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Firms are increasingly required to make ethical choices when selecting suppliers for their supply chains, and the decisions often rest on individual purchasing managers within the firm. This study builds on the literature on ethical decision-making and the concept of decision frames to investigate the decision-making process of purchasing managers in financially distressed firms. Codes of Conduct (CoC) and how they are enforced (financial rewards and codified procedures for oversight) are studied in terms of their effectiveness in informing and guiding purchasing managers in their supplier selection decisions.

Four sequential experiments were conducted with a total of 648 purchasing managers from manufacturing firms.

The results indicate that purchasing managers in firms facing financial distress are more than four times more likely than purchasing managers in the control groups to select the less ethical supplier in favor of better operational performance. As a potential remedy, it is found that enforcing the firm's CoC help to counteract this tendency and increase ethical supplier selection decisions by 2.1- to 2.6-fold. However, CoC enforcement that invokes multiple conflicting decision frames simultaneously is more likely to impair than promote ethical supplier selection decisions, compared to situations where only one enforcement method is present.

These findings develop an improved understanding of purchasers' decision-making processes and shed light on how to effectively use CoCs to guide these decisions.

As the importance of the purchasing function in corporations increases, there has been a concurrent increase in the importance of ethics in the purchasing environment. The purchasing linkage is critical to effective operation of corporations as high‐quality raw materials and supplies available on a timely basis are required for global competitive success. Bottom‐line productivity and profitability, as well as long‐term viability, are directly dependent on effective functioning in the purchasing arena. The traditional organisational structure of the purchasing function has the potential to encourage unethical employee practices. Viewing the relationship between an organisation and its suppliers as adversarial creates conflict as well as inherent ethical dilemmas in the purchasing function. This article discusses various categories of unethical purchasing situations and illustrates ways to lessen or avoid these dilemmas through the introduction of just‐in‐time (JIT) inventory control procedures. The internal co‐operation necessary in the purchasing/operations interface under JIT facilitates development of a corporate culture supportive of ethical behaviour. Moreover, since in JIT the supplier is considered part of the team – the “person at the previous work station” – these concepts can reinforce intraorganisational ethics as well.

The primary objective of this study is to explore the nuanced interplay of conspicuous consumption, ethical label purchasing and the ensuing dynamics of civic virtue and cynicism within the luxury foodservice context.

Grounded in a theoretical understanding of solidarity within the context of product consumption, this research employs a two-pronged approach involving secondary data analysis and scenario-based experimental studies. The initial phase involves analyzing firm-level data from the Euromonitor database in 2019 and 2021. The main study employs a between-subjects experimental design with a cohort of 316 participants sourced from an online panel.

The results reveal a consistent pattern in the consumption of luxury foodservice and underscore a distinct upward trajectory in consumer demand for ethically labeled food. Notably, these findings underscore the moderating role of ethical label purchasing in the relationship between conspicuous consumption and consumers civic virtue. Additionally, ethical label purchasing moderates the impact of conspicuous consumption on consumer cynicism, both directly and indirectly through emotional solidarity related to both communal and equitable principles.

This study holds significance for both luxury food service researchers and market design practitioners. It provides valuable insights into how ethical labeling interacts with consumers conspicuous consumption, all facilitated by emotional solidarity.

This paper presents an interpretive study of older consumers and their potential for ethical consumption. Although latterly marketers are recognising the value of older consumers, research has not yet examined their attitudes and behaviour towards ethical consumption. From the collection of individual interviews conducted for this study, it would seem that older people share a sense of moral responsibility in their purchase behaviour, and as a community are willing to engage in affirmative purchasing and boycotting. Although there are perceived barriers to their participation in broader ethical purchasing activities, they would appear to be a potentially significant force in the consumer resistance movement. The findings suggest that as a group, older consumers should be considered as an important target market for ethical marketers who wish to benefit from their collective sense of social obligation.

This study aims to investigate consumer choice motives for purchasing organic coffee by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) approach and how those are influenced by different degrees of ethical concern and price sensitivity to gain a better understanding about consumer behavior related to the rapidly growing demand for this unique product.

