The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer attitudes has been investigated in previous research; however, empirically there is no studies deliberate the role of consumer ethics in order to achieve the CSR, that is, to achieve greater CSR, there is a need to be accompanied with consumer ethics. Therefore, the emergence of consumer ethical behaviour has brought a new perspective to determining the influences of CSR on consumer attitudes. Based on The Theory of Planned Behaviour and Vitell-Hunt theory, this study aims to examine the link between CSR and consumer ethical behaviour, and its influences on consumer attitudes. In order to address the aim, this study explores the relationship between CSR from the philanthropic perspective, and consumers' ethical behaviour. It also determines the extent to which CSR affects brand trust and consumer affective behavioural attitudes. Finally, it examines the role of consumers' ethical behaviour in influencing consumers' attitudes alongside CSR. To address these objectives, this study adopted positivism research philosophy, using a quantitative survey method. The data were collected from consumers who make purchases from the retail sector in the UK. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the previous literature. Then, 500 questionnaires were distributed, of which 350 were completed and used for the final analysis. Multivariate analysis was employed, with the questionnaires analysed using a covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. The findings reveal that as hypothesized, CSR 'philanthropy' is significantly associated with consumer ethical behaviour; however, this study reveals a negative relationship between them. This study also hypothesized that philanthropic retailers have an influence on (a) consumer affective attitudes and (b) consumer behavioural attitudes. This study does not support the hypothesized relationship between philanthropy and (a) consumer affective attitudes or (b) consumer behavioural attitudes. However, the study identifies a positive relationship between philanthropy and brand trust. Consumers' ethical behaviour is not statistically significantly related to brand trust or consumer affective attitudes. However, the relationship between consumer ethical behaviour and consumer behavioural attitudes is found to be statistically significant. Moreover, the study demonstrates a positive relationship between brand trust and consumer behavioural attitudes, and that consumer affective attitudes mediate this relationship. This study offers a number of theoretical contributions to the literature on CSR and consumer ethics. First, the important contribution lies in the attempt to explore the relationship between CSR and consumers' ethical behaviour. This study unexpectedly, discovers the negative relationship between CSR and consumers' ethical behaviour. The possible explanation is that when consumers perceive the company to behave philanthropically, they are less likely to evaluate themselves as ethical because they may attribute their ethical behaviour to the company's perceived philanthropic behaviours. This study further highlights the positive relationship between consumers' ethical behaviour and their behavioural attitude. The second contribution lies in the relationship between CSR and consumers' responses. In line with previous studies (e.g. Willmott 2003; Hustvedt 2014; Singh et al. 2012), this study concurs that CSR positively affects consumers' brand trust. However, the relationship between CSR and consumers' attitudes is not statistically significant. Instead, this study highlights the important role of brand trust; that is, based on this finding, brand trust is the key driver of both consumers' affective and behaviour attitudes. Third, this study discovers the partially mediating role of consumers' affective attitude on the link between brand trust and behavioural attitude; which seems to be an essential sub-process regulating the effect of brand trust on consumer behavioural attitudes. This study also has practical implications. Firstly, retailers are recommended to effectively communicate their philanthropic activities to consumers in order to enhance their brand trust. It is particularly important that they also aim at influencing consumers' trust in their brand because it is the brand trust that would positively affect their purchasing decision. The final recommendation is that management should focus their CSR communication on the ethical consumer segment because ethical consumers show strong intention to purchase from a socially responsible company.

