Fairtrade is one way to reach sustainable development in emerging countries, for example South America and Africa. Lately, Fairtrade has become highlighted and popular. This has led to studies on consumers’ view on Fairtrade, for instance in Belgium and America. Among the previous studies, the ethical consumer has been identified. At the moment, there is no research done in Sweden on who the Swedish Ethical Consumer is, regarding purchases of Fairtrade coffee. Therefore, with this thesis we want to fill the research gap on identifying the Swedish Ethical Consumer and which factors that influence him or her in the purchase decision. The study was performed on Swedish coffee consumers on Facebook. Different factors such as consumer related, environmental related, and product related, are measured to see if there is any relationship between these factors and how they influence the Swedish Ethical Consumer. With help from a snowball sampling technique and a self-administrated survey, 111 answers were collected. From that, we could identify the Swedish Ethical Consumer, given this sample. The result showed that product and demographics seemed to be the most affecting factors on ethical consumer behaviour. For this sample, brand (taste) of the product was by far the most popular product related factor to consider when buying coffee. From the environmental factors, the demographics were of greatest matter. Attitudes and knowledge were the most important consumer related factors. It seems like a majority of the respondents who think that Fairtrade is important (attitudes) also do buy Fairtrade coffee. Also, the respondents who possess much information (knowledge) about it tend to buy it. This study contributes to fill the gap in the lack of studies of Swedish Ethical Consumer behaviour. The conclusions can be used as a guideline and tool for companies to brand a new product. It could also be helpful for organisations to provide more information about Fairtrade to the consumers.

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Textil- och modeindustrin har på senare tid uppmärksammats i allt större utsträckning för att vara en ohållbar bransch och som följd av problemen har en rad etiska modevarumärken lanserats. De tar hänsyn till påverkan på miljö och människorna i produktionen, varför deras produkter kallas etiskt mode. De varumärken och de butiker som säljer etiskt mode har kunder som tar hänsyn till etiska aspekter i sitt köpbeslut, så kallade etiska konsumenter.Senaste decenniet har forskning på etiskt mode genomförts, men då framförallt på den vanliga konsumenten. Då forskning på svenska etiska konsumenter är begränsad har författarna till den här uppsatsen funnit det intressant att se närmare på dem. Tidigare forskning på etiska konsumenter har uppmärksammat ett gap mellan de etiska konsumenternas attityd mot etiskt mode och deras faktiska konsumentbeteende, ett attityd-beteendegap. De etiska konsumenterna har som intention att handla etiska kläder men gör det inte alltid.Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att förstå, beskriva och förklara vad som styr den svenska etiska konsumentens val att handla eller att inte handla etiska modekläder i syfte att öka förståelsen för hur företag kan minska det nu rådande attityd- beteendegapet.För att uppfylla syftet har en studie med en kvalitativ ansats genomförts. Syftet är inte att svara på några frågor eller göra någon form av generalisering, utan hellre att förstå meningen bakom den undersökta gruppen etiska konsumenters beteende. För empiriinsamlingen har fokusgrupper och ostrukturerade intervjuer använts som metod. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats med hjälp av relevant bakgrundinformation, litteratur på ämnet, tidigare forskning och teorier om konsumentbeteende, specifikt etiskt konsumentbeteende.Utkomsten från empirin visar på att de etiska konsumenterna kännetecknas av att vara empatiska och att bry sig mer om sin omgivnings välmående än sin egna ekonomiska vinning. Deras intentioner är att handla etiska kläder, dock stärker den här studien tidigare forskning som visat på att etiska konsumenter inte alltid handlar efter deras etiska intentioner. För etiska konsumenter liksom vanliga konsumenter är pris och design faktorer som spelar in på deras köpbeslut. Den kvalitativa studien pekar på att den etiska konsumenten handlar etiska produkter när de matchar dennes behov och när det finns ett intresse för produkten i sig.Mängden kunskap om problemen i produktionen ökar chansen att konsumenten handlar etiskt men saknas tillgänglig information om produkterna och återförsäljare så finns det en risk att den etiska konsumenten väljer andra produkter framför etiska produkter. Företagen måste inse vikten av att göra sig tillgängliga och sina produkter attraktiva. Studien tyder på att företag, både med och utan etiska koncept, måste ha god kännedom om sina kunder. Även den etiska konsumenten har olika behov beroende av var den befinner sig i livet. Produkterna och marknadsföring av dem bör följaktligen anpassas till den aktuella situationen.The textile and fashion industry increasingly gain attention for not being a sustainable industry. As a result a range of fashion brands have been launched. They consider the impact on the environment and people within the production, why the products from these producers are called ethical fashion. The brands and the stores offering ethical fashion have customers who consider ethical aspects when they buy clothes, so called ethical consumers.Since research on Swedish ethical consumers is limited the authors of this thesis found it interesting to take a closer look at them. Previous research has noticed a gap between the ethical consumers’ attitude towards ethical fashion and their actual consumer behaviour, an attitude-behaviour gap.The purpose of this thesis is to understand, describe and explain what directs the Swedish ethical consumer's choice to buy or not to buy ethical fashion clothes, in order to increase the understanding of how companies can reduce the existing attitude- behaviour gap.A study with a qualitative approach has been carried out. The aim was not to be able to give answers or make any generalization, instead to understand the meaning behind the group of ethical consumers whose behaviour have been studied. For the gathering of empirical data, focus groups and unstructured interviews have been used as method. The empirical data has been analyzed using relevant background information, literature on the topic, previous research and theories about consumer behaviour, specifically ethical consumer behaviour.The outcome from the empirical data indicates that ethical consumers are characterized by being empathetic and to care more about the well-being of their environment than their personal financial gain. Their intentions are to buy ethical clothes, however this study support previous studies which have shown that ethical consumers not always act according to their ethical intentions. For ethical consumers, just like regular consumers, price and design are factors that have impact on their buying decisions. This qualitative study indicates that the ethical consumer buy ethical products when the products match their needs and when they have an interest in the product itself. The quantity of knowledge about the ethical problems increases the chance that the consumer will buy ethical products, but if information about the products and the retailers is not available there is a risk that the ethical consumer chooses other products instead of ethical ones. It is essential for companies to realize the importance of being available and making their products attractive. The study suggests that companies, both with and without ethical concepts, need to have good knowledge about their customers. Also the ethical consumers have different needs depending on where in life they are. The products and how marketing is used on them must therefore be adjusted accordingly to this. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:48:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2855964 bytes, checksum: c2e612db725aa4913cd505caffff3ad9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study is focused on the ethical behavior of consumers in a broad perspective and under the expression Consumer Social Responsibility. This perspective, in the point of view of the marketing exchange system, has been neglected in academic research, since most such studies are dedicated to understand the offerer of the ex-change. The research is justified to the extent that the consumer is considered as one of the major agents of exchange system, with a potential of triggering unethical behavior that may disrupt the exchange system. It was developed a literature review addressing initially the subject ethics, from a macro point of view (as the general grounds of ethics) until issues in a micro sphere (emphasizing ethics applied in the context of marketing, the focus of our study). In addition, a theoretical construct about the Social Responsibility of the Consumer was conducted in order to understand how it was designed and operated by several authors over time. This process culminated in a reinterpretation of the construct through the integration of four dimensions de-fined (altruistic behavior, environmentally sustainable behavior, activist behavior and honest/ethical behavior). To enable the measurement of this construct, knowledge of the theory of scale development and of statistical procedures were applied to pro-pose the Consumer Social Responsibility Scale (ConSR Scale). The development of this scale of measurement required two data collections, the first with 202 students and just for the purpose of purifying the scale pool of items, and the second with 286 general consumers, with part of the data collected in two different Brazilian states, and part in the online version). The second sample had confirmatory purposes and allowed the consolidation of ConSR Scale in terms of reliability and validity. Addition-ally, the subject