Data were collected from consumers at cafés (n = 482) located in seven metropolitan cities in South Korea using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Results documented that health and environmental protection were predictors of purchase attitude and subjective norm. Environmental protection was found to be a predictor of perceived behavioral control. TPB antecedents were significantly related to purchase intention. Ethical concern and price sensitivity documented the significant moderating roles upon organic coffee purchasing behavior.

Findings further contribute to a better understanding about influential choice motives regarding organic coffee and their effect upon consumer purchase behavior.

Findings assist in understanding the roles ethical concerns and price sensitivity play upon consumer behavior issues specific to purchasing organic coffee. New research findings assist with marketing and promoting the social benefits associated with organic coffee while also offering pricing strategies for café and restaurant businesses to optimize their organic coffee sales revenue potential.

This study is one of the first to clarify consumer motives for purchasing organic coffee, and to ascertain whether consumer purchase attitudes and intentions regarding organic coffee are influenced by different degrees of ethical concern and price sensitivity.

This paper aims to quantify the relative importance of reasons used to explain consumers’ selection and rejection of ethical products, accounting for differences in ethical orientations across consumers.

Reviewing previous literature and drawing on in-depth interviews, a taxonomy of reasons for and against ethical purchasing is developed. An online survey incorporating best–worst scaling (BWS) determines which reasons feature more in shaping ethical consumerism. Cluster analysis and multinomial regression are used to identify and profile segments.

Positively orientated consumers (42 per cent of respondents) purchase ethical products more so because of reasons relating to impact, health, personal relevance, and quality. Negatively orientated consumers (34 per cent of respondents) reject ethical alternatives based on reasons relating to indifference, expense, confusion and scepticism. A third segment is ambivalent in their behaviour and reasoning; they perceive ethical purchasing to be effective and relevant, but are confused and sceptical under what conditions this can occur.

Preferences were elicited using an online survey rather than using real market data. Though the task instructions and methods used attempted to minimise social-desirability bias, the experiment might still be subject to its effects.

Competitive positioning strategies can be better designed knowing which barriers to ethical purchasing are more relevant. The paper challenges the benefits in altruistic-based positioning and outlines shortcomings in communication about ethical products, including those relating to product labelling.

Through their purchase behaviours across a number of categories, ethical consumers aim to minimise the harm and exploitation of humans, animals and the natural environment. This research provides insights into the potential reasons why the uptake of ethical products is not being achieved and how it can be addressed to make improvements in making this movement more mainstream.

This research examines an extensive list of reasons for and against ethical purchasing used by a general population of consumers. By forcing respondents to make trade-offs, this is the first study quantifying the relative importance of reasons utilised by consumers. It also highlights the value in using cluster analysis on best–worst scores to identify underlying segments.

A global shift in ethical/sustainable purchase drivers highlights Generation Z (persons aged 15–24) as an important market for producers and marketers. Although much research has touched on fair trade consumption, very little has focused on Gen Z's consumption patterns. This study provides insights into and implications of younger consumers' motivations in ethical/sustainable consumption.

This research examines Gen Z's purchase intention towards fair trade coffee with the theory of reasoned action framework. Data were collected with a convenience sample, and analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling.

The research found a significant influence of knowledge of fair trade towards product interest. Furthermore, general attitudes towards fair trade had a significant influence on product interest, product likeability and convenience. Lastly, product interest and subjective norms significantly influenced Gen Z's purchase intentions towards fair trade coffee.

Findings suggest that Gen Z's shift in ethical/sustainable consumption revolves around their subjective norms or peer influence circles and contributes to the notions of self-branding, identify claims and social currency. Younger generations are digital natives, and social media has created a looking glass into their actions. This digital expansion has created more opportunities for individuals to monitor the actions of others and release information in real-time. Therefore, ethical/sustainable consumption by Gen Z can be used as a communication tool among their peers to project personal values and ideological shifts and to influence others close to them.