Background  A new way to promote environmentally friendly goods has arisen as the market has evolved. Greenwashing arose from societal pressures and a strong desire for green customers. Some companies' greenwashing methods were exposed as unprecedented pressure was put on the businesses in an effort to improve their overall environmental performance. Greenwashing creates consumer doubt by denying them a clear option of environmentally friendly products. Greenwashing makes individuals unwilling to purchase ecologically friendly products, and it complicates the purchasing process for green customers who are worried about their consumption patterns because they must exert more effort to validate the products' green claims.  Purpose  The purpose of the study is to explore how consumer ethical standards are reflected in the perception of greenwashing.  Method  The authors have opted to do research into the areas of greenwashing and ethical consumer behavior. From an ethical standpoint, this study looks into consumer opinions of greenwashing behavior and greenwashed products. To acquire a better knowledge of how consumers reflect consumer ethics in the greenwashing perception, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used as the qualitative study approach.  Conclusion  Participants discussed their ethical beliefs and dilemmas around the greenwashing topic and expressed their moral beliefs that were later found to be contradictory between theory and practice. The analysis shows that both altruistic and egoistic values have an impact on the participants' attitudes. The participants initially wish to do good, but they eventually put their altruistic beliefs aside owing to ego or necessity. This study has contributed to the knowledge of ethical consumer perceptions of greenwashing since the major findings depict the entire picture of how greenwashing perceptions and ethical standards are linked. As a result, disparities and opposing conceptions emerge between the participants' perspectives and perceptions of their ego and that of society.

Neuromarketing is a new field of research, a mix between neuroscience, marketing, and psychology. With the help of brain research, neuromarketing has succeeded in identifying feelings and reactions which have benefited companies and helped them to construct efficient marketing strategies. Its effective tools and insights about consumer behavior have contributed to a growing optimism and usage. On the other side, neuromarketing has faced some criticism regarding vague guidelines and ethical issues concerning what should or should not be allowed. This study aims to investigate and analyze ethical dilemmas regarding messages and their influence with roots in neuromarketing from a consumer perspective. This thesis is based on a qualitative research strategy that aims to increase the understanding of phenomena and contexts as well as an insight into participants' perceptions of reality. The empirical material has been collected using semi-structured focusgroups and supplemented with scientific articles and literature. The findings of this study identify situations where neuromarketing and its strategies cross the ethical line. Heavy negative emotions and strong influence with an emphasis on indirect - and manipulative marketing are considered unethical. Furthermore, the results show that unethical behavior can be judged differently depending on the intention and the party involved. The conclusions shows that it is not possible to define a general boundary even though a couple of unethical actions have been identified. / Neuromarketing är en relativt ny tvärvetenskap som är en sammanställning av neurovetenskap, marknadsföring och psykologi. Med hjälp av hjärnforskning som identifierar känslor och reaktioner har företag kunnat tillämpa forskningen och konstruera marknadsföringsstrategier. Dess effektiva verktyg och insikter kring konsumentbeteende har bidragit till att forskningsområdet och optimismen kring det vuxit. Parallellt med detta har området även bemött en del kritik rörande vaga riktlinjer samt etiska frågor med avseende på vad som bör vara tillåtet eller ej. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och analysera etiska dilemman kring budskap och dess påverkan med grund i neuromarketing utifrån ett konsumentperspektiv. Denna studie bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi som syftar till att ge ökad förståelse kring fenomen och kontexter samt komma åt deltagarnas uppfattningar av verkligheten. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in med hjälp av semistrukturerade fokusgrupper och kompletterats av vetenskapliga artiklar och litteratur. Studiens resultat identifierar situationer där neuromarketing och dess strategier går över gränsen. Tunga negativa känslor och starkt inflytande med betoning på indirekt och manipulativ marknadsföring bedöms som oetiskt. Vidare påvisar resultatet att oetiskt agerande kan bedömas olika beroende på avsikten och aktören bakom budskapet. Slutsatserna visar på att det inte går att definiera en generell gräns trots att ett par oetiska ageranden identifierats.

The gap between ethical purchase intentions and ethical purchase behaviour is well-documented. Although this gap can be bridged by increasing the level of awareness among consumers with regards to ethical business practices, it was found that consumers between the ages of 19 to 56 years were already aware of ethical organisations and business practices in the South African sports supplement industry. They are however unaware of companies that operate unethically. Several factors such as brand familiarity, price and convenience were found to compete with ethical business behaviour during the purchase decision-making process. It is thus recommended that organisations that incorporate ethical business behaviour at a strategic level should provide ethical products that are competitively priced, convenient to use and from a brand that is familiar / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

