Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Consumption Ethics: A Review and Analysis of Future Directions for Interdisciplinary Research

  • Editorial Essay
  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 13 March 2020

This article has been updated

Abstract

The terminology employed to explore consumption ethics, the counterpart to business ethics, is increasingly varied not least because consumption has become a central discourse and area of investigation across disciplines (e.g. Graeber, 2011). Rather than assuming interchangeability, we argue that these differences signify divergent understandings and contextual nuances and should, therefore, inform future writing and understanding in this area. Accordingly, this article advances consumer ethics scholarship through a systematic review of the current literature that identifies key areas of convergence and contradiction. We then present the articles in this Journal of Business Ethics Symposium and analyse how these articles fit within the interdisciplinary themes. Subsequently, we develop a transdisciplinary theoretical framework that encapsulates the complexity and contextual nature of consumption ethics. We conclude by outlining how genuinely transdisciplinary research into the intersection of ethics with consumption may develop.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 13 March 2020

    In the published article the Acknowledgment section is missing. The following text should have been included:

References

  • Abela, A. V., & Murphy, P. E. (2008). Marketing with integrity: Ethics and the service-dominant logic for marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36, 39–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguilera, F. V., Rupp, D. E., Williams, C. A., & Ganapath, J. (2007). Putting the S back in corporate social responsibility: A multilevel theory of social change in organizations. The Academy of Management Review, 32, 836–863.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alkon, A. H., & McCullen, C. G. (2011). Whiteness and farmers markets: Performances, perpetuations… contestations? Antipode, 43, 937–959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amin, A., & Thrift, N. (2005). What's left? Just the future. Antipode, 37, 220–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, T., & Cunningham, W. H. (1972). The socially conscious consumer. Journal of Marketing, 36, 23–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auger, P., Burke, P., Devinney, T. M., & Louviere, J. J. (2003). What will consumers pay for social product features? Journal of Business Ethics, 42(3), 281–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auger, P., & Devinney, T. M. (2007). Do what consumers say matter? The misalignment of preferences with unconstrained ethical intentions. Journal of Business Ethics, 76(4), 361–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auger, P., Devinney, T. M., & Louviere, J. J. (2007). Using best–worst scaling methodology to investigate consumer ethical beliefs across countries. Journal of Business Ethics, 70(3), 299–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, A. (2005). Who wants to globalize? Consumer tastes and labor markets in a theory of trade policy beliefs. American Journal of Political Science, 49, 924–938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2012). Access-based consumption: The case of car sharing. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 881–898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, M. L. (2007). Stakeholder influence capacity and the variability of financial returns to corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32, 794–816.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, C., Cloke, P., Clarke, N., & Malpass, A. (2005). Consuming ethics: Articulating the subjects and spaces of ethical consumption. Antipode, 37, 23–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, C., Cloke, P., Clarke, N., & Malpass, A. (2010). Globalizing responsibility: The political rationalities of ethical consumption. West Sussex: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartley, T., & Child, C. (2011). Movements, markets and fields: The effects of anti-sweatshop campaigns on U.S. firms, 1993–2000. Social Forces, 90, 425–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boczar, G. E. (1978). Competition between banks and finance companies: A cross section study of personal loan debtors. The Journal of Finance, 33, 245–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolsen, T., Ferraro, P. J., & Miranda, J. J. (2014). Are voters more likely to contribute to other public goods? Evidence from a large-scale randomized policy experiment. American Journal of Political Science, 58, 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray, J., Johns, N., & Kilburn, D. (2011). An exploratory study into the factors impeding ethical consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(4), 597–608.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bregman, R., Peng, D. X., & Chin, W. (2015). The effect of controversial global sourcing practices on the ethical judgments and intentions of US consumers. Journal of Operations Management, 36, 229–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, D., & Duffy, R. (2010). Capitalism and conservation: The production and reproduction of biodiversity conservation. Antipode, 42, 469–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. M. (2000). Renewable natural resource management and use without markets. Journal of Economic Literature, 38, 875–914.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busa, J. H., & Garder, R. (2015). Champions of the movement or fair-weather heroes? Individualization and the (A) politics of local food. Antipode, 47, 323–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busse, C. (2016). Doing well by doing good? The self-interest of buying firms and sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 52, 28–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, D., & Ting, M. M. (2007). Regulatory errors with endogenous agendas. American Journal of Political Science, 51, 835–852.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrier, J. G. (2010). Protecting the environment the natural way: Ethical consumption and commodity fetishism. Antipode, 42, 672–689.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrier, J., & Luetchford, P. (2012). Ethical consumption: Social value and economic practice. New York: Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Canniford, R. (2015). Unmanageable multiplicity: Consumer transformation towards moral self coherence. European Journal of Marketing, 49, 1300–1325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Whitwell, G. J. (2010). Why ethical consumers don’t walk their talk: Towards a framework for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 97, 139–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, M. J., Zwick, D., & Neville, B. (2016). The ideology of the ethical consumption gap. Marketing Theory, 16, 21–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caruana, R., & Chatzidakis, A. (2014). Consumer social responsibility (CnSR): Toward a multi-level, multi-agent conceptualization of the “other CSR”. Journal of Business Ethics, 121, 577–592.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, F. E. (1955). The use of junior mortgages in real estate financing. The Journal of Finance, 10, 41–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castaldo, S., Perrini, F., Misani, N., & Tencati, A. (2009). The missing link between corporate social responsibility and consumer trust: The case of fair trade products. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(1), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatzidakis, A., Hibbert, S., & Smith, A. P. (2007). Why people don’t take their concerns about fair trade to the supermarket: The role of neutralisation. Journal of Business Ethics, 74(1), 89–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatzidakis, A., Maclaran, P., & Bradshaw, A. (2012). Heterotopian space and the utopics of ethical and green consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 28, 494–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chernev, A., & Blair, S. (2015). Doing well by doing good: The benevolent halo of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 1412–1425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, J., & Shaw, D. (2006). Identifying fair trade in consumption choice. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14, 353–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, I. (2004). Follow the thing: Papaya. Antipode, 36(4), 642–664.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, D. A., & Linden, T. (1998). Ethics of consumption: The good life, justice, and global stewardship. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crockett, D., & Wallendorf, M. (2004). The role of normative political ideology in consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 511–528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dancey, L., & Goren, P. (2010). Party identification, issue attitudes, and the dynamics of political debate. American Journal of Political Science, 54, 686–699.

