Fair Trade Products Research Articles

The central role of price fairness for cost transparency strategy: What is the effect of conventional versus Fairtrade products and construal level?

The central role of price fairness for cost transparency strategy: What is the effect of conventional versus Fairtrade products and construal level?

Fairness in markets and market experiments: insights from a field‐plus‐lab study and a failed replication

AbstractWe investigate how fairness in a laboratory experiment framed as a market exchange relates to preferences for fair trade products elicited before and at the end of the experiment. We collected two samples, 10 years apart. In the original sample, fairness in the market experiment measured by the willingness to buy at a higher price when higher wages are paid to the worker correlates both with the choice of a fair trade product and with the willingness to pay a positive fair trade premium. These correlations are not significant in the replication experiment, which indicates at best a weak relationship.

ICOOP puzzle: localistic practices, internationalism values, and Fair Trade in South Korea’s cooperative movement

ABSTRACT This article illuminates an intellectual puzzle of how South Korean cooperative movements attempt to overcome the dilemma between localistic practices and the value of internationalism. Moving beyond anti-capitalistic debates of building links globally, the cooperative movement brings Fair Trade products from developing countries to consumer cooperatives in South Korea, resulting in a scaling up of community economies globally and forging real international solidarity. Engaging with feminist theories put forward by Gibson-Graham and their collaborators, this article calls upon an expanded feminist politics that challenge the “spatial bounding” of community economies that are often joined with localistic practices. Born as one of the most significant forms of community economies to address the economic precarity of grassroots farmers and workers during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, iCOOP was set up as a consumer cooperative federation to support local Korean producers with alternative market linkage. Through Fair Trade movement, iCOOP serves as an interesting case to overcome localistic practices and nurture the value of internationalism. This article develops an expanded feminist politics of community economies to confront the tendency of localistic practices by providing four layers of analysis: value, campaign tactics, new governance structure, and scaling solidarity.

How attitudes and purchases differ between also-online versus offline-only grocery shoppers in online and offline grocery shopping

AbstractThe surge in online grocery shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the balance between offline and online purchases, influencing consumer attitudes toward these channels. Given the anticipated continued growth of online grocery shopping in the coming years, research on this topic becomes increasingly crucial for retailers, manufacturers, and consumers. Particularly, brand managers and retailers find themselves uncertain about the implications for their consumer segments and products, including national versus private label brands, organic products, and fair-trade products. Against this backdrop, our study delves into consumer characteristics and purchase behavior to explore the distinctions between offline-only and also-online grocery shoppers. Additionally, we examine whether consumer behavior varies across offline and online channels. Specifically, we analyze extensive household panel data encompassing 4,142,485 purchases and diverse consumer characteristics (such as demographics and attitudes) from an average of 21,428 households spanning the years 2016–2020. It is noteworthy that also-online shoppers, despite their preference for convenience, tend to be younger, reside in larger cities, and exhibit more positive attitudes toward buying local and environmental responsibilities. These consumers, characterized by lower price consciousness and higher brand preferences, display a greater inclination toward national brands online compared to offline. Furthermore, they express more favorable attitudes toward organic and fair-trade products and exhibit relatively higher purchasing of these items. Our extensive empirical analyses reveal that these cross-sectional differences are attributable, in part, to demand-driven factors and, in part, to supply-side effects. Through this research, we provide valuable insights to brand managers, retailers, and researchers, facilitating a better understanding of the evolving retail landscape, particularly within the dynamic realm of online grocery shopping.

Determinants of Consumer Intention to Purchase Fair Trade Products in the Middle East: Does Gender Matter?

