Ethical Consumption: What Makes People Buy "Ethical" Products

Abstract

Consumers express their ethics through their consumption decisions. The article examines the preferences of Czech respondents in the area of ethical consumption. The aim of the study is to find out the respondents' attitudes towards ethical shopping. We apply a series ofordinal regression analyses to analyse the data from the survey (N=1670; aged 15–93 years, M ± SD: 35.51 ± 16.82; 62.00% women; 32.10% with higher education) conducted in 2021. In some cases, the results of the survey are compared with surveys on the same topicconducted in 2016 and 2018. The research found that customer interest in purchasing is growing, but this trend has not yet manifested itself in the volume of purchases. Beyond the reasons, the decision to buy, ignore ethical products or boycott unethical products is largelylinked to the natural interest and availability of information about 'ethical shopping' in general and 'ethical' products. The results suggest that personal responsibility is the most important reason for ethical shopping. Poor availability in the sales network, disinterest, and higher prices were the most significant reasons for not buying "ethical" products. This research extends existing studies by examining the reasons for purchasing or ignoring so-called ethical products in relation to the intensity of their purchase. We believe that the results of theresearch can be used as baseline data to support targeted ethical purchasing, for example through education.