A systematic review: The factors affecting Ethical Consumption in the UK
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Abstract
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background
The Ethical consumerism report which tracks the spending by ethical consumers over the last two decades was released by The UK retailer The Co-operative. According to the report, an estimate of £290m a year is spent by UK consumers on Fairtrade bananas. In fact, in the report, it is argued that the total market, including drinks, foods, energy, eco-travel and food, has significantly increased to over £41bn (Smithers 2019). As such, the total ethical expenditure has quadrupled outgrowing all household expenditure in the UK. The household spendings are mostly flat according to the report. A related consumerism report (adjusted for inflation) by The Convenience Retailer monitoring the annual expenditures by the ethical consumers for the past two decades shows that the UK consumers are mainly concerned with social justice, animal welfare, human rights as well as the environment (Smithers 2019). These aspects, therefore, determine the shopping habits within the UK market. The report revealed that in 1999 the size of the market was about £11.2bn with a household spending of about £202 annually. These figures have since then swelled significantly to £41.1bn market size and £1,278 household expenditure in 2018. Further, the Office for National Statistics report describes an increment of about 2% in the total general household expenditure (Smithers 2019). Similarly, ethical drinks and food including free-range eggs and plant-based, fairtrade, vegetarian and organic alternatives have continued to extensively lead the market segment with annual spending of about £12bn in 2018 compared to the £1bn figure recorded in 1999.
Additionally, Co-op estimates show that the total Fairtrade markets estimate ranged at £22m in 1999. The figure has since increased to £1.6bn in 2018 with a shell out of almost £290m a year on Fairtrade bananas alone. According to Smithers (2019), the UK has currently witnessed an increase in the number of ethical alternatives based beside the Fairtrade Foundation. Recently, Co-op banned the non-recyclable plastic packaging from all its products which will have been replaced with easily recyclable and reusable packaging material by the summer of 2020. In this regard, ethical consumerism will continue to be a significant factor in the transformation to more sustainable markets, businesses as well as products (Smithers 2019).
1.2 Probmen Statement
Even though reports show a four-fold growth in the ethical consumer UK market segment, there have been some challenges. For instance, the ethical clothing is one area that has had retarded growth in its development process. The Co-op reports show that it is about £49.9m compared to the £62m that women spend on their shoes weekly (Smithers 2019). Companies in this market segment sometimes misuse the language of sustainability. The language misuse, especially in the information on the label, confuses shoppers. The shoppers are therefore left uncertain with the decision of what to buy and where to buy from (Barber 2019).
Further, the concern on Greenwashing is real. A brand could claim that their product is sustainable or ethical; however, upon further scrutiny, the product turns out to be exaggerated or false. For instance, it is misleading and an exaggeration for a brand to claim that a dress is eco friendly because it is made of eco wool when in the real sense, the eco wool forms 4% of the material used with the rest being less sustainable material.
Additionally, it is false for a brand to claim to offer, for instance, 30 sustainable Fashion pieces when its inventory is full of thousands of non-sustainable garments. Unfortunate as it may be, it is a fact that in the UK, most big fast-fashion brands claiming sustainability credentials are guilty of greenwashing. This scenario is a result of the rush to produce too many products as a whole (Barber 2019). However, at the end of the season upon becoming environmental hazards, some of these products remain unsold. Further, there is a stream of research which criticises the Ethical Consumer as cited in Laursen & Kure (2019), which discusses the assumptions that underpin the category of the ethical consumer. For example, the ethical consumer has been criticised for resembling an idea of consumption that does not adhere to the everyday practices of the vast majority of consumers.
To most consumers, abstract ethical ideals are far removed from everyday practises of consumption. Thus the ethical consumer depicts an idealisation of behaviour rather than an accurate description of behaviour (Laursen & Kure 2019) The current study, therefore, investigates the factors that affect ethical consumption in the UK to help shed light on consumer everyday practice and how best the market segment could be more inclusive moving forward. Further, the managers could leverage this information to ensure their brands meet the threshold of sustainability as well as ethical production.
1.3 Literature
1.3.1 The concepts of Ethics and Consumption
Two primary approaches can link the concept of consumption and ethics. First, researchers propose the issues of a judgement of the morality of production within the capitalist system (Barnett, Cafaro and Newholm, 2005). In this sense, consumption and ethics are understood through the discussions on sustainable consumerism, environmental issues and consumer activism such as voluntary simplicity. According to this approach, the consumption itself becomes the object of moral evaluation, and this approach works to ensure a reduction of the total consumption level (Crocker and Linden, 1998). Contrarily, in the second approach, consumption is not the subject of moral evaluation but rather a political or moral of action. This approach is associated with ethical audits, fair trade campaigns, consumer boycotts and action of corporates.
