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This paper aims to propose a multilevel framework of fashion consumer ethics that unpacks how ethical consumers publicly express their identity through sustainable fashion (SF). The author explores SF’s cognitive, relational and contextual dynamics, highlighting how attitude–behavior (A-B) gaps might impede consumers’ ethical identity and social image alignment.

The framework theoretically reconstructs fashion consumer ethics by integrating social intuitionism, social representation theory and the public sphere. This theorizing process sheds light on fragmented attempts found in previous research to understand how ethical consumers express their self-identity and socially represent their image through SF, avoiding A-B gaps.

The theoretical propositions suggest how ethical consumers’ self-concept is expressed at the cognitive level, leading to ethical commitment toward self-associated fashion brands; social image is manifested at the relational level, giving rise to consumers’ ethical engagement in SF; and ethical consumers’ self-verify their identity-image alignment in the public sphere, thus addressing A-B issues.

The sociopsychological approach suggests a novel understanding of ethical consumers’ individual and social representation through SF consumption. The framework interprets SF as an “aesthetic of existence,” co-constructed collectively and symbolically expressed publicly. As a result, the proposed model combines different theories to introduce new causal mechanisms and constructs of ethical consumers’ cognition, sociological relations and public spheres.

Fully autonomous self-driving cars not only hold the potential for significant economic and environmental advantages but also introduce complex ethical dilemmas. One of the highly debated issues, known as the “trolley problems,” revolves around determining the appropriate actions for a self-driving car when faced with an unavoidable crash. Currently, the discourse on autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms is primarily shaped by Western ethical traditions, resulting in a Eurocentric bias due to the dominant economic and political influence of the West. However, considering that AV technology will be deployed across diverse cultural and religious contexts, this paper aims to contribute to the discourse by providing an Islamic perspective on programming the response of AVs in the event of an imminent crash.

This study proposes a novel methodology based on the Islamic concept of maṣlaḥa for the normative assessment of ethical decisions related to AV programming.

Drawing upon the works of classic Islamic jurists, this study highlights two distinct normative visions within Islamic traditions (akin to deontology and consequentialism) concerning the preservation of human lives in the context of AVs. This study explores the shared and divergent elements between Islamic and Western ethical approaches proposed for AVs.

This pioneering work examines AV crash algorithms from an Islamic perspective, filling a void in the global ethical discourse. This work will also serve an important role to bridge the gap between the theoretical Islamic ethical principles and their practical application in the realm of AVs.

This paper critiques the scope of neurotechnologies in significantly expanding the epistemological field of tourism and warns of their potential to undermine the cognitive capacity of tourists to act responsibly and responsively.

This study explores the intersections of neurotechnologies and tourism through an analysis that entails a two-step process: firstly, identifying key themes and debates within neurotourism literature; secondly, critically evaluating these discussions through the lenses of social tourism theory and neuroethics.

Firstly, the work questions the potential of neurotechnologies to significantly expand epistemological boundaries concerning a perennial question in tourism studies: namely, the goal pursued by tourists. Secondly, the paper introduces the framework of an ethics of neurotourism, which can aid in developing the ethical research agenda on neurotechnologies applied to tourism. This framework is used to argue that one of the key risks associated with the use of neurotechnologies in tourism is their capacity to encourage non-responsive and non-responsible tourist behaviour.

Both due to the traditional lack of interest in philosophy in tourism and the pro-business orientation of the tourism academy, critical studies on the relationship between neurotechnologies and tourism are limited. The primary contribution of this work is to underscore that the implementation of neurotechnologies in tourism not only has the potential to foster non-responsible behaviour by undermining tourists’ cognitive capacities to act responsibly, but also can diminish their responsiveness. In a neural context where tourists may already exhibit a reduced inclination towards moral engagement, this reduction in responsiveness can be particularly significant.

In today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, organizations deal with fragmented publics in contested public spheres. At the core, public opinion is not so much divided by issues per se but by deeply rooted moral concerns. Hence, while normative perspectives on morality prevail in strategic communication research, understanding the moral motives of stakeholders and publics from a descriptive standpoint becomes vital. In this light, the present conceptual paper discusses the implications of moral foundations theory (MFT), as an influential evolutionary-anthropological approach to morality, for strategic communication research and practice.

Adopting micro-, meso- and macro-perspectives, MFT's potential contribution to strategic communication research is explored regarding three foci: (1) moral framing, (2) narratives and (3) public discourse dynamics.

