Attitudes and Behavior in Ethical Consumption - Essay Example

Ethical Consumption - Attitudes, Behavior, Ethical Consumption Literature Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Relevant Attitude Theories 3 Theory of Reasoned Action 3 Theory of Planned Behaviour 5 Explanation for Failure of Attitudes to Predict Behaviour 7 Explanation behind the widespread prevalence of Attitude-Behaviour Gap in the Sustainable/Ethical Consumption Literature 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Ethical consumption deals with a practice of purchasing products and/ or services in such a way which can help to minimizes the social and environmental damages and on the contrary it also helps to avoid the inverse impact of products and/or services on the society or environment (Guido, 2009). During the last few years Europe and North American market has attracted the attention of global market on ethical consumption (Carrier & Luetchford, 2012). In accordance with ethical consumer markets report (Keynote, 2012), it can be asserted that, ethical consumption is increasing in every year with a stable growth rate. Thus due to the growing importance of ethical consumption it has become crucial for marketers to understand the meaning and the relation between ethical attitudes and behaviour. Ethical behaviour denotes the characteristics of honesty, dignity, diversity and equality in interpersonal and professional approaches (Darley & et. at., 2001). On the contrary, ethical attitude suggests the principles or morality of a human being (Cowan, 2006).In the backdrop of this, the essay intends to explain why attitudes may not always help to predict behaviour and why the attitude-behaviour gap might be so prevalent throughout the ethical consumption literature in particular. Relevant Attitude Theories Theory of Reasoned Action During the discussion the initial object is to define the theory of reasoned action. It can be asserted as a model of guessing the behavioural aim. In accordance with General liberal arts (2014), it can be asserted as person’s attitude always leads to a particular behaviour for a certain outcome. Theory of reasoned action relates with reflecting relationship between attitude and actual behaviour. According to this theory behaviour and intention for behaviour is the dependent variables, whereas attitude towards the behaviour and subject norms are independent variables (General Liberal Arts, 2014). A person’s intention to perform a particular behaviour is measured by the behavioural intention. It has been observed that attitudes and norms are not measured equally in predicting behaviour. Instead, it depends upon the individual person and the situation (Vallerand & et. at., 1991). These factors can put different effects on behavioural intention. Correspondingly, these factors are identified below. Attitudes According to the theory of reasoned action, attitude is an outcome of collection of beliefs regarding a particular behaviour based on the evaluation of these beliefs. It can be best understand through an example. Correspondingly, it can be asserted that a person may have sum of beliefs for instance he may have a belief that exercise is good for health, and this exercise will make him good looking but at the same time he may also occupied with the belief that this exercise will consume considerable time while being not comfortable too . Thus, that person may evaluate these beliefs and may compare his beliefs based on which the person may reveal certain attitude (Vallerand & et. at., 1991). Subjective Norms Subjective norms deals with perception of an individual regarding the social environment related with the normative pressure or beliefs that influence a person not to engage in certain behaviour. For example, a person’s few friends may encourage that person to join health fitness centre with them because, they do it regularly and it has benefitted them in terms of healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, spouse of that person may not be interested in exercise and have strong influence on the person. Such influence may have impact on the behavioural intention of that person, this will lead that person to behaviour weather to exercise or not to exercise (Vallerand & et. at., 1991). Figure: 2. The Theory of Reasoned Action Source: (Vallerand & et. at., 1991). Behavioural Intention It is a collaboration of both attitudes and subject norms, which has initiate to behavioural intention. Behavioural intention is recognized to assist in predicating the actual behaviour. In an example from the same background, here it can be asserted that, combination of the person’s attitudes about the exercise and the subjective norm about the exercise based on the evaluation will determine the actual behaviour (Vallerand & et. at., 1991). Theory of Planned Behaviour On the other hand, the theory of planned behaviour model was developed by Ajzen in 1988. In accordance with Trinity College Dublin (2014), it describes the relation between beliefs and behaviour. This concept has been introduced to improve the analytical power of the theory of reasoned action. Through this model how human actions are guided that can be measured. It can also predict the intention of a particular behaviour which is intentional (Trinity College Dublin, 2014). Figure: 3. Theory of Planned Behaviour Source: (Trinity College Dublin, 2014) In accordance to the theory of planned behaviour model the variable names reflect different meaning, those are illustrated below: Behaviour According to this theory, behaviour of the individuals has been changed through the design of interventions. Thus, the target behaviour should be defined with care in case of target, action and time (Trinity College Dublin, 2014). Intention As per this model, intention has been used as a proxy measure of behaviour. It can be argued that the relation between the behavioural intention and actual behaviour is not perfect. Thus it can be affirmed that, observation is one of the most significant contribution of the theory of planned behaviour model. Therefore, to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of interventions variables of this model can be used (Trinity College Dublin, 2014). Explanation for Failure of Attitudes to Predict Behaviour In accordance with Hogg & Vaughan (2008), an attitude is "a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols" (Hogg & Vaughan 2008). Attitude can be structured in three basic components. Those are 1) affective component, 2) behavioural and 3) cognitive. In case of affective component it is involved with the people’s feelings and emotions with a specific object. Subsequently, in case of behavioural component it can be asserted that, the way generally people have react their attitude to influence the behaviour or act for an object. And in case of cognitive component it involves the person’s belief or experience about an object (McLeod, 2014). Again, attitude offers the meaning of knowledge in human life. It allow human to predict the situation of the surroundings and also it provides a sense of control. It also helps human to structure its experience. Even it also helps human to predict the behaviour from the attitude. For an example it can be asserted that, knowing a person who is very much religious, it can be assumed that the person will definitely go to worshipping places (McLeod, 2014). Attitude is further observed to facilitate individuals to communicate with others; it also helps to expose our identity. Apart from that it also helps human being to express their thoughts, feeling and beliefs among others (McLeod, 2014). Notably, attitude can be described as a favourable or unfavourable evaluative response toward the something or someone to exhibit in human’s beliefs, emotions, feelings and intended behaviour. In certain situation and circumstances human attitudes to some extend drive the outward human action. It has been also observed in most of the cases the human behaviour and expressed attitudes differs It has been stated that cognitive and environmental factors often act as a barrier for the translation of ethical purchase intentions (attitude) into ethical purchasing behaviours. It has been identified that there exist various factors that lead attitudes to inconsistent prediction of the consumer behaviour. It has been identified that the consumers often encounter who are ethically minded often encounter an environment outside of their minds which have radical influence on their actual behaviour. The environment external to the consumer serve as influencing factor over their current behaviour. Accordingly, it has been ascertained that these external environmental factors affect the control of an individual over their behaviour which result in deviant action or behaviour of the individual converse to their personal attitude. It has been identified that physical features related to marketing environment such as visibility and product placement have significant impact on the consumer intentions or attitudes towards consuming engaging in ethical consumptions which often causes differences in the attitudes and their actual behaviour. At the same time it has been further ascertained that social surroundings which involves interactions with the people also act as a strong determinant for predicating behaviour based on the attitudes of the consumers. In this regard, it can be stated that an individual may interested in purchasing certain products but due to the influence of his/her family members or friends may refuse to buy that products. In addition it has been identified that habit is another imperative factor that causes differences in the attitude and the actual behaviour of individuals. In addition personal benefits also serve as a vital determinant for predicting behaviour based on the attitudes of the consumers. In this regard, it has been determined that an individual may be interested in buying green products which have higher price while at the same time there may exist other products that may not be eco-friendly which may be costing less for that person. In such circumstances, the person may be driven with his/her own benefits which in turn cause disparity in predicating based on the attitude (Erve, 2013; Carrington & et.al., 2010 Gupta, 2006). Additionally, self-perception and self-justification attitude are also curtained to be a major factor that causes differences in the attitude and actual behaviour demonstrated by individuals. It has been observed that, attitudes have not helped to predict human behaviour always. Even it can be seen in case of consumption of goods and/ or services. It has been observed from the report of world health organisation (McGraw-Hill Education, 2013). Explanation behind the widespread prevalence of Attitude-Behaviour Gap in the Sustainable/Ethical Consumption Literature In Accordance to the report of Ethical consumer market (2012), it has been found that, human values are backed by the clear code of conduct. There is variety of ethical issues associated with the research and development, manufacture or sales of a product and/ or services. Even in case of marketing it can be observed. In addition with that it has also found the ethical standard and principles has been also revised to increase the values (Ethical Consumer Markets Report, 2012). Furthermore, it has been observed that there has been growing ethical concern regarding the impact of contemporary consumption pattern over the society as well as on environment. The rising importance of these environmental and social issues has lead towards the emergence of organized consumer activist population followed by the considerable availability of the ethical products. All these factors have contributed towards growing impact on the consumers purchasing as well as consumption decision. The rising awareness amid the consumers have lead towards the emergence of trend pertaining to ethical purchasing and consumption, As a result more and more companies have been engaged in offering products that meet the ethical aspects of the consumers. However, it has been reported that being ethically minded consumers there has been no major changes in the consumers behaviour Erve, 2013; Carrington & et.al., 2010 Gupta, 2006). Responding to this, it can be identified that over the years the research related to ethical consumerisms has augmented entailing cultural premises to mainstream society. In this regard many researchers have tried to develop comprehensive understanding regarding the changes in the ethical consumerism by developing theories and models pertaining to ethical consumer behaviour. However, it has been widely accepted that these models and theories are less apparent in the real world situation. Correspondingly, it has been argued that ethical intention or attitude hardly demonstrated in terms of actual ethical buying behaviour. It can be argued that the previous literature on attitude and behaviour were firmly related with the identifying the relationships between the attitude and the actual behaviour. According to the previous literature, it has been governed that attitude of individuals determines their actual behaviour. Besides, this literature eliminated the influence of external factor on deter5ming the purchasing decision of the consumers. In simple words, the previous literature revealed bias findings which have fewer implications on the actual purchasing decision of the consumers (Erve, 2013; Carrington & et.al., 2010 Gupta, 2006). In this regard, it has been argued that despite the concerns revealed by consumers towards the environment, they are often reluctant to buy or pay for environmental-friendly products. As a result it has created significant challenge for the marketers primarily offering environmental-friendly products. Furthermore, it has been asserted that despite the growing concerns towards the environment, there has been considerable decline in the environmentally friendly behaviours. This has further risen towards the generation of puzzling questions regarding why consumers having concerns about environment (attitude) failed to buy environmental friendly products (behaviour). In this regard, a recent study found the 30% of the consumers were reported to purchase ethically and amongst this group of consumers only 3% were identified to engage in actual ethical purchasing (Erve, 2013; Carrington & et.al., 2010 Gupta, 2006). According to the above discussion, it can be firmly stated that models that advocates attitudes as a measure to predict behaviour are less useful in real world situation. This discrepancy has profound impact on the marketers of dealing with ethical products as these products are likely to cause failure for the marketers. Thus, understanding the gap between the consumers’ attitudes and behaviours has clearly accorded significant importance in the purview of academic, managerial as well as social context. Evidently it can be argued that attitude-behaviour gap is so prevalent throughout the sustainable/ethical consumption literature. So far numerous academic works has been conducted in relation to attitude-behaviour gap (Erve, 2013; Carrington & et.al., 2010 Gupta, 2006). Conclusion From the discussion it has been already magnified that, the ethical consumption has grown over the years since last few years. And it has been also estimated that it will be increased in the future years to come. In this discussion in order to find the relation between ethical attitude and behaviour it has been observed that theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour models are quite essential to understand the relation between attitude and behaviour. Through the thorough observation, it has been identified in most of the cases human attitude reflects towards the behaviour, but based on the attitude the behaviour of the human cannot be always relied to predict the actual behaviour. This is due to the fact that there exist certain imperative factors such as habits, physical appearance and social surroundings and personal benefits that strongly influence the attitude of the individuals leading towards differences in actual behaviour. Consequently, from the analysis it has been also observed that, due the self-perception and self-justification attitude and behavioural gap can be seen in case of ethical consumption. In addition with, during the explanation it has been also found few factors which are related with the ethical consumption environmental protection and animal welfare among others. It has been observed that the over the years extreme research has been conducted on ethical consumerism pertaining to attitude-behaviour gap. Correspondingly, the major reason behind the widespread research in this concern area is due to the differences witnessed in the attitude and the actual behaviour as against the theories and literature documented previously. 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