Further, this case does not necessarily gear towards less consumption. However, these two approaches regarding the relationship between ethics and consumption are complementary in some cases. For instance, several ethical campaigns can be created to facilitate consumption level education. Scholars propose complementary ethical consumption definition. For instance, Crane and Matten (2004) define ethical consumption as a deliberate and conscious activity that involves making ceratin consumption decision based on personal moral values and beliefs. Mintel (1994), on the other hand, defines it as the consideration of factors including, animal protection, oppressive regime and military expenditure while shopping. The third argument by Uusitalo and Oksanen (2004), it is viewed in the sense of moral and ethical aspects, including animal tests in the production and distribution of goods and child labour. According to Oh and Yoon (2014), ethical consumption is a conscious consumption based on personal and moral beliefs, natural environment, health and society.
In the last two decades, many corporations and manufacturers have been putting efforts to incorporate ethics into their final product management. For instance the: The new soda “Coca-Cola life” introduced a new green packaging which suggests a healthier drink; Benetton is known for its social commitment; Casino, Carrefour, among other retailers now produce organic and fair trade products under their company logo and also distribute products of fair trade from Max Havelaar; McDonald’s, also turned their logo to green in France to demonstrate their commitment to the protection of the environment. Recent research has revealed that nearly 67% of companies and corporations have used the ethical initiative to increase their share of the market (GreenFlex-Ethicity, 2014). Important to note is the fact that the modern UK consumer does not ignore quality and price. However, the consumer applies additional criteria to decide on what to buy and where to buy. In this regard, ethical shopping could draw its motivation from spiritual, environmental, political, religious and social issues when buying products. However, the common factor for the motivations is the concern on the impact of their decision on themselves and the society at large. Several practices are adopted by buyers, for instance, green consumption (Moisander, 2007), product boycott (Lavorata, 2014; Cisse-Depardon and N’Goala, 2009), fair consumption (De Ferran and Grunert, 2007) accompanied with ethical motivation in some instances. Therefore, it is essential to manage the concept of ethical motivation carefully because critics sometimes argue that buyers turn to green products for social status attainment purposes, for instance, greenwashing.
1.3.2 Motivation and obstacles to ethical consumption
1.4 Research Objectives
This research study pegs on the following objectives;
- To investigate the concept of ethical consumption.
- To establish the leading determinants of ethical consumption.
- To suggest to managers and other stakeholders on how to move forward for sustainable, ethical production.
1.4.1 Research Question
What are the leading impacts of ethical consumerism in the UK?
2.0 Methodology
2.1 Study Design and Strategy
The study preferred a systematic review design as a result of the design ability to check into the currently existing literature, looking for consistencies, gaps and areas of conflict that the current study can exploit. Further, the process helps the author improve the breadth and rigour of the review process (Gough, Oliver and Thomas 2017). The strategy is therefore useful in preventing duplication (Trzesniewski, Donnellan and Lucas 2011). According to Higgins et al. (2019) even though the use of systematic reviews is a sensible and robust means of obtaining answers to focused research questions, it is associated with several practical challenges that a researcher should be alive to when undertaking the process.
2.2 Literature Search
For the purpose of this research study, the author focussed on the studies about ethical consumerism in the U.K context. The following keywords were used for the literature search; ethics, ethical consumption, consumerism, buying behaviour, Fairtrade, organic, greenwashing, green consumption, green purchasing, environmentally sustainable products, purchase intention, and consumer behaviour. The literature search utilised the following databases; Risk Management reference centre, Business Source Complete, ScienceDirect, EconLit, Web of Science Core Collection and JSTOR.
2.3 Study Selection
The following inclusion and exclusion criterion was used to establish the eligibility of studies for inclusion and exclusion. The criterion considered publication, language, publication date, quality of abstract or summary of the study and the research as well as the type of research, whether primary or secondary.
Table 1: Inclussion and Ecxclission criteria
| Criteria | Criteria for Inclusion | Criteria for Exclusion |
| Publication Year and Author | The considered dates of publication for the articles and journals were between 2010 and 2020. | The study excluded publications published before 2010 were excluded. |
| Publication Language | The review process only included English-published or English translations of the included studies | All publications not published in English or without English translations were excluded. |
| Summary or Abstract Quality | The abstract or summary of a paper had to be clear and rich in information about the research topic | Biased summaries and unclear abstracts regarding the topic of investigations were excluded from the study |
| Article/Journal Type | The study included peer-reviewed articles due to their associated rigour | Non-peer-reviewed articles were excluded from the study |
The identified articles and journals were identified through a process of filtering based on the above criteria. The selected studies were then reported using the PRISMA chart, as shown in figure 1 below.