The paper concludes that frames and more complex narratives in strategic communication allude to MFT's five foundations – care, fairness, loyalty, authority and purity – in diverse ways and are given different readings by stakeholders and publics. Building on MFT, novel empirical tools are available to access and understand the complex web of moral meaning infused in public discourses.

For the first time, MFT is discussed systematically and in detail in the context of strategic communication research. The theory contributes to deepening the understanding of the conditions, e.g. for issues management and strategic mobilization. On broader view, this paper adds to the discussion on evolutionary perspectives in strategic communication research.

This exploratory research examined how emphasizing a brand’s unethical behaviour through high moral intensity news framing influences consumer boycott intention.

The hypotheses were tested and validated using two experimental studies that expose customers of real retail and personal care product brands to news articles that have high and low moral intensity news frames.

The results showed high moral intensity news framing’s positive effect on consumer boycott intention. The frame’s influence is moderated by moral awareness and partially mediated by perceived moral intensity and moral judgement. The findings suggest that consumers’ perception of the frame and their attitude towards the brand will have a substantial role in boycott intention.

These research outcomes aid in the understanding of news framing effects on boycott intention, providing both insights for consumer activists and managerial implications for stewards of brands.

While previous research have examined the impact of news frames on the typical audience, there has been relatively little focus on news framing’s impact on consumers and their decision to boycott brands. This study addresses this gap by applying the work on emphasis framing to a consumer decision-making context. It also introduces moral intensity framing to the news frame classification. In addition, this study expands current conceptualizations of individual ethical decision-making to help explain consumer boycott intent.

This study aims to propose a model of publics' ethical activism, testing the role of emotional outrage in an extended framework of the previously established STOPS model. Thus, this study aims to investigate (1) how ethical perception of a social issue affects situational motivation that leads to participation in public activism, and (2) how emotional outrage plays a role in mediating between situational motivation and activism behaviors.

The study aims at investigating the mediating role of emotional outrage between situational motivation and activism behaviors, which have not been investigated thoroughly in public relations research. By conducting a national survey with 386 people (N = 386) living in Australia, the study's suggestive model was tested in the context of two ethical issues (e.g. climate change and anti-racism). This study found that people who perceive an ethical issue are likely to be motivated to participate in activism behaviors. Specifically, three situational perceptions (i.e. problem recognition, constraint recognition and involvement recognition) were found to be significant factors affecting situational motivation (SM) in problem solving. A high level of emotional outrage was found to play a mediating role between SM and consequential ethical activism behaviors. The more people feel outraged about an ethical issue, the more likely they will engage in punitive behavior. This study contributes to the theoretical development of public relations by illuminating how situational perceptions lead to emotional outrage that promotes behavioral intentions in an ethical context. This study also suggests that a practitioner should be sought to manage the levels of perceptual factors when setting up a communication plan in response to an ethical public crisis.

This study found that people who perceive an ethical issue are likely to be motivated to participate in activism behaviors. Specifically, three situational perceptions (i.e. problem recognition, constraint recognition and involvement recognition) were found to be significant factors affecting situational motivation (SM) in problem solving. A high level of emotional outrage was found to play a mediating role between SM and consequential ethical activism behaviors. The more people feel outraged about an ethical issue, the more likely they will engage in punitive behavior.

This study substantiates how three perceptual antecedents may conjointly affect situational motivation. Also, the findings in this study also contribute to theoretical development in predicting ethical activism intentions. Another contribution of this study is to demonstrate the mediating role of emotional outrage between situational motivation and ethical activism. The authors strived to explore individuals' perceptions and its impact on intention to boycott against ethical problematic social issues. It should be considered that this study used a hypothetical and manipulated situation where respondents are exposed to the visual stimuli that focus on the moral problems that those specific issues have raised.

First, as problem recognition plays a prime mover role in the overall problem-solving process in an ethical context, organizations should reduce individual's ethical problem recognition. When setting up a communication plan, an organization should showcase their positive role in addressing the ethical problems (e.g. to show Adani's commitment to indigenous people and efforts to protect the environment). The response strategy should be effective enough to create an “ethical dilemma,” which refers to a situation in which one has a difficult choice to make between two ethical options.

This study contributes to theoretical development of public relations by illuminating how situational perceptions lead to emotional outrage that promotes behavioral intentions in an ethical context. This study also suggests that a practitioner should be sought to manage the levels of perceptual factors when setting up a communication plan in response to an ethical public crisis.