Psychological foundations of ethical consumerism: influential role of quality and stigma

Sher Jahan Khan, Ebtesam Abdullah Alzeiby, Bhumika Gupta () and Adrienn Dernóczi-Polyák
Additional contact information
Sher Jahan Khan: Fore School of Management
Ebtesam Abdullah Alzeiby: Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University
Bhumika Gupta: LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - Université Paris-Saclay - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], IMT-BS - MMS - Département Management, Marketing et Stratégie - TEM - Télécom Ecole de Management - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]
Adrienn Dernóczi-Polyák: Széchenyi István University

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Ethical consumer behaviour has been receiving much attention in recent times, due to heightened social issue on sustainability, corporate social responsibility and ethical consumption from the community. Integrated with the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory, this study investigates the influences of altruistic, biospheric, and hedonic values on ethical buying behaviour under the mediating mechanism of behavioural beliefs, personal norms, and subjective norms. Moreover, the present research also explores the moderating effects of perceived product quality and social stigma in the relationship between subjective norms, personal norms and ethical buying behaviour. A cross-sectional survey design approach was employed where data were gathered from students studying in India. The findings indicate that altruistic, biospheric, and hedonic values have an indirect impact on ethical buying behaviour via related behavioural beliefs, personal norms, and subjective norms. The moderating roles of quality and stigma show some interesting counteracting influences. Product quality was found to enhance the subjective norms and ethical buying behaviour relationship while undermining the relationship between personal norms and ethical buying behaviour. By contrast, stigma reduced the influence of subjective norms but enhanced the effect of personal norms on ethical buying behaviour. The work adds to the ethical consumption literature by combining theoretical perspectives and emphasising the complexity of how these moderating variables function in ethical decision-making. The findings provide both theoretical implications from the perspective of the psychological mechanism of ethical behaviour and managerial implications for firms looking to motivate ethical consumption.

Keywords: Ethical consumption; Personal norms; Subjective norms; Behavioural beliefs; Value-belief-norm theory; Consumer ethics; Ethical behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Acta Psychologica, 2026, 262, pp.106075. ⟨10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.106075⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05435726

DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.106075

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().