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Astous, A., & Legendre, A. (2009). Understanding consumers’ ethical justifications: A scale for appraising consumers’ reasons for not behaving ethically. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(2), 255–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Pelsmacker, P., & Janssens, W. (2007). A model for fair trade buying behaviour: The role of perceived quantity and quality of information and of product-specific attitudes. Journal of Business Ethics, 75(4), 361–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deegan, C., & Shelly, M. (2014). Corporate social responsibilities: Alternative perspectives about the need to legislate. Journal of Business Ethics, 121, 499–526.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Groot, J. I. M., & Thogersen, J. (2013). Values and pro-environmental behaviour. In L. Steg, A. E. Van Den Berg, & J. I. M. de Groot (Eds.), Environmental psychology. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwelll/British Psychological Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Neve, G., Luetchford, P., Pratt, J., & Wood, D. C. (2008). Hidden hands in the market: Ethnographies of fair trade, ethical consumption, and corporate social responsibility. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • den Hond, F., & de Bakker, F. G. A. (2007). Ideologically motivated activism: How activist groups influence corporate social change activities. Academy of Management Review, 32, 901–924.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devezer, B., Sprott, D. E., Spangenberg, E. R., & Czellar, S. (2014). Consumer well-being: Effects of subgoal failures and goal importance. Journal of Marketing, 78, 118–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devinney, T. M., Auger, P., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2010). The myth of the ethical consumer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doran, C. J. (2009). The role of personal values in fair trade consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(4), 549–563.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowell, G. W. S., & Muthulingam, S. (2017). Will firms go green if it pays? The impact of disruption, cost, and external factors on the adoption of environmental initiatives. Strategic Management Journal, 38, 1287–1304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, R. (2010). Geographies of identity: Climate change, governmentality and activism. Progress in Human Geography, 34, 488–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A. K., Mackay, H., & Negus, K. (1997). Doing cultural studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. M. (2014). Consumer power and market control: Exploring consumer behaviour in affluent contexts (1946–1980). The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 21, 699–723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrich, K. R., & Irwin, J. R. (2005). Willful ignorance in the request for product attribute information. Journal of Marketing Research, 42, 266–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enderle, G. (2000). Whose ethos for public goods in the global economy? Business Ethics Quarterly, 10, 131–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (1958). Administration and the consumer. Administrative Science Quarterly, 3, 251–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleurbaey, M. (2009). Beyond GDP: The quest for a measure of social welfare. Journal of Economic Literature, 47, 1029–1075.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2013). Fortunes of feminism: From state-managed capitalism to neoliberal crisis. London: Verso Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freestone, O. M., & McGoldrick, P. J. (2008). Motivations of the ethical consumer. Journal of Business Ethics, 79(4), 445–467.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Ruiz, P., & Rodriguez-Lluesma, C. (2014). Consumption practices: A virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24, 509–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, A. D., & Frels, J. K. (2015). What makes it green? The role of centrality of green attributes in evaluations of the greenness of products. Journal of Marketing, 79, 97–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giesler, M., & Veresiu, E. (2014). Creating the responsible consumer: Moralistic governance regimes and consumer subjectivity. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 840–857.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glac, K. (2012). The impact and source of mental frames in socially responsible investing. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 13, 184–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, S., & Waley, P. (2013). Traditional retail markets: The new gentrification frontier? Antipode, 45(4), 965–983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graeber, D. (2011). Consumption. Current Anthropology, 52, 489–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregson, N., & Ferdous, R. (2015). Making space for ethical consumption in the South. Geoforum, 67, 244–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, T. (2013). Beyond market signals: Negotiating marketplace politics and corporate responsibilities. Economic Geography, 89, 285–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, R., Newholm, T., & Shaw, D. (2005). The ethical consumer. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (1990). Between space and time: Reflections on the geographical imagination. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 80, 418–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, R. (2011). ‘One pack = one vaccine’ = one global motherhood? A feminist analysis of ethical consumption. Gender, Place & Culture, 18, 235–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, P. C. (2010). How mainstream consumers think about consumer rights and responsibilities. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 670–687.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch Hadorn, G., Hoffmann-Riem, H., Biber-Klemm, S., Grossenbacher-Mansuy, W., Joye, D., Pohl, C., …, Zemp, E. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of transdisciplinary research. Heidelberg: Springer.