Figure 1: PRISMA chart
The total number of identified studies N(T) were 44; upon evaluation, a total of 10 duplicates N(D) were identified and subsequently excluded. The remaining 34 studies N(S) were screened, and 24 articles N(R) were rejected for not meeting one or more the inclusion criteria outlined in table 1. The final records accepted for inclusion N(A) were, therefore, ten (10) articles.
2.4 Ethical Consideration
According to Connelly (2014), a researcher must carry out a study in a professional manner. As such, the current research was subject to certain ethical concerns. Some of the secondary data obtained required that the researcher seeks permission from the author. In the event this was required, the researcher ensured to seek written permission allowing the use of such resources.
2.5 Data extraction
The study adopted a data extraction matrix with the following parameters; Author(s), geographical context, methodology, research topic, research approach, results and implication. This study matrix revealed similarities and differences among studies. Therefore, this information was used as the criteria of categorisation and coding, as shown in Table 2 in the appendix.
2.6 Data analysis
The study data were analysed by a narrative analysis based on the following identified emerging themes and sub-themes from the study.
Chapter Three: Results
Introduction
Discussion and Conclussion
References
Barber A. (2019) Conscious, ethical and cruelty-free: a guide to the language of sustainable fashion. The Guardian 19 Dec 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/dec/19/conscious-ethical-and-cruelty-free-a-guide-to-the-language-of-sustainable-fashion
Bray, Jeffery, Nick Johns, and David Kilburn. “An exploratory study into the factors impeding ethical consumption.” Journal of business ethics 98, no. 4 (2011): 597-608.
Budhathoki, P., Adhikari, K., & Koirala, R. (2019). The Gap between Attitudes and Behavior in Ethical Consumption: A Critical Discourse. Quest Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 1(2), 285-295.
Coles, A. M., & Harris, L. (2006). Ethical consumers and e-commerce: The emergence and growth of fair trade in the UK. Journal of Research for Consumers, (10), 1.
Joshi, Y., & Rahman, Z. (2015). Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future research directions. International Strategic management review, 3(1-2), 128-143.
Junior, S. B., da Silva, D., Gabriel, M. L. D., & de Oliveira Braga, W. R. (2015). The effects of environmental concern on the purchase of green products in retail. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 170, 99-108.
Kabadayı, E. T., Dursun, İ., Alan, A. K., & Tuğer, A. T. (2015). Green purchase intention of young Turkish consumers: Effects of consumer’s guilt, self-monitoring and perceived consumer effectiveness. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 207, 165-174.
Kavaliauske, M., & Ubartaite, S. (2014). Ethical behaviour: Factors influencing intention to buy organic products in Lithuania. Economics and management, 19(1), 72-83.
Laursen K. Kure N. (2019) Does neoliberalism’s ethical consumer create more problems than she solves? A discussion of a neo-communitarian alternative Tamara – Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry 17(3): 1- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336641874_Does_neoliberalism’s_ethical_consumer_create_more_problems_than_she_solves_A_discussion_of_a_neocommunitarian_alternative
Smithers R. (2019) UK ethical consumer spending hits record high, the report shows. The Guardian 30 Dec 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/30/uk-ethical-consumer-spending-hits-record-high-report-shows
Tallontire, A., Rentsendorj, E., & Blowfield, M. (2001). Ethical consumers and ethical trade: a review of current literature (NRI Policy Series 12).
Toti, J. F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016). How to measure ethical consumption behaviours?. RIMHE: Revue Interdisciplinaire Management, Homme Enterprise, (5), 45-66.
Appendix: Data collection Matrix Table
Table 2: Selected Studies
| Author(s) | Methodology | Geographical context | Research topic. | Research approach, | Results and implication
|
| Kavaliauske & Ubartaite (2014). | Lithuania | Factors influencing intention to buy organic products in Lithuania | |||
| Joshi & Rahman (2015). | Factors affecting green purchase behaviour | ||||
| Junior et al. (2015) | The Effects of Environmental Concern on Purchase of Green Products | ||||
| Kabadayıet al. (2015) | Turkey | Effects of consumer’s guilt, self-monitoring and perceived consumer effectiveness | |||
| Coles & Harris (2006). | United Kingdom | The emergence and growth of fair trade in the UK | |||
| Tallontire, Rentsendorj & Blowfield (2001). | Ethical consumers and ethical trade | ||||
| Budhathoki, Adhikari & Koirala (2019). | The Gap between Attitudes and Behavior in Ethical Consumption | ||||
| Toti & Moulins (2016). | How to measure ethical consumption behaviours? | ||||
| Bray, Johns & Kilburn (2011). | The factors impeding ethical consumption | ||||
| Bray (2009). | The Factors Impeding Ethical Consumerism. |