Consumer Competence Strategies, Spiritually Inspired Core Values and Locus of Control: What Are the Links?

Gabriella Spinelli, Holly Nelson-Becker and Roberta Ligossi
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Gabriella Spinelli: Institute for The Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
Holly Nelson-Becker: Social Work, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Health and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
Roberta Ligossi: Brunel Business School, College of Business Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: Ethical consumption has increased as a result of a more pressing environmental agenda, allowing consumers to assert their core values through marketplace decisions. The progressive secularisation of society has opened a gap on how religion and spirituality, defined in this paper as constructs that underpin core values, affect individuals through their consumption choices. An exploratory approach was taken in this research to investigate how consumers negotiate their daily shopping habits, whether they align with or diverge from their religious or secular core values, and whether an internal or external locus of control (LoC) was demonstrated. This qualitative study used the theory of reasoned action and applied an interpretative paradigm, being most interested in the lived experience of the 25 participants. They were recruited from religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds, following a purposeful sampling strategy. The participants kept a 2-week daily diary detailing spending decisions and were interviewed, also to provide the opportunity to discuss their diary entries. Findings reveal the direction of linkage between constructs such as core values, LoC orientation and Consumer Competence strategies. The study also revealed how religious participants were subject to a moral dualism that at times created dissonance between their core values and their consumer behaviour.

Keywords: ethical consumption; locus of control; moral dualism; needs vs. wants; post-purchase guilt; religion and spirituality; secularisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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