ABSTRACT
The second major area of literature seeks to understand ethical consumption largely from a ‘psychological’ perspective, positioning the ethical consumer as a rational decision-maker. The authors argue that these studies may be considered to be a ‘second wave’ of ethical consumption research, characterising much of the research in the late 1990s and early part of the twentieth century onwards. Many studies of ethical consumers and ethical consumption have employed the TRA and TPB to explain and predict ethical consumer behaviour. The TRA proposes that intention is the most important predictor of behaviour, and this is influenced by combinations of attitudinal, normative and control considerations. Partly in response to some of the shortcomings, a second set of literature drawing on psychological perspectives has focused on deontologically based moral norms and value theory. Values can be concerned with modes of conduct or desirable end states of existence.
