Wong, Rachel Mei Ming
(2024)
Out of character: the impact of egalitarianism on a conservatives’ choice to purchase fair-trade products.
PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
Although past literature has established the significance of the fair-trade movement to the pursuit of social equity for underdeveloped producers, consumers remain reluctant to patronise products marketed as fair-trade. Here, this behaviour is investigated using a more nuanced approach, one that combines the ‘knowns’ about consumer behaviour (e.g., tendency to avoid costs), with psychological insights grounded in the ideological factors that may underpin readiness to patronize fair-trade products based on the social equity goals of such products. Specifically, in the current literature, it is not clear to what extent political ideology, egalitarianism, and meritocracy might play a role in people’s ethical consumption decision- making process. These factors may influence patronage intentions, given the connection between fair-trade products and social equity. But limited research has systematically unpacked this possibility. This thesis’ research attempts to fill this void by examining the role that political affiliation and ideological leanings (e.g., egalitarianism), could play in shaping patronage of fair-trade products (or otherwise engaging in ethical consumerism).
The research aims of this thesis is to understand whether the patronage of fair-trade products can be systematically explained by consumers’ political affiliation and ideological leanings. Specifically, the goal is to test (a) whether those of the political left would report a greater preference for fair-trade products relative to those on the political right, given their “liberal advantage” when it comes to a clamour for social justice. Likewise, this research looks to how (b) ideological leanings towards egalitarianism and meritocracy guides the fair-trade patronage intentions of people on the political left and right. A final aim was to also see whether there are cross-cultural differences, e.g., between Malaysia (a high-power distance culture) and US (a low power distance culture) that may moderate the impact of ideological leanings on fair-trade patronage. High power distance cultures may be much more accepting of inequality than low power distance cultures, and this could have an impact on the extent to which liberals and conservatives heed to the social equity message implied by fair trade products, relative to their counterparts in low power distance cultures, where the egalitarian norm may be more widespread.
A between-subjects, experimental design was adopted, with participants being randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: fair-trade framed product (i.e., social justice condition) vs. quality framed product (i.e., control condition). This approach was used to isolate the sort of message that people on the political left and right are likely to heed to. The moderators of this focal independent variable (i.e., message framing), were political affiliation (i.e., left vs. right) and egalitarianism (high vs. low). The dependent (i.e., outcome) variable was product patronage intentions (operationalised in the current study as participants’ intention to purchase and to search for an advertised chocolate brand that was either framed around fair-trade or the traditional emphasis on quality).
At the theoretical level, the present research is expected to unpack the question of whether the political affiliation or the ideology beliefs that people subscribe to is more influential when it comes to ethical consumption, or whether their interactive effects in this regard matter more. Culture is also believed to play a role in the processes envisaged in this thesis. At a practical level, the current research should provide some insight on how leverage on political affiliations and ideological leanings to encourage ethical consumerism (especially in the context of fair-trade movement). Instead of taking the traditional marketing approach towards encouraging social-justice product patronage, producers and the relevant organisations can investigate more nuanced, ideology-appealing approaches that would be more relevant to a politically heterogeneous consumer population.
| Item Type: |
Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
(PhD)
|
| Supervisors: |
Stewart-Williams, Steve
Mennie, Neil Russell
Haslan, Risky Harisa |
| Keywords: |
fair-trade movement, social equity, underdeveloped producers, consumer behavior, ethical consumption, political ideology, egalitarianism, meritocracy, patronage intentions |
| Subjects: |
H Social sciences > HF Commerce |
| Faculties/Schools: |
University of Nottingham, Malaysia > Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Division of Organisational and Applied Psychology |
| Item ID: |
78546 |
| Depositing User: |
Wong, Rachel
|
| Date Deposited: |
28 Jul 2024 04:40 |
| Last Modified: |
28 Jul 2024 04:40 |
| URI: |
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/78546 |
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