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    Bags for life: the embedding of ethical consumerism

    Yeow, Pamela and Dean, A. and Tucker, D. (2014) Bags for life: the embedding of ethical consumerism. Journal of Business Ethics 125 (1), pp. 87-99. ISSN 0167-4544.

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    Abstract

    The aim of this paper is to understand why some ethical behaviours fail to embed, and importantly what can be done about it. We address this by looking at an example where ethical behaviour has not become the norm, i.e. the widespread, habitual, use of ‘bags for life’. This is an interesting case because whilst a consistent message of ‘saving the environment’ has been the basis of the promotion of ‘bags for life’ in the United Kingdom for many years, their uptake has only recently become more widespread and still remains at low levels. Through an exploratory study, we unpack some of the contextual barriers which may influence ethical consumerism. We do this by examining the attitudes which influenced people to start using ‘bags for life’, and how people persuade others to use ‘bags for life’. We use a case study analysis to try and understand why ethical behaviour change has stalled and not become sustained. We find that both individuals and institutions play a significant interaction role in encouraging a sustained behavioural change towards ethical consumerism.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: The final publication is available at Springer via the link above.
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Attitude-intention-behaviour gap, embedding behaviour change, environment, plastic bags, ethical consumerism
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Research Centres and Institutes: Research in Environment and Sustainability, Centre for
    Depositing User: Pam Yeow
    Date Deposited: 06 Jan 2021 06:46
    Last Modified: 09 May 2024 05:06
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/41603

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