers.

The Millennial generation accounts for 27 per cent of the world’s population. These numbers highlight the current and future impact of Millennials on world economies, and they are arguably the most powerful consumer group. Interestingly, Millennials are also the least religious generation. Hence, there is a need to investigate further how they view the world from an ethical and religious perspective and whether their beliefs evolve over time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is, first, to compare and contrast any changes in ethical beliefs across time. Second, the study will compare and contrast any changes in religiousness across time, and finally, it explores the effects of consumers’ religiousness on ethical beliefs across time.

Using paper-based survey, the data collection took place in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, resulting in 1,702 young respondents in total.

The results show that consumer ethics remain constant across time. Therefore, without intervention, individuals’ ethical behavior will remain unchanged. The results also indicate that Millennials understand the boundary between legal and illegal behavior. However, when the boundary becomes unclear, such as in situations in which they see no harm, downloading pirated software and recycling, Millennials were unsure and their religiousness affected their subsequent behavior. The study makes several contributions to consumer ethics and the impact of religiousness on ethical beliefs.

This study makes several contributions to consumer ethics research, especially whether young consumers’ ethical beliefs change or remain constant across time.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of religiosity in consumer ethics. This objective will be achieved by investigating the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on consumer ethics, and segmenting consumers’ religiosity and explore differences between each segment.

The surveys were distributed to undergraduate students, their friends and members of their immediate families, through a large public university in Australia. Of 700 paper questionnaires, participants returned 651. Incomplete surveys with too many missing values were removed from the sample. Of these, 517 were usable, yielding a response rate of 74 per cent. Singles accounted for 53.9 per cent of the sample, followed by married people (26.8 per cent). Of the respondents, 49.9 per cent were men. The majority of respondents were between 18 and 24 years old (52 per cent), followed by 15-34 years (16.4 per cent). Finally, most respondents had an income level of less than $20,000 (36.6 per cent) followed by $21,000-$40,000 (20.5 per cent) and $41,000-$61,000 (19.7 per cent). Overall, despite being dominated by younger consumers, the sample is relatively representative of the entire adult population of Australia.

The results show that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity had an impact on consumers’ ethical beliefs. Moreover, the results show significant differences between the two segments studied. The religious segment was more likely than the non-religious segment to reject various unethical beliefs, but no significant differences were found in the behavioural dimensions of recycling and doing good deeds.

This is one of the first few studies to explore the impact of religiosity on consumer ethics in Australia. The results of this study have several implications for academic researchers, religious leaders and managers working in the area of consumer ethics.

The plague of unethical practices in global businesses has sparked much research on the role of ethics in today’s business and society. One of the most effective tools to understand consumers’ motivation and behaviour is segmentation. Hence, the purpose of this study is segment ethical consumers based on consumer-ethics variables (i.e. actively benefiting, passively benefiting, questionable behaviour, no-harm, recycling and doing good).

Using a sample from the general population in Australia (N = 517), a TwoStep cluster analysis was conducted using baseline consumer ethics psychographic measures. The analysis resulted in three distinct segments: “The Good Samaritans”, “The Mainstream Ethical Consumers” and “The Unethical Consumers”.

The results clearly reveal that segments do exist among consumers in regards to their ethical beliefs. The study shows that a large percentage of consumers are ethical, there is also a segment consisting of unethical consumers.

The study shows that only a small percentage of consumers are highly ethical (i.e. The Good Samaritans). This shows an opportunity for educators and public policy makers to push the “Mainstream Ethical Consumers” to become the “Good Samaritans”. The Good Samaritans are consumers who will go above and beyond to be ethical and more likely to do good toward the society.

Unethical consumers comprise a unique segment where researchers, educators and public policy makers need to focus on when addressing unethical consumer behaviour in the society.

This is one of the first few studies to segment consumers based on the consumer ethics scales. By understanding different segments within consumers, the results of this study will assist researchers, managers and public policy makers address unethical behaviour in society.

Online digital piracy continues to rise globally. The issue is worsening among young people especially in the context of emerging markets due to lack of laws and regulations. Interestingly, emerging markets are also home to some of the highest religious followers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of young consumer’s religiousness on their attitude and intention towards digital piracy which should negate their tendency to pirate.

Data were collected from Indonesia (N = 715) by means of questionnaires distributed to business students at two major (one public and one private) Indonesian universities. The sample consists of 289 (40.4 per cent) males and 426 females (59.6 per cent). The student sample contained a majority of people who were aged 18 to 24 years (94.1 per cent).

