Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Caring and Conflicted: Mothers’ Ethical Judgments about Consumption

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

Abstract

Literature on consumer ethics tends to focus on issues within the public sphere, such as the environment, and treats other drivers of consumption decisions, such as family, as non-moral concerns. Consequently, an attitude–behaviour gap is viewed as a straightforward failure by consumers to act ethically. We argue that this is based upon a view of consumer behaviour as linear and unproblematic, and an approach to moral reasoning, arising from a stereotypically masculine understanding of morality, which foregrounds abstract principles. By demonstrating the importance of context to consumption decisions and articulating the impact of caring relationships, we highlight how such decisions are both complex and situated. This is particularly evident for decisions involving the needs of others, as occurs in family life. We argue that the incorporation of care ethics provides both theoretical insights and a more complete account of consumer ethics. This is explored empirically through an investigation of the ethical dilemmas arising from consumption decisions made by mothers of young children. Such decisions juxtapose an ethical consumption orientation (representing impartial concerns) with care for one’s child. Therefore, what has been previously considered a failure to act ethically may in fact be the outcome of complex decision making, which involves competing ethical considerations. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice and how this approach to consumer ethics could be applied more widely.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. All interviews were undertaken in accordance with accepted ethical standards. All participants gave their informed consent prior to being interviewed.

  2. Participants are referred to by false names as are any people to whom they refer in the excerpts.

References

  • Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allmark, P. (1995). Can there be an ethics of care? Journal of Medical Ethics, 21(1), 19–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, P. H., & Kragh, H. (2010). Sense and sensibility: Two approaches for using existing theory in theory-building qualitative research. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(1), 49–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arendell, T. (2000). Conceiving and investigating motherhood: The decade’s scholarship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62(4), 1192–1207.

    Article  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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, L. (1999). Refracted selves? A study of changes in self-identity in the transition to motherhood. Sociology, 33(2), 335–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belk, R. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, I. (2009). Adopting or rejecting sustainable consumption practices: The role of identity conflicts. In Proceedings of the Sustainable Social Enterprise—International Nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference, Swinburne University of Technology and Victoria University.

  • Black, I., & Cherrier, H. (2010). Anti-consumption as part of living a sustainable lifestyle: Daily practices, contextual motivations and subjective values. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 9(6), 437–453.

    Article  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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, B. K., & Dunn, C. P. (1996). Feminist ethics as moral grounding for stakeholder theory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 6(2), 105–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, B. K., & Dunn, C. P. (2005). The caring approach and social issues in management education. Journal of Management Education, 29(3), 453–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, B. K., Dunn, C. P., & Goldsby, M. (2006). Moral pluralism in business ethics education: It is about time. Journal of Management Education, 30(1), 90–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, L., Shaw, D., & Shiu, E. (2008). The impact of ethical concerns on family consumer decision-making. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 32(5), 553–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrigan, M., & Attalla, A. (2001). The myth of the ethical consumer—do ethics matter in purchase behaviour? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(7), 560–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrigan, M., & Szmigin, I. (2004). Time, uncertainty and the expectancy experience: An interpretive exploration of consumption and impending motherhood. Journal of Marketing Management, 20(7/8), 771–798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrigan, M., & Szmigin, I. (2006). “Mothers of invention”: Maternal empowerment and convenience consumption. European Journal of Marketing, 40(9/10), 1122–1142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, M., & Neville, B. A. (2011). Understanding the consumption contradictions of ethical consumers symbolically: The journey of ethical enlightenment. In Proceedings of emerging issues in uncertainly and ethical consumption research, British Academy supported workshop, University of Glasgow, 13 June 2011.

