An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption

Although consumers are increasingly engaged with ethical factors when forming opinions about products and making purchase decisions, recent studies have highlighted significant differences between consumers’ intentions to consume ethically, and their actual purchase behaviour. This article contributes to an understanding of this “ethical purchasing gap” through a review of existing literature, and the inductive analysis of focus group discussions. A model is suggested which includes exogenous variables such as moral maturity and age which have been well covered in the literature, together with further impeding factors identified from the focus group discussions. For some consumers, inertia in purchasing behaviour was such that the decision-making process was devoid of ethical considerations. Several manifested their ethical views through post-purchase dissonance and retrospective feelings of guilt. Others displayed a reluctance to consume ethically due to personal constraints, a perceived negative impact on image or quality, or an outright negation of responsibility. Those who expressed a desire to consume ethically often seemed deterred by cynicism, which caused them to question the impact they, as an individual, could achieve. These findings enhance the understanding of ethical consumption decisions and provide a platform for future research in this area

Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing 2017/2018 end of year summary:monitoringand provocationof the microcirculation and tissue oxygenation

The microcirculation is the ultimate goal of hemodynamic optimization in the perioperative and critical care setting. In this fourth end-of-year summary of the Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing on this topic, we take a closer look at papers published in the last 2years that focus on this important aspect. The majority of these papers investigated the use of either cerebral or peripheral tissue oxygen saturation, derived non-invasively using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). In some of these studies, the microcirculation was provocated by inducing short-term tissue hypoxia, allowing the assessment of functional microvascular reserve. Additionally, studies on technical differences between NIRS monitors are summarized, as well as studies investigating the feasibility of NIRS monitoring, mainly in the pediatric patient population. Last but not least, novel monitoring tools allow assessing oxygenation at a (sub)cellular level, and those papers incorporating these techniques are also reviewed here

Consumers’ Reactions to “Receiving Too Much Change at the Checkout”

In this study, we conducted two experiments to examine the effect of relationship commitment on the reaction of shoppers to receiving too much change, controlled for the amount of excess change. Hypotheses based on equity theory were set up and tested. The first study showed that, when the less committed consumer is confronted with a large excess of change, he/she is less likely to report this mistake, compared with a small excess. Conversely, consumers with a high commitment towards the retailer are more likely to tell when they receive too much change, especially when the amount is large. The second experiment provided an explanation for these findings: the less committed consumer is driven by opportunism, whereas guilt-related feelings play an important role in a high commitment relationship. These results may have several implications.Amount of excess change, Equity theory, Ethical beliefs, Guilt-related feelings, Opportunism, Passively benefiting at the expense of the seller, Receiving too much change, Relationship commitment, Relationship marketing, Unethical consumer behavior

The Emotional Experience of Guilt in Ethically Questionable Consumer Situations

The current research scrutinizes the discrete emotion of guilt in situations in which the consumer benefits at the expense of the seller. A first objective was to endorse previous made assumptions of guilt being an important emotion in ethically questionable consumer situations. Therefore, in a first study the experience of guilt (versus shame) is explored across four different questionable consumer behaviors relying on two key ingredients of the guilt emotion, i.e. perceived control and omission/commission. A second objective was to examine what causes guilt to occur in these questionable situations (study 2a/b). Two distinct conceptualizations of the guilt emotion are investigated, i.e. the intrapsychic and interpersonal perspective. Results support both notions of the guilt emotion separately in the context of consumer ethics. When investigating the consequent ethical intentions, it was found to be sufficient for consumers’ behavioral decisions to alter if one of the two perspectives is made salient, that is, when guilt is aroused. Implications are discussed for both consumer ethics literature and consumer behavior research in general.

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships among a Consumer’s Personal Values, Ethical Ideology and Ethical Beliefs

This study provides an additional partial test of the Hunt-Vitell theory (1986, 1993) within the consumer ethics context. Using structural equation modeling, the relationships among an individual’s personal values (conceptualized by the typology of Schwartz, 1992), ethical ideology and ethical beliefs are investigated. The validity of the model is assessed in a two-step procedure. First, a measurement model of constructs is tested for key validity dimensions. Next, the hypothesized causal relationships are examined in several path models, comparing no mediation, partial and complete mediation effects of ethical ideology. The empirical results indicate that individual differences in value priorities (resultant conservation and resultant selfenhancement) directly and indirectly (through idealism) influence the judgment of ethically questionable consumer practices. These findings may significantly contribute to the theoretical understanding of ethical decision-making.Conservation versus openness to change, Consumer ethics, Ethical beliefs, Ethical decision making, Ethical ideology, Idealism, Lisrel, Personal values, Relativism, Self-enhancement versus self-transcendence, Structural equation modeling

The Mediating Role of Anticipated Guilt in Consumers’ Ethical Decision-Making

In this paper we theorize that the anticipation of guilt plays an important role in ethically questionable consumer situations. We propose an ethical decision-making framework incorporating anticipated guilt as partial mediator between consumers’ ethical beliefs (anteceded by ethical ideology) and intentions. In a first study we compared several models using structural equation modeling and found empirical support for our research model. A second experiment was set up to illustrate how retailers may apply these new insights to prevent consumers from taking advantage. Results showed that enhancing the anticipation of guilt (by making the interpersonal consequences of the unethical act more salient) increased consumers’ ethical intentions, controlling for ethical beliefs. Together these two studies may have important theoretical and managerial contributions.Anticipated guilt, Ethical beliefs, Ethical decision making, Ethical intentions, Hunt-Vitell model, Idealism, Relativism

The Relationship between Consumers’ Unethical Behavior and Customer Loyalty in a Retail Environment

This paper investigates the relationship between two outcomes of relationship marketing – affective commitment and behavioral loyalty – and consumers’ unethical behavior. The main objective of the study is to assess whether affective commitment and behavioral loyalty to a store translate into more ethical behavior towards that store, controlling for the variables of age, gender, and ethical beliefs. The study does not rely on a single measurement tool, but is based on ten months' panel data and three different mail surveys targeted at 359 Belgian households. The results provide support for our hypothesis that affective commitment is indeed negatively correlated with consumers’ unethical behavior. The same conclusion could not be drawn for the relationship between behavioral loyalty and consumers’ unethical behavior. No significant relationship was detected, not even in situations where affective commitment was high. The results hold major implications for retailing practice.