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The purpose of this study is to examine how subjective knowledge about fair trade products and the perceived trustworthiness of information about fair trade goods influence purchase intention and reported purchase behaviour across two product categories, namely, fashion and food.

Data were collected from an online survey with a sample of 1,616 consumers in four European countries, namely, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK.

The results show that subjective knowledge moderates the positive relationship between intentions to purchase and reported purchase behaviour of fair trade products, however, the moderating role of perceived information trustworthiness was not significant. Furthermore, both the intention to purchase and reported purchase behaviour are significantly lower for fair trade fashion products than for fair trade food products.

This paper shows how fair trade consumption behaviour is mainly influenced by subjective knowledge about fair trade products. It reveals existing differences in both the buying intentions and reported purchase behaviour in different European markets.

This research broadens the understanding of consumers’ fair trade consumption behaviour across two different product categories and four different countries, with a focus on the interaction effect of consumers’ subjective knowledge and information trustworthiness.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to assess the influence of four promotional strategies on students' purchase intention for fair trade coffee; and second to examine the effect of attractiveness and credibility of two university sports celebrities on purchase intention for fair‐trade coffee in a campus convenience store.

A survey of 100 college students at a mid‐western asked them to rate two campus sports celebrities on attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness and the relationship of these qualities to purchase intention for fair trade coffee. Influence of four promotional strategies on purchase intention was assessed.

There was a positive and significant relationship between attractiveness and trustworthiness of the sports celebrities and customers' purchase intention for fair‐trade coffee. However, a “buy one get one free cup coupon” stimulated higher purchase intention than sports celebrities, flyers, and packaging.

Results are based on a student sample. Advertising stimuli were written scenarios with no illustrations.

Less expensive promotional strategies (e.g. coupons) rather than celebrity endorsements may be equally effective in eliciting purchase intention for fair trade products.

The paper is innovative in its examination of the effectiveness of promotional strategies (including sports celebrity influence) to promote fair trade products in a small business context.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to examine young female consumers' purchase behaviours related to non‐food fair trade products. Interrelationships among beliefs, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and purchase intentions in regard to fair trade products were examined within a framework of the theory of planned behaviour to arrive at an in‐depth understanding of young female consumers' fair trade consumption.

Using a probability sampling approach, 810 complete responses were collected via web‐based surveys from 18‐28 year old female college students at a large Midwestern university. Path model analysis was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.

The results revealed that young female consumers' beliefs about the fair trade concept and product attributes, attitudes toward fair trade purchases, and perceived behavioural control in regard to fair trade purchases, were all important factors in determining consumers' intentions to purchase a fair trade product.

Several important strategic implications emerged in this study for fair trade retailers targeting young female consumers. The generalization of the findings to the US population may be limited because the data were collected from a small to medium‐sized community with a fair trade specialty store.

This study focused on providing insights for a previously unaddressed fair trade consumer segment – a younger female consumer group between ages 18 and 28. The results of this study may provide insight to artisan producers and retailers in expanded opportunities to distribute, market, and promote fair trade products to this consumer segment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological antecedents (i.e. consumer mindsets) and individual difference characteristics (i.e. moral identity) affect the intention to purchase Fair Trade products based on the triadic reciprocal causation model in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986). The primary factors that influence ethical consumption decisions in ethnic Chinese societies were explored by integrating the unique cultural environment of the Chinese.

The study effective sample comprised university students and professors. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses and indirect effects. Results showed that moral identity internalization had a mediating effect on the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products.

A high moral identity symbolization had a moderating effect on the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products. This demonstrated that the two dimensions of moral identity, internalization and symbolization, play different roles and have different functions in regards to the intention to purchase Fair Trade products.

Future studies are urged to examine this issue at a cultural level by performing a cross-cultural comparison and to integrate consumer heterogeneity for a deeper examination of the interaction between demographic factors and psychological traits on consumer behaviours regarding Fair Trade products.

This study indicates that moral identity internalization is the primary factor that influences ethical consumption decisions in Chinese societies. In terms of the moderating effect of moral identity symbolization, results showed that the higher an individual’s moral identity symbolization, the stronger the relationship between a collectivistic mindset and the intention to purchase Fair Trade products is. These results can serve as a reference for marketing communications and market segmentation policies in the business world.

This study focused on two research questions: How do generational cohorts of fair trade consumers differ in their product attitudes and behaviors, retail preferences, shopping orientations, and socio‐political attitudes? How do factors influencing purchase intentions for fair trade apparel differ among generational cohorts?

Data from 1,055 current customers of four North American fair trade businesses were collected via mail survey and store‐intercept. Respondents included generation X (ages 29‐40, n=200), baby boomer (ages 41‐59, n=589), and swing (ages 60‐75, n=266) generations.

Results revealed that baby boomers and swing respondents differed from Generation X participants in their greater focus on qualities of apparel comfort, value, and quality; preference for authentic products and ethnic attire; and local activism behavior. In contrast, they exhibited more limited interest in wearing fashionable attire. All respondents placed high importance on fair trade philosophy centered on wages, workplace, and the environment. For all generational cohorts, their propensity toward wearing ethnic attire was the strongest influence on future intentions to purchase fair trade clothing.

