Revisiting the conceptualization of ethical consumption: an exploration of buyer and vendor views

Consumer purchase decision making is often influenced by their ethical concerns around fair trade principles, organically grown materials or depletion of natural resources. However, the motives of vendors to trade ethical products may not necessarily match buyers' motives. This paper focuses on the identification of the fit between consumer ethical stances and vendors’ initiatives and business approaches to supply ethical products. The paper conceptualizes how the deontological (obligations or rules) and teleological (guided by the consequences of actions) principles of buyers, motivate their ethical consumption decisions and behaviours. The paper attempts to bridge the gap in the understanding of the alignment of values that motivates buyers and sellers to trade ethical products, in a conceptual framework which draws arguments from the Theory of Planed Behaviour, the General Theory of Marketing Ethics, and the Attitude–Behaviour Gap. It generates propositions that explain ethical trading between vendors and buyers and consumption behaviour of consumers, as well as recommendations for future studies, which would empirically support the conceptual framework. The paper suggests ways in which companies and consumers could interact to develop market relationships, which create ethical shopping opportunities, based on consumers perceived links between their ethical values and the suppliers' ethical drives