software piracy was studied and used as the empirical context for the first test of ConSR Scale, what required its inclusion as a topic in the literature re-view. Overall, the results indicated that the consumer social responsibility has very little influence, both in intention and practice of software piracy, and being honest be-havior dimension was the only one that presented statistically significantly influence. The theoretical and practical implications of research results were presented at and of the study, as well as limitations and recommendations for further research involv-ing the subjects here analyzed. / Esta dissertação tem como tema central o comportamento ético do consumidor em sua perspectiva ampliada, tratada sob o termo Responsabilidade Social do Consu-midor. Esta perspectiva, do ponto de vista do sistema de troca em marketing, tem sido negligenciada nas pesquisas acadêmicas, uma vez que em sua maioria tais estudos se dedicam ao lado do ofertante. A pesquisa se justifica na medida em que considera o consumidor, enquanto um dos agentes principais do sistema de troca, como um potencial desencadeador de comportamentos antiéticos que pode desequi-librar o sistema de trocas. O objetivo foi analisar as formas de descrição, mensura-ção e avaliação do comportamento ético do consumidor quanto à sua responsabili-dade no consumo de software pirata. Foi desenvolvida uma revisão de literatura abordando inicialmente o tema ética, tanto de um ponto de vista macro (como fun-damentos gerais da ética) até questões em uma esfera micro (enfatizando a ética aplicada no contexto de marketing, foco do nosso estudo); além disso, um aprofun-damento teórico a respeito do construto Responsabilidade Social do Consumidor foi realizado, a fim de entender como foi concebido e operacionalizado pelos diversos autores ao longo do tempo. Este processo culminou em uma proposta de reinterpre-tação do fenômeno a partir da integração das quatro dimensões delimitadas (com-portamento altruísta, comportamento ambientalmente sustentável, comportamento ativista ou engajado e comportamento ético ou honesto). Para viabilizar a mensura-ção deste construto, foram aplicados conhecimentos da teoria de construção de es-calas e procedimentos estatísticos apropriados na elaboração da Escala de Respon-sabilidade Social do Consumidor (RSCons). O desenvolvimento da escala de men-suração exigiu duas coletas de dados, sendo a primeira para fins exploratórios de limpeza da escala realizada com 202 estudantes universitários, e a segunda amostra composta por 286 consumidores, com aplicação em dois estados brasileiros e pela internet. A segunda amostragem teve fins confirmatórios e permitiu a consolidação a escala de RSCons em termos de validade e confiabilidade. Em complemento, foi abordado o tema pirataria de software para efeito de análise da escala de RSCOns, o que exigiu sua inclusão como um tópico na revisão de literatura. De maneira geral, os resultados indicam que a responsabilidade social do consumidor influencia muito pouco o comportamento de pirataria, tanto na intenção quanto na prática, sendo comportamento ético ou honesto do consumidor a única dimensão que influencia de forma estatisticamente significativa. As implicações teóricas e práticas dos resulta-dos pesquisa são apresentadas ao final do estudo, bem como limitações e reco-mendações para outras pesquisas envolvendo os temas em questão.

Consumerism plays an important role in the development of society, and consumption can be a driving force to shift society into a sustainable future. This paper defines ethical consumers and the restaurant industry as the research field, after analysing the current reality of restaurant industry, and the existing tools for ethical consumers to make their purchasing decision, we bridge the gaps by creating an ideal eco-labelling process for the restaurant industry. Eco-Etiquette is our ideal sustainable tool to better inform ethical consumers in their purchasing decisions. This paper also discusses other ways to assist ethical consumers, and identify some aspects for further research.

This thesis explores consumer perceptions of corporate sustainability, particularly how the removal of product accessories for environmental reasons is perceived. It highlights the importance of concrete evidence like eco-labeling to support sustainability claims. The study delves into the balance consumers strike between eco-friendly intentions and practical needs like price and functionality, revealing a conflict between idealism and pragmatism. Additionally, it examines how social and cultural factors, including reference groups and family upbringing, shape attitudes towards sustainability. The research emphasizes that companies need to connect with consumers' deeper values to promote sustainable consumption effectively. In conclusion, it underscores the need for genuine transparency and the alignment of corporate actions with consumers' personal values and social contexts to encourage more responsible and sustainable consumption.