The gap between ethical purchase intentions and ethical purchase behaviour is well-documented. Although this gap can be bridged by increasing the level of awareness among consumers with regards to ethical business practices, it was found that consumers between the ages of 19 to 56 years were already aware of ethical organisations and business practices in the South African sports supplement industry. They are however unaware of companies that operate unethically. Several factors such as brand familiarity, price and convenience were found to compete with ethical business behaviour during the purchase decision-making process. It is thus recommended that organisations that incorporate ethical business behaviour at a strategic level should provide ethical products that are competitively priced, convenient to use and from a brand that is familiar / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

I takt med globaliseringen och en ökande konsumtion världen över skapas också ett växande behov för diverse olika förpackningslösningar. De flesta varor på dagens marknader är förpackade på något sätt och detta kräver att det måste produceras oerhört mycket förpackningsmaterial varje dag, vilket tär mycket på jordens resurser utifrån flera perspektiv. Trots detta är förpackningar i många fall nödvändiga och behövs idag för flera olika syften såsom skyddande av produkt, transport och rent marknadsföringsmässigt. Dessa är dock inte de enda viktiga aspekter som behöver övervägas när det kommer till att skapa förpackningar som uppfyller alla dagens krav och som även har hållbarhet i åtanke genom hela försörjningskedjan. Hållbara förpackningslösningar och en miljömedveten industri är därför mycket aktuellt idag. Det blir således intressant att studera hur dessa olika viktiga aspekter prioriteras av produktutvecklare och hur man på olika sätt involverar slutkonsumentens önskemål i processen. En ytterligare intressant aspekt att studera behandlar hur förpackningsindustrin kan påverka slutkonsumenter till hållbara val. Detta arbete bygger dels på empiriska studier i form av semistrukturerade företagsintervjuer på ett förpackningsföretag samt slutkonsumentintervjuer. Detta har kombinerats med en litteraturstudie som har byggt upp den teoretiska referensram som har använts i arbetet. Vidare har dessa jämförts och analyserats vilket har skapat förutsättningarna för diskussionen och slutsatsen som arbetet har mynnat ut i. Resultatet visade att förpackningsutveckling är en process där flera olika kompetenser och avdelningar måste integreras, vilket kan resultera i svåra prioriteringar och dessutom aspekter som kan komma att stå emot varandra. Någon tydlig och entydig prioriteringsordning finns inte och detta i kombination med slutkonsumenter, som utåt sett vill konsumera hållbart, men i slutändan agerar annorlunda skapar en komplex situation. Det finns således även en markant skillnad i hur produktutvecklare respektive slutkonsumenter prioriterar när det kommer till skapande av förpackningar och konsumtion av förpackningar. / In line with globalization and the increasing consumption worldwide, there is a growing need for packaging solutions of many different kinds. Most goods in today's markets are packaged in some way and this requires that an extremely large amount of packaging material is produced every day, which of course, will greatly affect the earth's resources from several perspectives. Despite this, packaging is necessary and is needed today for a variety of purposes such as protection of products, transport and in terms of marketing. However, these are not the only important aspects to consider when it comes to creating packaging that meet all of today's requirements and that also support sustainability throughout the supply chain. Sustainable packaging solutions and an environmentally conscious industry are therefore very relevant today. Thus, it becomes interesting to study how these various important aspects are prioritized by product developers and how different end consumer requirements are considered in the process in different ways. Another interesting aspect to study is how the packaging industry can influence end consumers to sustainable choices. This work is partly based on empirical studies in the form of semi-structured company interviews at a packaging company and end-consumer interviews. This, in combination with a literature study that has built the theoretical frame of reference used, have created the conditions for the analysis and discussion the work has resulted in. The result showed that packaging development is a process where several different competences and departments must be integrated, which can result in difficult priorities and in additional conflicting aspects. There is no clear and unambiguous priority list and this in combination with end consumers, who want to be considered sustainable consumers, but ultimately act differently creates a complex situation. Thus, there is also a large difference in how product developers and end-consumers, respectively, prioritize when it comes to creating packaging and consuming packaging.