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Bringing Ethical Consumption to the Forefront in Emerging Markets: The Role of Product Categorization

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Abstract

Emerging markets are a growing force, and the resulting increase in wealth—especially among the middle class—promotes conspicuous consumption with potentially negative impacts for societal and environmental well-being. Efforts to encourage ethical consumer behavior in emerging markets often meet various forms of consumer resistance. One reason that ethical consumption may suffer in emerging markets is because consumers have difficulty considering ethical other-focused attributes, such as Fair Trade or eco-friendly options, especially if those attributes do not directly benefit the self. Our research demonstrates a simple way to encourage more ethical consumption in emerging markets, without economic incentives. In particular, when consumers see narrow (vs. broad) product categories, they are more likely to incorporate both salient (self-focused) and non-salient (other-focused) attributes into their decision. Thus, narrow product categories encourage consumers to consider ethical attributes to a greater extent than they normally would. This finding holds in private settings, across various product categories (i.e., coffee, tea, juice) and contexts (i.e., online and in the field), and in different emerging markets (e.g., India, South Africa, and Iran).

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Notes

  1. We also examined the mediating role of self vs. other focus for the relationship between categorization and ethical choice with the alternative measure of collective moral judgment, adapted from Arnaud (2010). We created a summated score for collective moral judgment, consisting of 10 items. Following Preacher and Hayes (2004) PROCESS Model 4 procedure, the main effect of categorization on this scale was significant (b = 0.11; t = − 2.01, p = 0.04). The impact of categorization on choice was reduced in the presence of this scale, but still significant in the dependent model (b = − 0.53; z = − 3.05, p = 0.01). Finally, the effect of categorization on ethical choice mediated through this scale was significant (b = − 0.04, 95% confidence interval [CI]   − 0.10, − 0.01).

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Author notes

  1. Ali Besharat and Gia Nardini have contributed equally to this work and are listed alphabetically.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, Denver, USA

    Ali Besharat

  2. College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA

    Gia Nardini

  3. Dhillon School of Business, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada

    Rhiannon MacDonnell Mesler

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  1. Ali Besharat
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Correspondence to Gia Nardini.

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Appendix

Appendix

Study 1 Fair Trade Replicates

Replicate 1

Replicate 2

Replicate 3

Gaia Blend, Fair Trade

Gaia Blend

Gaia Blend

Rift Valley Blend

Rift Valley Blend

Rift Valley Blend, Fair Trade

Yukon Blend

Yukon Blend, Fair Trade

Yukon Blend

Estima Blend

Estima Blend, Fair Trade

Estima Blend, Fair Trade

Cascada Blend, Fair Trade

Cascada Blend

Cascada Blend

Sulawesi Blend

Sulawesi Blend, Fair Trade

Sulawesi Blend

Gold Coast Blend, Fair Trade

Gold Coast Blend

Gold Coast Blend

Java Dutch Blend

Java Dutch Blend

Java Dutch Blend, Fair Trade

Study 1 Narrow Category Stimuli (Using Replicate 1 to Demonstrate)

figure a

Study 2 Stimuli

Broad, price example (organic designation randomly assigned)

figure b

Narrow, no price example (organic designation randomly assigned)

figure c

Study 3 Stimuli

figure d

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Besharat, A., Nardini, G. & Mesler, R.M. Bringing Ethical Consumption to the Forefront in Emerging Markets: The Role of Product Categorization. J Bus Ethics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05667-2

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