  • Carrington, M., 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(1), 139–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavanagh, G. F., Molberg, D. J., & Velasquez, M. (1995). Making business ethics practical. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(3), 399–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatzidakis, A., Hibbert, S., Mittusis, D., & Smith, A. (2004). Virtue in consumption? Journal of Marketing Management, 24(5/6), 527–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatzidakis, A., Hibbert, S., & Smith, A. (2006). “Ethically concerned, yet unethically behaved”: Towards an updated understanding of consumer’s (un)ethical decision making. Advances in Consumer Research, 32, 693–698.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherrier, H. (2007). Ethical consumption practices: Co-production of self-expression and social recognition. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6(5), 321–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherrier, H., Black, I. R., & Lee, M. (2011). Intentional non-consumption for sustainability. European Journal of Marketing, 45(11/12), 1757–1767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Childers, T. L., & Rao, A. R. (1992). The influence of familial and peer-based reference groups on consumer decisions. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(2), 158–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Commuri, S., & Gentry, J. W. (2000). Opportunities for family research in marketing. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 8, 1–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, J., & Prothero, A. (2003). Sustainable consumption: Consumption, consumers and the commodity discourse. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 6(4), 275–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, D. (2008). The missing child in consumption theory. Journal of Consumer Culture, 8(2), 219–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dedeoglu, A. (2010). Discourses of motherhood and consumption practices of Turkish mothers. Business and Economic Research Journal, 1(3), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimitrovsky, L., Lev, S., & Itskowitz, R. (1998). Relationship of maternal and general self-acceptance to pre- and postpartum affective experience. The Journal of Psychology, 132(5), 507–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, S. J., & Michaels, M. W. (2004). The mommy myth. New: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epp, A. M., & Price, L. L. (2008). Family identity: A framework of identity interplay in consumption practices. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(1), 50–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, E., & Gainer, B. (1993). Baby showers: A rite of passage in transition. Advances in Consumer Research, 20, 320–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, S. (1996). The cultural contradictions of motherhood. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, V. (2006). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, V. (2007). Feminism and moral theory. In N. S. Jecker, A. R. Jonsen, & R. A. Pearlman (Eds.), Bioethics (pp. 158–163). Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, R., & O’Malley, L. (2003). Motherhood, identity and consumption. European Advances in Consumer Research, 7, 457–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrane, B., Hogg, M. K., & Bettany, S. M. (2012). Children’s influence strategies in practice: Exploring the co-constructed nature of the child influence process in family consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(7/8), 809–835.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleine, Robert. E., Kleine, S. S., & Kernan, J. B. (1993). Mundane consumption and the self: A social-identity perspective. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2(3), 209–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laroche, M., Toffoli, R., Kim, C., & Muller, T. E. (1996). The influence of culture on pro-environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: A Canadian perspective. Advances in Consumer Research, 23, 196–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, T., & Maitlis, S. (2012). Care and possibility: Enacting an ethic of care through narrative practice. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 641–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, E. J. (2008). Living with risk in the age of ‘intensive motherhood’: Maternal identity and infant feeding. Health, Risk & Society, 10(5), 467–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic enquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martens, L., Southerton, D., & Scott, S. (2004). Bringing children (and parents) into the sociology of consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 4(2), 155–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May, V. (2008). On being a ‘good’ mother: The moral presentation of self in written life stories. Sociology, 42(3), 470–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medina, S., & Magnuson, S. (2009). Motherhood in the 21st century: Implications for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(1), 90–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millward, L. J. (2006). The transition to motherhood in an organizational context: An interpretive phenomenological analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79(3), 315–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neuhaus, J. (2011). Housework and housewives in American advertising: Married to the Mop. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Newholm, T., & Shaw, D. (2007). Studying the ethical consumer: A review of research. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6(5), 253–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Donohoe, S., Hogg, M., Maclaran, P., Martens, L., & Stevens, L. (2013). Motherhoods, markets and consumption: The making of mothers in contemporary western cultures. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley, L., & Prothero, A. (2006). Editorial: Consuming families: Marketing, consumption and the role of families in the twenty-first century. Journal of Marketing Management, 22(9/10), 899–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley, L., & Prothero, A. (2007). Contemporary families and consumption—editorial. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6(4), 159–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Postow, B. C. (2008). Care ethics and impartial reasons. Hypatia, 23(1), 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prothero, A. (2002). Consuming motherhood: An introspective journey on consuming to be a good mother. In Proceedings of the 6th Association of Consumer Research on Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Dublin, June, pp. 211–225.

  • Roberts, J. A., & Bacon, D. R. (1997). Exploring the subtle relationships between environmental concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 40(1), 79–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, W. D. (1930). The right and the good. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (1995). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruddick, S. (1980). Maternal thinking. Feminist Studies, 6(2), 342–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sevin, E., & Ladwein, R. (2008). To start being… the anticipation of a social role through consumption in life transition: The case of the first-time pregnancy. Advances in Consumer Research, 35, 325–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, D., & Clarke, I. (1999). Belief formation in ethical consumer groups: An exploratory study. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 17(2), 109–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater, D., & Miller, D. (2007). Moments and movements in the study of consumer culture: A discussion between Daniel Miller and Don Slater. Journal of Consumer Culture, 7(1), 5–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szmigin, I., Carrigan, M., & McEachern, M. G. (2009). The conscious consumer: Taking a flexible approach to ethical behaviour. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 33(2), 224–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. J., & Bodgan, R. (1998). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, C. (1996). Caring consumers: Gendered consumption meanings and the juggling lifestyle. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(4), 388–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomsen, T., & Sørensen, E. (2006). The first four-wheeled status symbol: Pram consumption as a vehicle for the construction of motherhood identity. Journal of Marketing Management, 22(9/10), 907–927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmons, M. (2002). Moral theory. Lincoln: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vincent, C. (2010). The sociology of mothering. In M. W. Apple, S. J. Ball, & L. A. Gandin (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of the sociology of education (pp. 109–120). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • VOICE. (2008). Reflections on collaboration in interpretive consumer research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11(2), 147–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VOICE. (2010). Motherhood, marketization, and consumer vulnerability. Journal of Macromarketing, 30(4), 384–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Weltzien Hoivik, H., & Melé, D. (2009). Can an SME become a global corporate citizen? Evidence from a case study. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(3), 555–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, W. D. (1993). Discovery-oriented consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(4), 489–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wicks, A. C., Gilbert, D. R., Jr, & Freeman, R. E. (1994). A feminist reinterpretation of the stakeholder concept. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(4), 475–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK

    Teresa Heath

  2. Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Lisa O’Malley

  3. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Matthew Heath

  4. School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    Vicky Story

Authors
  1. Teresa Heath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lisa O’Malley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthew Heath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vicky Story
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teresa Heath.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 1.

Table 1 Informants
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Heath, T., O’Malley, L., Heath, M. et al. Caring and Conflicted: Mothers’ Ethical Judgments about Consumption. J Bus Ethics 136, 237–250 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2441-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2441-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation