Social desirability bias as an influencing factor of ethical consumer behavior

Abstract

Consumers usually consider themselves as more ethical than their peers, manifesting a need to appear more socially orientated than they actually are. The main objective of this study was to analyze the influence of social desirability bias on ethical consumer behavior considered at a component level. Data were collected from a sample of 332 Romanian individuals from the 18-26 age group. The data analysis process involved co-variance structural equation modeling performed with the help of AMOS. Results show that both the positive and negative sides of social desirability significantly influence the three dimension of ethical consumer behavior. Therefore, based on results from this study, researchers can better understand the complex structure of ethical consumer behavior form a different point of view.