  • Holt, D. B. (2002). Why do brands cause trouble? A dialectical theory of consumer culture and branding. Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 70–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howlett, E. A., Burton, S., Bates, K., & Huggins, K. (2009). Coming to a restaurant near you? Potential consumer responses to nutrition information disclosure on menus. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 494–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2011). Sustainability and consumption. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, 40–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphery, K. (2009). Excess: Anti-consumerism in the West. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irwin, J. R., & Naylor, R. W. (2009). Ethical decisions and response mode compatibility: Weighting of ethical attributes in consideration sets formed by excluding versus including product alternatives. Journal of Marketing Research, 46, 234–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain, V. K., & Sharma, S. (2014). Drivers affecting the green supply chain management adaptation: A review. IUP Journal of Operations Management, 13, 54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karababa, E., & Ger, G. (2011). Early modern Ottoman coffeehouse culture and the formation of the consumer subject. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 737–760.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidwell, B., Farmer, A., & Hardesty, D. M. (2013). Getting liberals and conservatives to go green: Political ideology and congruent appeals. Journal of Consumer Research, 40, 350–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, B. G., & Soule, S. A. (2007). Social movements as extra-institutional entrepreneurs: The effect of protests on stock price returns. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52, 413–442.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzmueller, M., & Shimshack, J. (2012). Economic perspectives on corporate social responsibility. Journal of Economic Literature, 50, 51–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J. G., Smith, N. C., & John, A. (2004). Why we boycott: Consumer motivations for boycott participation. Journal of Marketing, 68, 92–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotchen, M. J. (2006). Green markets and private provision of public goods. Journal of Political Economy, 114, 816–834.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75, 132–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozinets, R. V., & Handelman, J. M. (2004). Adversaries of consumption: Consumer movements, activism, and ideology. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 691–704.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kravets, O., & Sandikci, O. (2014). Competently ordinary: New middle class consumers in the emerging markets. Journal of Marketing, 78(4), 125–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kronrod, A., Grinstein, A., & Wathieu, L. (2012). Go green! Should environmental messages be so assertive? Journal of Marketing, 76, 95–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kähr, A., Nyffenegger, B., Krohmer, H., & Hoyer, W. D. (2016). When hostile consumers wreak havoc on your brand: The phenomenon of consumer brand sabotage. Journal of Marketing, 80, 25–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacey, R., Kennett-Hensel, P. A., & Manolis, C. (2015). Is corporate social responsibility a motivator or hygiene factor? Insights into its bivalent nature. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 315–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laestadius, L. I., Neff, R. A., Barry, C. L., & Frattaroli, S. (2014). “We don’t tell people what to do”: An examination of the factors influencing NGO decisions to campaign for reduced meat consumption in light of climate change. Global Environmental Change, 29, 32–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange, D., & Washburn, N. T. (2012). Understanding attributions of corporate social irresponsibility. Academy of Management Review, 37, 300–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laran, J., Dalton, A. N., & Andrade, E. B. (2011). The curious case of behavioral backlash: Why brands produce priming effects and slogans produce reverse priming effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 999–1014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, T., & Potter, D. (2011). Ethical consumption: A critical introduction. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y.-C., & Chang, C.-C. A. (2012). Double standard: The role of environmental consciousness in green product usage. Journal of Marketing, 76, 125–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littler, J. (2008). Radical consumption: Shopping for change in contemporary culture. Berks: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luedicke, M. K., Thompson, C. J., & Giesler, M. (2010). Consumer identity work as moral protagonism: How myth and ideology animate a brand-mediated moral conflict. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 1016–1032.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, H., Kumar, U., Kumar, V., & Mann, I. J. S. (2010). "Drivers of sustainable supply chain management. IUP Journal of Operations Management, 9, 52–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansvelt, J. (2008). Geographies of consumption: Citizenship, space and practice. Progress in Human Geography, 32, 105–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marinova, D., & Singh, J. (2014). Consumer decision to upgrade or downgrade a service membership. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 42, 596–618.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26, 117–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelson, C. (2010). Revisiting the global business ethics question. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 237–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micheletti, M. (2003). Political virtue and shopping: Individuals, consumerism and collective action. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (2012). Consumption and its consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J., & Stanczak, G. (2009). Redeeming, ruling, and reaping: British missionary societies, the East India company, and the India-to-China opium trade. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48, 332–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minton, E. A., Kahle, L. R., Jiuan, T. S., & Tambyah, S. K. (2016). Addressing criticisms of global religion research: A consumption-based exploration of status and materialism, sustainability, and volunteering behaviour. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 55, 365–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2008). Re-imagining the morality of management: A modern virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18, 483–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moragues-Faus, A. (2016). Emancipatory or neoliberal food politics? Exploring the “politics of collectivity” of buying groups in the search for egalitarian food democracies. Antipode, 49, 455–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, K. B., & Montanari, J. B. (1986). Strategic management of the socially responsible firm: Integrating management and marketing theory. Academy of Management Review, 11, 815–827.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naoi, M., & Krauss, E. (2009). Who lobbies whom? Special interest politics under alternative electoral systems. American Journal of Political Science, 53, 874–892.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newholm, T., Newholm, S., & Shaw, D. (2015). A history for consumption ethics. Business History, 57, 290–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newig, J., Voß, J.-P., & Monstadt, J. (2008). Governance for sustainable development: Coping with ambivalence, uncertainty and distributed power. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, G. E., Gorlin, M., & Dhar, R. (2014). When going green backfires: How firm intentions shape the evaluation of socially beneficial product enhancements. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 823–839.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordhaus, W. D. (2007). A review of the "stern review on the economics of climate change". Journal of Economic Literature, 45, 686–702.