The current study shows that intrinsic religiousness is a strong predictor of attitude towards digital piracy, intention to commit digital piracy, perceived benefits of digital piracy, perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. Extrinsic (social) religiousness was found to have a negative impact on perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. The results of this study will have several important implications for managers and especially religious leaders on how to combat digital piracy.

This is one of the first few studies exploring the impact of religiosity among young consumers in Indonesia.

The concept of grit has been receiving increased attention in recent years. Grit is a trait that enables individuals to persevere while facing challenges and obstacles in life, sometimes “winning at any cost”. The purpose of the study is to understand how ethical views may vary among different groups of people segmented on grittiness. Our key argument is that grittier segment is more inclined towards Machiavellian factors (amorality, desire for control, desire for status, distrust of others) and materialism.

Data derived from self-administered questionnaires completed by convenience samples of Indonesians living in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY), a region commonly considered as the miniature of Indonesia. Turning to market segmentation tools (n = 467), we first segment people based on their level of grittiness and, subsequently, investigate each segment's perception towards various Machiavellian factors (amorality, desire for control, distrust of others) and materialistic attitudes.

The study identified three segments of grittiness: The Least Gritty (the Good), The More Gritty (the Bad) and The Most Gritty (the Ugly). The results of this study showed the dark side of grit. Individuals with higher grit traits are more likely to behave unethically which could be referred to as “bad” and “ugly”. To help them succeed, cheating and lying are more likely considered acceptable by gritty individuals compared to less gritty “good” individuals.

Merely focussing on grit–be it grit promotion or training–may produce individuals who achieve success at all costs and disregard ethical values. An implication from the study is not to discourage developing grit in individuals but instead to add and emphasise ethical components. This implication is especially critical for educators and managers developing grit as a part of their activities.

The results of this study will have important theoretical implications and managerial implications educators balancing the consequences of teaching grit, but also for managers interested in understanding employees' level of grit within their workplaces along with ethical considerations.

This study aims to examine and compare ethical perceptions between genders on various potentially unethical consumer situations in Indonesia and Thailand.

A survey was conducted by distributing self-administered questionnaires to a convenience sample of university students in two large cities in Indonesia and Thailand. There are 278 respondents in Indonesia 158 participants for Thailand. Most respondents aged between 18-24 years.

Indonesian youths were found to believe that “passively benefiting”, “questionable action” and “downloading” are more unethical than Thai youths do. The relationship between gender and consumer ethics is not consistent in Indonesia and Thailand. Female youths in Indonesia tended to be more ethical in four out of seven dimensions of Consumer Ethics Scales than their counterparts, while no gender differences were found in Thailand.

The results show the different consumer ethics between Indonesia and Thailand that may reflect cultural variations, where Indonesia is more multicultural than Thailand. The mixed findings of the gender differences may suggest that there are no intrinsic gender differences in consumer ethics. Further, the results also provide implications for educators and public policy makers in both countries to encourage more active roles played by universities in building ethical sensitivity among future leaders.

This is one of the few studies examining the impact of gender on consumer ethical behavior in Southeast Asian countries, where various unethical behaviors (e.g. buying and using pirated products) are prevalent.

Various studies showed that unethical behaviours committed by consumers occur more frequently than may be expected. People have stolen from a shop at some time in their life and remained silent, people walk out of a grocery store have stolen something from the store and employees have stolen from their workplace. Why seemingly good people do bad things and vice versa? What factors contribute to this discrepancy? Hence, the purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the impact of ethical ideology on self-control and guilt proneness; second, to examine the roles of self-control and guilt proneness in consumer ethical decision making; and finally, to explore the mediating effects of self-control and guilt proneness on the relationship between consumer ideology and ethical decision making.

The authors collected a non-probability sample using a cross-sectional online survey of adult consumers across Australia wide. The sampling frame was from a pre-recruited online panel company Permissioncorp. Consumers were introduced to the study in relation to their beliefs in general consumer ethics behaviours. The response rate for the survey invite was 17.9 per cent, with a final sample size of 311 consumers out of 3,246 that were invited to participate based on the these screening criteria, i.e. their country of birth (Australia only), gender, age group, and state in which they reside to ensure representation across these groups.

The results showed that idealism was a positive determinant of guilt proneness and self-control, whereas relativistic individuals were less prone to guilt and less able to control their behaviour. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between self-control and unethical consumer behaviour. Finally, both self-control and guilt proneness had an indirect mediating effect on the relationship between ethical ideology and consumer behaviour.

This is one of the first studies to explore the interactions between ethical ideology, self-control, guilt proneness, and consumer ethics.