Background Consumers are increasingly mindful of the influence of their consumption choices on the environment and society, leading to a significant increase in demand for fair trade products. However, while this trend has been rapidly growing in recent years, the market for fair trade products is still in its early stage in the Middle East, despite the region’s high per capita income. Focus of the Article This study investigates the motivations behind fair trade product consumption in the Middle East. By doing this, it aims to provide valuable insights and practical implications for developing effective and tailored marketing strategies to promote fair trade products in the region. Research Question This study addresses two main questions: (1) To what extent do environmental consciousness, social norms, moral obligation, and attitude influence Middle Eastern consumers’ intention to purchase fair trade products? (2) Does gender moderate the relationships between these variables and fair trade purchase intention? Importance to the Social Marketing Field By shedding light on the drivers of fair trade consumption in the Middle East, a largely under-researched region, this study expands the social marketing literature and informs advancements in the field. The findings equip marketers and policymakers with valuable insights for devising effective and tailored marketing strategies to promote fair trade products in the Middle East market. Method The data were collected through an online survey administered to 252 consumers in the United Arab Emirates using Qualtrics. Established scales were adopted from prior research to measure the constructs. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling analysis and multi-group analysis. Results The results showed that attitude towards fair trade products had the highest impact on purchase intention, followed by environmental consciousness, social norms, and moral obligation. Notably, the moderating analysis revealed that while attitude and environmental consciousness had comparable effects across genders, the impact of social norms on the intention to purchase fair trade products was significantly higher for females than males. Moral obligation, on the other hand, only significantly affected males’ intention to buy fair trade products. Recommendations for Research or Practice The study offers valuable insights for marketers and policymakers seeking to promote fair trade products in the Middle East market and highlights the need for tailored marketing strategies that consider gender differences in fair trade consumption. Limitations The data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of the general public in the UAE based on voluntary participation. While this approach is commonly used in ethical consumption research, the potential for selection bias may limit the generalizability of the results.

Value Addition and Coconut-Based Beverages: Current Perspectives

(1) Background: The definition of value addition is based on the process or processes which are used to transform, physically, the initial raw material into the final food or non-food article. Diversification can enhance the possibility of increased gains. The aim of this work is to give a reliable description of value addition when speaking of coconut-based beverages among all possible derivatives. (2) Methods: A systematic review in which the main papers on the argument have been critically examined and discussed. (3) Results: Processing degree is a consequence of consumers’ requests. Three different drivers for value addition have been considered: packaging, durability, and size options; sensorial features; and sustainability. The results of this investigation have highlighted the added value of several products because of recyclable packaging materials, intermediate- or long-durability expectations, different available sizes, and good or excellent sensorial performances. (4) Conclusions: There are different value-added coconut-based beverages with interesting perspectives. On the other hand, sustainability and eco-friendly policies may be a problem for those products that are produced similarly to non-coconut-based beverages. The opportunity presented by certified organic and/or fair-trade products could help the coconuts industry in the near future. More research is still needed on this topic.

Enjeu de la transparence des prix auprès des consommateurs : une application aux produits issus du commerce équitable

This research focuses on a topic that has been little explored in the literature: the effect of price decomposition on consumer preference. The issue of transparency is particularly relevant in the case of sustainable products given the values of responsibility they convey. An empirical investigation, combining a dual qualitative and quantitative approach, was carried out on fair-trade chocolate. The results confirm that, while consumers are generally skeptical of high prices, breaking them down favors preference and thus tends to increase the acceptability of premium fair trade chocolates. In addition, a cluster analysis highlighted the role of prosocial values and experience with fair trade products in the preference for detailed price information.

Ecolabels and the economic recession.

We examine the effect of the 2008 economic recession on consumers' observed expenditures for eco-labelled grocery products. Traditional price theory predicts that consumers change their spending during an economic downturn and we would expect the sales share of eco-labelled products to fall since these are relatively more expensive than non-labelled products. We use supermarket loyalty card data from the UK and show that the recession had widely different effects on the expenditure share of different eco-labelled grocery products. We confirm, empirically, that expenditure shares on organic products declined over the time period under study but the expenditures share for fair-trade products increased over the same period. We evaluate alternative models of decision making to explain our results, viz., a salience model and a model of reputation signalling. We find that both of these models give a plausible explanation of our empirical results.