    Google Scholar 

  • Öberseder, M., Schlegelmilch, B. B., & Gruber, V. (2011). “Why don’t consumers care about CSR?”: A qualitative study exploring the role of CSR in consumption decisions. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(4), 449–460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, M. C., Slotegraaf, R. J., & Chandukala, S. R. (2014). Green claims and message frames: How green new products change brand attitude. Journal of Marketing, 78, 119–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, E. L. (2013). It’s not easy being green: The effects of attribute tradeoffs on green product preference and choice. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41, 171–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, J. G., McFerran, B., Morales, A., & Dahl, D. (2016). Wealth and welfare: Divergent moral reactions to ethical consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 42, 879–896.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peloza, J., White, K., & Shang, J. (2013). Good and guilt-free: The role of self-accountability in influencing preferences for products with ethical attributes. Journal of Marketing, 77, 104–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popke, J. (2006). Geography and ethics: Everyday mediations through care and consumption. Progress in Human Geography, 30, 504–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potoski, M., & Prakash, A. (2005). Green clubs and voluntary governance: ISO 14001 and firms' regulatory compliance. American Journal of Political Science, 49, 235–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raco, M. (2005). Sustainable development, rolled-out neoliberalism and sustainable communities. Antipode, 37, 324–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawwas, M. Y. (1996). Consumer ethics: An empirical investigation of the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 15(9), 1009–1019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, L., Sutton, P., & Hunter, C. (2009). Theorizing the meso level: The household as a crucible of pro-environmental behaviour. Progress in Human Geography, 34, 309–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridoutt, B. G., & Pfister, S. (2010). A revised approach to water footprinting to make transparent the impacts of consumption and production on global freshwater scarcity. Global Environmental Change, 20, 113–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, W. (1996). Will the socially responsible consumer please step forward? Business Horizons, 39, 79–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosol, M. (2012). Community volunteering as neoliberal strategy? Green space production in Berlin. Antipode, 44, 239–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandlin, J. A., & McLaren, P. (2010). Critical pedagogies of consumption living and learning in the shadow of the “shopocalypse”. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlegelmilch, B., & Öberseder, M. (2010). Half a century of marketing ethics: Shifting perspectives and emerging trends. Journal of Business Ethics, 93, 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, D. A., & Christmann, P. (2011). The effectiveness of market-based social governance schemes: The case of fair trade coffee. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21, 133–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, A. A., & Cording, M. (2006). A corporate social performance—Corporate financial performance behavioral model for consumers. Academy of Management Review, 31, 540–558.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, D. T. (2010). Consuming choices: Ethics in a global consumer age. Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 225–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, D., Carrington, M., & Chatzidakis, A. (2016). Ethics and morality in consumption: Interdisciplinary perspectives. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, D., & Shiu, E. (2003). Ethics in consumer choice: A multivariate modelling approach. European Journal of Marketing, 37, 1485–1498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheth, J. N., Sethia, N. K., & Srinivas, S. (2011). Mindful consumption: A customer-centric approach to sustainability. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, 21–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrivastava, P. (1995). The role of corporations in achieving ecological sustainability. Academy of Management Review, 20, 936–960.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sine, W. D., & Lee, B. H. (2009). Tilting at windmills? The environmental movement and the emergence of the US wind energy sector. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 123–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, V. P., Hansen, K. T., & Gupta, S. (2005). Modeling preferences for common attributes in multicategory brand choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 42, 195–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. C., Palazzo, G., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2010). Marketing’s consequences: Stakeholder marketing and supply chain corporate social responsibility issues. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 617–641.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, K. (2007). Re-thinking the good life: The citizenship dimension of consumer disaffection with consumerism. Journal of Consumer Culture, 7, 205–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, K., & Trentmann, F. (2008). Citizenship and consumption. Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spaargaren, G. (2011). Theories of practices: Agency, technology, and culture: Exploring the relevance of practice theories for the governance of sustainable consumption practices in the new world-order. Global Environmental Change, 21, 813–822.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spaargaren, G., & Mol, A. P. J. (2008). Greening global consumption: Redefining politics and authority. Global Environmental Change, 18, 350–359.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starkey, K., & Crane, A. (2003). Toward green narrative: Management and the evolutionary epic. Academy of Management Review, 28, 220–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steger, M. B., & Wilson, E. K. (2012). Anti-globalization or alter-globalization? Mapping the political ideology of the global justice movement. International Studies Quarterly, 56, 439–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straughan, R. D., & Roberts, J. A. (1999). Environmental segmentation alternatives: A look at green consumer behavior in the new millennium. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16, 558–575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strizhakova, Y., & Coulter, R. A. (2013). The “green” side of materialism in emerging BRIC and developed markets: The moderating role of global cultural identity. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 30, 69–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talukdar, D., & Lindsey, C. (2013). To buy or not to buy: Consumers' demand response patterns for healthy versus unhealthy food. Journal of Marketing, 77, 124–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate, W. L., Elram, L. M., & Kirchoff, J. F. (2010). Corporate social responsibility reports: A thematic analysis related to supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46, 19–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uslay, C., Morgan, R. E., & Sheth, J. N. (2009). Peter Drucker on marketing: An exploration of five tenets. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37, 47–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Ploeg, F. (2011). Natural resources: Curse or blessing? Journal of Economic Literature, 49, 366–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Wal, A. J., Van Horen, F., & Grinstein, A. (2016). The paradox of ‘green to be seen’: Green high-status shoppers excessively use (branded) shopping bags. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33, 216–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varman, R., & Belk, R. W. (2009). Nationalism and ideology in an anticonsumption movement. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 686–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitell, S. J. (2003). Consumer ethics research: Review, synthesis and suggestions for the future. Journal of Business Ethics, 43(1–2), 33–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K., Heinze, K. L., & DeSoucey, M. (2008). Forage for thought: Mobilizing codes in the movement for grass-fed meat and dairy products. Administrative Science Quarterly, 53, 529–567.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webster, F. E., Jr. (1975). Determining the characteristics of the socially conscious consumer. Journal of Consumer Research, 2, 188–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenell, K. (2009). All consuming Christmas? Religion, culture and challenges of consumption. The Expository Times, 121, 105–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenell, K. (2014). A markan ‘context’ kingdom? Examining biblical and social models in spatial interpretation. Biblical Theology Bulletin, 44, 123–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, K., MacDonnell, R., & Dahl, D. (2011). It's the mind-set that matters: The role of construal level and message framing in influencing consumer efficacy and conservation behaviors. Journal of Marketing Research, 48, 472–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, K., MacDonnell, R., & Ellard, J. H. (2012). Belief in a just world: Consumer intentions and behaviors toward ethical products. Journal of Marketing, 76, 103–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, K., & Simpson, B. (2013). When do (and don't) normative appeals influence sustainable consumer behaviors? Journal of Marketing, 77, 78–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, E. F., & Steffel, M. (2014). Double standards in the use of enhancing products by self and others. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 506–525.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, T. (2008). The good society and the good soul: Plato's Republic on leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 19, 397–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, B. R., & Curnow, J. (2013). Solidarity™: Student activism, affective labor, and the fair trade campaign in the United States. Antipode, 45, 565–583.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, B. D. (2009). Presidential saber rattling and the economy. American Journal of Political Science, 53, 695–709.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie, C., Bagozzi, R. P., & Grønhaug, K. (2015). The role of moral emotions and individual differences in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 333–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yates, M. (2011). The human-as-waste, the labor theory of value and disposability in contemporary capitalism. Antipode, 43, 1679–1695.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, X., & Belk, R. W. (2008). Politicizing consumer culture: Advertising's appropriation of political ideology in China's social transition. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 231–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zitcer, A. (2015). Food co-ops and the paradox of exclusivity. Antipode, 47, 812–828.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Authors are listed in alphabetical order, all authors contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Michal Carrington

  2. Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK

    Andreas Chatzidakis

  3. University of Durham, Durham, UK

    Helen Goworek

  4. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Deirdre Shaw

Authors
  1. Michal Carrington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andreas Chatzidakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Helen Goworek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Deirdre Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michal Carrington.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Michal Carrington declares no conflict of interest. Andreas Chatzidakis declares no conflict of interest. Helen Goworek declares no conflict of interest. Deirdre Shaw is a section co-editor in the Journal of Business Ethics.

Ethical Approval

This manuscript does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Carrington, M., Chatzidakis, A., Goworek, H. et al. Consumption Ethics: A Review and Analysis of Future Directions for Interdisciplinary Research. J Bus Ethics 168, 215–238 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04425-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04425-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation