An exploratory study identifying motives and barriers to ethical consumption for young Indian consumers

Abstract

In recent times, there has been a huge uproar in the media about ethical consumerism. Ethical products can help corporations to build positive brand image and improve bottom line and can help consumers feel proud by contributing to the well-being of people, planet and animals. The purpose of this study is to check the drivers and the barriers of ethical consumption. The study incorporates focus group discussions (FGDs) for learning about the factors propelling the growth of the consumption of ethical products, as well as those that are hindering the growth. We identified personal values, habit, social guilt, separate categorisation of ethical products in retail stores, need for a certification, source credibility and government policies as the motivators of ethical consumption. We identified dearth of knowledge, wilful ignorance, high price, and green scepticism (or cynicism), tragedy of commons, quality of the product and the product category as barriers to ethical consumption.