Differentiating emotions in the theory of planned behaviour: evidence of improved prediction in relation to sustainable food consumerism

PurposeThe theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and its extensions are often used to explain intentions to perform sustainable behaviours. Emotions can provide the impetus for action and should be considered in high-involvement situations, such as sustainable food purchase decisions. Therefore, the aim of this research work was to investigate whether the addition of different types of emotions (self-related, social and pro-active) to the TPB main constructs – attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) – improves the explanation of intention to make two sustainable food purchase choices: purchase Fairtrade (FT) products and purchase through solidarity purchasing groups (SPGs).Design/methodology/approachThe present investigation was conducted by two studies using online questionnaires and focussing on purchasing FT food products (Study 1) and purchasing food through SPGs (Study 2). Stepwise regression models were run to explain the intention to purchase FT products (Study 1; N = 240) and the intention to purchase through SPGs (Study 2; N = 209).FindingsResults show that emotions increase the predictive validity of the TPB model. The study also highlights the importance to distinguish between different types of emotions. Amongst those considered in both studies, only pro-active emotions play a significant role in predicting food purchasing intention. Results encourage further investigation of the role of emotions in TPB-based models for predicting sustainable food purchase choices.Research limitations/implicationsThe measurement of the three classical antecedents of the TPB model (ATT, SNs and PBC) performed by single items can be considered the main limitation of this work. In future research, instruments made up of more items measuring these three theoretical dimensions should be used. In addition, it would be important to conduct an analysis of the beliefs that determine ATTs, norms and perceived control.Originality/valueDifferent from previous studies that considered emotions in extension of the TPB model to explain sustainable behaviours, the present work separately analysed the role of three different kinds of emotions (self-related, social and pro-active) in explaining sustainable food behaviours.

A Cross-Cultural Study on the Role of Message Framing in the Promotion of Fair-Trade Buying Behavior

This cross-cultural study investigates the differential effects of message framing techniques in promoting fair-trade consumption between Eastern and Western cultures. A total of 414 Vietnamese participants from Vietnam and 342 American participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to two message framing conditions. It emphasizes the interconnected nature of fair-trade consumption behavior, influenced by message framing, processing fluency, and justice restoration effectiveness. The findings provide practical insights for marketers in effectively engaging consumers in purchasing fair-trade products. This study contributes to the literature by illuminating the impact of message framing strategies on consumer behavior toward fair-trade products in different cultural contexts. Marketers can leverage cultural orientations and message processing styles to develop more effective communication strategies for promoting fair-trade product adoption. Specifically, loss-framed messages may be more persuasive in increasing purchase intention among Vietnamese consumers, while gain-framed messages may resonate better with American consumers. Additionally, messages emphasizing the positive outcomes and benefits of fair-trade products for farmers and producers can enhance consumers’ likelihood of purchasing such products.

Authentication of Cocoa Products Based on Profiling and Fingerprinting Approaches: Assessment of Geographical, Varietal, Agricultural and Processing Features.

Cocoa and its derivative products, especially chocolate, are highly appreciated by consumers for their exceptional organoleptic qualities, thus being often considered delicacies. They are also regarded as superfoods due to their nutritional and health properties. Cocoa is susceptible to adulteration to obtain illicit economic benefits, so strategies capable of authenticating its attributes are needed. Features such as cocoa variety, origin, fair trade, and organic production are increasingly important in our society, so they need to be guaranteed. Most of the methods dealing with food authentication rely on profiling and fingerprinting approaches. The compositional profiles of natural components -such as polyphenols, biogenic amines, amino acids, volatile organic compounds, and fatty acids- are the source of information to address these issues. As for fingerprinting, analytical techniques, such as chromatography, infrared, Raman, and mass spectrometry, generate rich fingerprints containing dozens of features to be used for discrimination purposes. In the two cases, the data generated are complex, so chemometric methods are usually applied to extract the underlying information. In this review, we present the state of the art of cocoa and chocolate authentication, highlighting the pros and cons of the different approaches. Besides, the relevance of the proposed methods in quality control and the novel trends for sample analysis are also discussed.