Although research demonstrates the importance of ethical product attributes for consumers, a prior study has not examined the role of consumption target (i.e. self-purchases vs gift-giving) on consumers’ preference for products with ethical attributes. Notably, consumers’ preference for quality can differ between self-purchases and gifts, and the presence of ethical attributes can impact product quality perceptions. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the presence of ethical attributes alters decision-making in a gift-giving context using perceptions of product quality as an explanatory variable for these differences.

One field study and two controlled experiments test the proposed hypotheses. The experiments were conducted across different product categories and samples.

Results showed that the presence of an ethical attribute leads to higher purchase intentions for products in a gift-giving context compared to self-purchase. Perceived quality mediates this effect. Further process evidence through moderation, including resource synergy beliefs, support the findings. This paper discusses the theoretical, managerial and societal implications of these results.

Although care was taken to select products to enhance generalizability, the studies presented here are limited to two products. Further, although the present research includes a field study with actual charity-related purchases, the role of time pressures is not explicitly explored. Finally, the role of brand-self connections is not explored in the current research. The ability for a donor to integrate the mission of a charity into their self-perception or the potential for social normative influences to impact behaviors remains open for exploration.

Charities are facing increasing pressures to raise sustainable funds to support their missions. The research provides guidance to marketers and fundraisers in the non-profit sector that allows them to direct more focused fundraising appeals to donors and adapt their fundraising efforts to create a fit between their audience and fundraising appeals.

This research demonstrates that consumption target (purchasing for the self versus purchasing for others) is a vital contextual factor that influences customer preference for ethical attributes. These results complement the extant literature by exploring the underlying mechanism behind consumers’ responses to the ethical attributes in the case of self-purchase and other-purchase. The underlying effect is supported theoretically by resource synergy beliefs.

The cognitive processes through which religiosity and idealism affect ethical consumption have received little attention in prior research. This study aims to explore the influence of religiosity and idealism on ethical purchasing intention through moral obligation and perceived customer effectiveness (PCE).

The study analyses data from 149 Muslim participants in Saudi Arabia, using structural equation modelling.

The results reveal that religiosity leads to PCE but not to moral obligation and that idealism leads to both PCE and moral obligation. Mediation analysis indicated that PCE mediates the effect of both religiosity and idealism, although moral obligation only mediates the effect of idealism.

This research enriches the understanding of ethical consumption and contributes to the debate on how religiosity and idealism affect ethical consumption. It also has significant implications for theory and the development of sustainable marketing initiatives. Marketing campaigns and other promotional activities may focus on the interconnection between ethical purchase and the religious and ideology dimensions of consumers. Also, while formulating a communication strategy, it is necessary to emphasize the religious dimension of the sustainable use of the product.

Moral obligation and PCE have been shown as cognitive and psychological mechanisms explaining the links between religiosity or idealism and ethical purchasing behaviour.

This study aims to explore the factors that encourage Generation Z consumers to turn an ethical purchase intention into purchase behaviour. Theory of planned behaviour model is applied to understand the Generation Z ethical consumerism.

Qualitative method in the form of 18 semi-structured interviews was conducted on participants aged within the Generation Z cohort in the UK.

Research findings show that Generation Z has strong awareness and desire towards ethical and environmental issues. Driven in the main by the cohorts unlimited exposure to social media platforms and online resources where information is shared. Generation Z’s frugality limits them to purchase truly ethically in their current life stage. Financial aspirations from this target market suggest a future desire to purchase high value ethical items. Further trends discovered highlighted sustainable lifestyle choices within the generation. Recycling, diet choices and reduced consumption on clothing were expressed. The paper highlights that Generation Z are aware of ethical issues prevalent in society and are doing what they can at this life stage to make a positive impact.

This research has valuable implications for both academics and marketers. It provides new insights for scholars into understanding Generation Z decision-making in ethical consumption. It successfully applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand generational consumer behaviour. The findings can assist practitioners to determine effective marketing strategies to persuade Generation Z to act ethically. The research can also be considered when dealing with government legislation when tackling social change in younger population as this appeared important factor for the researched consumers. Marketers should also consider digital influencers as part of their communication campaigns targeting Generation Z users.

This search offers a valuable contribution to current academic findings towards Generation Z research as ethical consumers incorporating TPB framework.