ETHICAL CONSUMERISM

Ethical Consumerism

ABSTRACT

Sustainability is defined as the utilization in the environment, which refers to the potential longevity of a support system for human life, such as the climate of the planet, the system agricultural, industrial, forestry, the fisheries, and human communities that generally depend on these different systems. Although consumers around the world are making perfect decision and are engaged in ethical considerations and factors for buying any product, they search for the products which don not harm their environment. Therefore many researches and studies found that there are significant differences in the intentions of consumers in terms of ethics and purchasing behavior. This paper analyses the understanding of the concept of “Ethical Consumerism” by reviewing various articles, journals, literature and by inductive analysis of focus group discussions. The research findings suggest that some consumers while in the decision making process of purchasing any product consider the ethical values, which shows their interest and contribution towards their environment. Other showed that they were manifested by views of ethical due to felling of guilt and made post purchase dissonance. Some of the consumers displayed unwillingness to consume ethically because of their personal limitations, which resulted in negative perception and negative image of their responsibilities. Some consumers expressed positively towards ethical consumptions, but seemed to be affected by sarcasm, which resulted in their responsibilities for achieving such sustainable goals. Overall, the research findings supported and enhanced the understanding of ethical consumption decisions by consumers.

Ethical Consumerism

Introduction

The concept of sustainability describes the use of a regenerative system in a way that the system remains in its essential characteristics and its existence can be regenerated in a natural way. Sustainability is the characteristic of a process or a state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. In recent years this concept has been applied more specifically to living organisms and their ecosystems. With reference to the company the term refers to a balance between satisfying the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Ibarra & Hansen, 2011, p 70). The term, in its utilization in the environment, refers to the potential longevity of a support system for human life, such as the climate of the planet, the system agricultural, industrial, forestry, the fisheries, and human communities that generally depend on these different systems. In particular, this longevity is related with the influence that human activity has on the systems themselves (Armstrong & Keston, 2007, p. 120). The term originates from ' ecology, which indicates the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, purposes, biodiversity and productivity into the future. Because a process is sustainable, it must use natural resources at a pace that they can be regenerated naturally. Having emerged now by clear scientific evidence suggest that humanity is living in an unsustainable way, by consuming the earth's limited natural resources faster than it is able to regenerate. Therefore a collective social effort to adapt the human consumption of these resources within a level ...