The role of emotional imagery exposure on Fair Trade consumption and on compassion

This conceptual article posits the effect of emotional imagery exposure on Fair Trade consumption and on compassion. The paper theorizes that as consumers are exposed to greater levels of compassionate emotional imagery exposure (CEIE), they are more inclined to consume Fair Trade products and posits the moderator effect of compassion for oneself, others and the environment (COOE), as an emotion compatible with Fair Trade consumption. In addition, this paper theorizes the effect of CEIE on COOE. For example, researchers may determine if certain images and text evoke the emotion of compassion. Moreover, the paper provides suggestions for scholars to conduct empirical studies based on the developed theories and literature review.

Fairtrade products in retail chains: Case study in the Czech Republic

Fairtrade products in retail chains: Case study in the Czech Republic

Right-leaning egalitarians are just as susceptible to social justice-induced product patronage! Evidence from the US and Malaysia

We investigated the impact of egalitarianism on consumers' inclination to support fair-trade products and examined whether this effect was observed among individuals with different political affiliations. In four experiments featuring a fictional chocolate brand presented in either a social-justice (fair trade) or quality-focused (control) manner, we examined the product purchase intentions of both left- and right-leaning consumers in the United States and Malaysia (Studies 1a, N = 200; 1b, N = 269; & 2, N = 410). Results revealed that participants expressed a greater willingness to support the product when it was framed as contributing to a social justice cause, but this effect was limited to left- and right-leaning consumers who strongly endorsed egalitarian principles. Study 3 (N = 354) employed a mediated-moderation approach and confirmed that an elevated sensitivity to injustice was the underlying mechanism driving increased intentions to support the product among egalitarians exposed to social justice framing. These results demonstrate that right-leaning consumers can be influenced by social justice framing when their commitment to equity is strong.

Moral markets in energy: Bridging the gap between policy, industry, and society

Moral markets in energy: Bridging the gap between policy, industry, and society Dr. Panikos Georgallis, an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam, does research on the interaction between companies and their socio-political environment when adapting to moral markets. Moral markets are sectors that emerge not only to address an economic opportunity but also to solve some social or environmental problems. This includes, for example, ethical fashion, organic goods, grass-fed meat, sustainable forestry, renewable energy, fair trade products, recycling and now, plant-based meat. These markets emerged to address some broader social or environmental challenge. They differ from conventional markets in a couple of ways. One is that their products are considered superior, not from a functional or a cost-based perspective, but normatively superior. We think that fair-trade products are better than non-fair-trade products, not because we can tell a difference in taste, but because of the way farmers are paid.

Mission Accomplished? Balancing Market Growth and Moral Legitimation in the Fair Trade Moral Market

Mission Accomplished? Balancing Market Growth and Moral Legitimation in the Fair Trade Moral Market

Drivers of consumer’s willingness to pay for fair trade food products: the role of positive and negative emotions

This paper proposes an explanatory model of the intention to pay for fair trade food products based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory. The research aims are to test the effects of general attitudes toward sustainable food products on the valuation of fair-trade food products, to study the effects of emotions on willingness to pay for fair trade food products and to analyse the mediating role of product evaluation and emotions. The proposed model was tested using an ordinary least squares estimation and an analysis combining the properties of parallel and serial mediation on a representative sample of 305 consumers in the Basque Country (Spain). Descriptive analyses indicate that respondents had a favourable attitude toward sustainable products and positively valued fair trade products. The willingness to pay was moderate. The results show the importance of emotions, especially pride, in transforming attitudes toward sustainable food products into a willingness to pay for fair trade food products. This study links the more general literature on sustainable products to that of fair-trade products, broadening the focus of the S-O-R theory. In addition, it helps fair trade organisations understand consumer behaviour influenced by positive emotions and attitudes towards sustainable products, including fair trade products.

Enterprise management strategies in agricultural fairtrade products

Purpose — One of the fairtrade's major purposes is to raise the socio-economic of small-scale farmers. Numerous studies have found that fairtrade has a beneficial effect on farmers' profitability. Meanwhile, this study focused on the product management strategies of enterprises engaged in fair trade products.Method — The researchers used 50 legally registered enterprises located and operated in the province of Cavite. The significant findings were drawn and analyzed using a descriptive research design.Result — It was discovered that the majority of respondents were sole proprietors with few employees, had been in business for less than three years, and had an average initial capital of Php 3,000,000.00 or less. The product management strategies were very effective, and the majority of the participants used package labeling, fair pricing, and personal branding. Furthermore, the study identified challenges encountered in the implementation of product management strategies, such as poor consumer knowledge about packaging, financial resources that affect product pricing, and consumers' lack of brand exposure.Contribution — The study provides detailed product management practices or strategies among fairtrade products, which will serve as a springboard for status quo analysis and baseline studies to explore and develop pandemic- and post-pandemic-sensitive resilient strategies that will promote the sustainability of fairtrade enterprises.