For fair trade researchers, taking generational cohorts into consideration is recommended for assisting fair trade business persons in reaching their goal of market expansion to younger consumers.

Coupling significantly expanded information on ethnicity of designs, colors, production methods, or garments styles, along with current promotion of fair trade practices, was suggested for expanding purchases among consumers in both the generation X and swing cohorts. Baby boomer participants also valued pragmatic clothing details related to comfort, value, and quality.

This research provided support for use of generational cohorts in understanding consumer behavior. Regression analysis across the total sample led to different results as compared to when each generational cohort was examined individually.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of using social media to increase knowledge about and motivate purchase behaviors of fair-trade products, focusing specifically on the influence of information format (media richness) and characteristics (information quality and quantity).

One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test whether consumer responses differ based on the information format. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to examine the relationship among constructs of the hierarchy of effects model.

Participants exposed to the video format (rich media) had higher scores on information quality, subjective knowledge and emotion than those exposed to the text only format (lean media). SEM results showed that both objective and subjective knowledge had significant influences on emotion and emotion, in turn, had a significant influence on purchase intentions. In addition, information quantity and quality had direct and significant effects on emotion.

This study focused on the crucial role of knowledge related to fair-trade products by distinguishing two different types: objective and subjective knowledge. Despite the growing body of literature concerning socially responsible consumer behavior (SRCB), there are very few studies that specifically examine the differential impact of objective and subjective knowledge on consumer behaviors. Furthermore, the original hierarchy of effects model does not include antecedents of the cognitive dimension. Because developing knowledge plays a key role in motivating SRCB, this study added characteristics of information to the model to examine their influence on knowledge level.

Concerns related to the ethical issues are evident in the increasingly socially conscious marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of fair-trade communication activities in the buying decision-making process of chocolate. The role of emotional empathy in influencing the willingness to pay and the purchase intention was also explored.

A mail survey with a sample of 199 Italian chocolate consumers was conducted. Respondents were equally and randomly distributed among the four print advertising stimuli: conventional brand with conventional campaign; conventional brand with pro-social campaign; pro-social brand with conventional campaign; and pro-social brand with pro-social campaign. A between-subjects factorial design was used to test the hypotheses.

Results showed the effectiveness of pro-social marketing campaigns in increasing consumers’ willingness to pay and purchase intention for fair-trade chocolate. Contextually, consumers with a high level of emotional empathy showed a greater purchase intention as opposed to those with a low level.

As the ethical nature of the product should be communicated in several ways, the effect of different types of textual information on the dependent variables should be considered.

The study enriches the literature on ethical consumption and provides some guidance to manufacturers and product managers for understanding the role of pro-social marketing communication in influencing consumer behaviour.

The purpose of this study is to expand the knowledge base of Baby Boomers’ attitudes, behaviours and perceived barriers related to fair trade purchasing.

This study included 168 Baby Boomers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Data analysis included a combination of both quantitative (descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests and correlation analysis) and qualitative techniques.

Findings indicated that the participants exhibited positive attitudes towards fair trade but were minimally engaged in fair trade purchasing. Furthermore, the participants perceived numerous barriers to purchasing fair trade products including the incompatibility of fair trade merchandise with lifestyles, the inability to touch and see fair trade products prior to purchase and difficulty in identifying fair trade items.

A limitation of this study is that the sample was well-educated university faculty and it is not representative of all Baby Boomers.

Fair trade entities need to be more effective in marketing the advantages of the fair trade. Fair trade organizations should consider targeting marketing strategies specific to the unique demographic and psychographic characteristics of Baby Boomer consumers.

This research expands understanding of the consumer behaviours of US Baby Boomers related to fair trade. An additional contribution is the comparison of differences in fair trade knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of Early vs Late Baby Boomers. It also has potentially important implications for fair trade organizations, as the paper discusses marketing strategies specific to Baby Boomers.

Although the relationships between subjective norms, personal norms, consumer social responsibility and consumer attitude have been studied, the direct or indirect relationships that potentially exist between these factors influencing consumer purchase intention remain unclear. Because attracting consumers to purchase fair trade (FT) products is fundamental to the success of the FT movement, the study introduced a theoretical framework that emphasizes the mediating role of personal norms and consumer attitude towards FT product purchases in the effects of subjective norms and consumer social responsibility on consumer purchase intention towards FT products.

Data were collected from 398 university students; structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data. Mediation analysis was also performed to determine potential direct or indirect relationships between factors.

The results revealed that subjective norms and responsibility to support FT products affect personal norms and attitude towards purchasing such products, which in turn influenced consumer purchase intention toward purchasing these products. Personal norms partially mediate the influence of subjective norms and consumer social responsibility on attitudes towards purchasing FT products. By contrast, the consumer attitude fully mediates the effects of subjective norms, consumer social responsibility and personal norms on purchase intentions towards FT products.

Because consumer purchasing is critical to the success of the FT movement and to achieving the UN's SDGs, this study helps FT marketers to better understand the effects of subjective norms and consumer social responsibility on consumer behavioural intentions and to develop effective marketing and promotion strategies for increasing consumer purchase intention.