Exploring the Ethical Behaviour Adopted by Greek Consumers

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate and assess, with reference to the Greek market, each type (Positive, Negative and Discursive) of ethical consumption such as ecological buying, fair trade, boycotting, and consumer activism.. An effort is made to explore the potential relationships between each type of ethical consumption and selected demographics and Schwartz’s (1992) list of values. A survey was conducted among the households of the urban area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The 500 personal interviews conducted, provided 494 usable structured questionnaires. The sampling method was a combination of the two-stage area sampling and the systematic sampling. The findings indicated low engagement in Positive Ethical Consumption, moderate engagement in Negative Ethical Consumption and very low engagement in Discursive Ethical Consumption. All three types of Ethical Consumption were found to be influenced positively by education. With regard to Swartz’s list of values, the variable of Universalism was found to be correlated positively and also able to predict all types of Ethical Consumption. Further clarification is required with regard to the contents of the ethical consumerism as a concept. The insights of each ethical consumption type in people’s everyday life need to be clarified too. Exhaustive qualitative research methods would help the above clarification. The development of reliable and valid measures is essential in order to obtain better measurement accuracy. The employment of attitudes might also be found productive. The topic of ethical consumption is for the first time examined in Greece in an exploratory survey. Further, this paper includes evidence with regard to which demographics as well as values that may play a role in describing and predicting the types of ethical consumption. The results will hopefully assist marketers to better understand this kind of consumer behaviour.