Unpacking social impact scaling strategies: challenges and responses in African social enterprises as differentiated hybrid organizations

PurposeSocial enterprises (SEs) face tensions when combining financial and social missions, and this is particularly evident in the scaling process. Although extant research mainly focuses on SEs that integrate their social and financial missions, this study aims to unpack social impact scaling strategies in differentiated hybrid organizations (DHOs) through the case of African SEs.Design/methodology/approachThe study entails an inductive multiple case study approach based on four case SEs: work integration social enterprises (WISEs) and fair trade producer social enterprises (FTPSEs) in Uganda and Kenya. A total of 24 semi-structured interviews were collected together with multiple secondary data sources and then coded and analyzed through the rigorous Gioia et al. (2013) methodology to build a theoretical model.FindingsThe results indicate that SEs, as differentiated hybrids, implement four types of social impact scaling strategies toward beneficiaries and benefits (penetration, bundling, spreading and diversification) and unveil different dual mission tensions generated by each scaling strategy. The study also shows mutually reinforcing mechanisms named cross-bracing actions, which are paradoxical actions connected to one another for navigating tensions and ensuring dual mission during scaling.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides evidence of four strategies for scaling social impact, with associated challenges and response mechanisms based on the cross-bracing effect between social and financial missions. Thus, the research provides a clear framework (social impact scaling matrix) for investigating differentiation in hybridity at scaling and provides new directions on how SEs scale their impact, with implications for social entrepreneurship and dual mission management literature.Practical implicationsThe model offers a practical tool for decision-makers in SEs, such as managers and social entrepreneurs, providing insights into what scaling pathways to implement (one or multiples) and, more importantly, the implications and possible solutions. Response mechanisms are also useful for tackling specific tensions, thereby contributing to addressing the challenges of vulnerable, marginalized and low-income individuals. The study also offers implications for policymakers, governments and other ecosystem actors such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social investors.Originality/valueDespite the growing body of literature on scaling social impact, only a few studies have focused on differentiated hybrids, and no evidence has been provided on how they scale only the social impact (without considering commercial scaling). This study brings a new perspective to paradox theory and hybridity, showing paradoxes come into view at scaling, and documenting how from a differentiation approach to hybridity, DHOs also implemented cross-bracing actions, which are reinforcement mechanisms, thus suggesting connections and synergies among the actions in social and financial mission, where such knowledge is required to better comprehend how SEs can achieve a virtuous cycle of profits and reinvestments in social impact.

Determinants of Consumer Attitudes Toward Prosocial Products: A Focus on the Communication of Love (vs. Pride, Hope, and Compassion) Within Advertisements

Marketers often use appeals that emphasize the responsibility and the consequences of consumer decisions to help persons, animals, and nature in need, or they use appeals that evoke the predominantly negative emotion of compassion. We focus on another type of appeal that marketers might use: the promise of experiencing positive emotions. We use broaden-and-built theory to conclude that the promise of experiencing positive emotions when helping others increases consumers’ willingness to engage in prosocial behavior. We use emotional-appraisal theory to conclude that the promise of experiencing love is more effective than the promise of experiencing pride or hope. Our research is innovative in that we tested the promise of positive emotions. This kind of message can be used in an advertising environment. We created print advertisements of companies promoting products that promised the experience of love, pride, or hope and ad versions that included an appeal for compassion (supplemented with an emotion-absent condition). The ads promoted fair-trade products aimed at helping farmers in need, products that help endangered animal species, and products that addressed nature as a whole in need. We mostly found support for our hypotheses. However, the promise of experiencing love by taking care of nature by purchasing special products was not effective.