Literature Review

consumer ethics –
a moving target
Kyoko Fukukawa
Bradford University School of Management

instituteofcustomerservice.com
 About this review

This review is part of a series of reports the Institute of Customer Service

will be publishing over the coming months. They have been compiled
by experts at some of the UK’s leading business schools and focus on
subject areas chosen by the our Breakthrough Research Committee.

A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the current

knowledge on a chosen subject and or methodological approaches on a
particular topic. They offer readers an opportunity to bring themselves up
to date on a particular issue and explore wider reading material.

2 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 Contents

Introduction  04

The nature of consumer ethics  06

The shifting terrain of consumer ethics  09

How organisations can live with ethical challenge  13

Summary  18

References  20

About the Authors  25

3 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 1 Introduction
Are customers always right and businesses best served by treating their
customers well? Certain precepts about the customer, not least that
‘the customer is always right’, derive from consumerism as a dominant
paradigm for all market interactions and transactions. This has led to
norms of how organisations treat customers, the notion that marketing
activities should fulfil consumer needs and that organisations need
to secure consumers’ personal and social well-being1,2. Yet, should
this be the case even when the customer is ‘wrong’? What about when
consumers behave ‘badly’?

The significance of the so-called dark side of consumer behaviour has

been recognised for some time3, yet consumer ethics remains a complex
and changing field. For example, practices of retail fraud and piracy,
although technically illegal, are widespread and justified by some as the
exercise of consumer power. The idea that an action may be justifiable
but counter to the law creates an ethical dilemma for consumers and
businesses alike.

The financial implications of aberrant consumer behaviour are significant.

In 2008, consumer theft in retailing was estimated at more than $43
billion worldwide, including $14 billion in North America and $18 billion
in Europe4. The cost of prevention is said to mount up to over $25.5
billion globally4.

In 2005, insurance fraud in the UK is estimated at £1-2bns5 and $30

billion in the USA6. Businesses may not seek to criticise the values
of consumers in public because of the perceived sovereignty of the
consumer and the basic fact that they underpin the generation of profit.
Nevertheless, while it may indeed be precarious for businesses to start
questioning whether consumers are right or wrong, it is vital (and well
worth their while) for businesses to pay closer attention to the various
ethical dilemmas and complexities at a consumer level. Focusing on the
‘dark side’ of consumer behaviour this paper offers an overview of key

4 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 literatures on consumer ethics, and in particular examines:

• the nature of consumer ethics

• the shifting terrain of consumer ethics

• how organisations can live with ethical challenges

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 2 The nature of consumer ethics
Consumer ethics is defined as ‘the moral principles and standards that
guide behaviour of individuals or groups as they obtain, use and dispose
of goods and services’7.

Recently consumers appear to exercise their moral principles - be more

ethically minded - when making purchases. So we have seen an increase
in the sale and demand of fair trade and organic products (for example,
ethical consumerism8) and some consumers even attempt to punish
‘unethical’ organisations (for example, boycotting9). The contemporary
consumer further compliments the archetype of the ‘sovereign consumer’
- whose purchasing behaviour bears relation to the development of the
market place, provoking increased competition, especially where markets
fail, as in unethical practice10, 11.

However, we cannot assume consumers always behave ethically.

Consumer attitudes towards ethical marketing reveal changeable,
even fickle consumer ethics. It has been observed, for example, that
despite Nike’s ‘ethically questionable’ engagement with child labour
in developing countries, consumers appeared to continue buying Nike
products12.

The ethics of the consumer can shift quickly. We might more accurately
describe the consumer as possessing a fluid morality. Moreover, looking
critically at recent trends, it can be argued that so-called ‘ethical’
consumers are potentially just consuming the status of ‘being ethical’.
Ethics become just one of many values consumers may ‘purchase’ in
pursuit of consumer satisfaction13. While one may believe that consumers
are controllable and therefore responsive to marketing inputs, ‘consumers
are consistently proved themselves unpredictable, contradictory and
unmanageable – that they displayed many different faces and images’14.

Given the complexity and subtleties of consumer ethics the dark side of
consumer behaviour has inevitably been given many labels and various

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 attributions have been drawn out as a focal point for research. The
following terms identify some of the main critical definitions in frequent
use:

• Unethical consumer behaviour - ‘as related to the behaviour resulted

from a special case that consumers overturn the suitability of ethical
norms and in that its consequence violate broadly accepted principles
of morality’15

• Aberrant (or dysfunctional, fraudulent) consumer behaviour –

‘behaviour in exchange settings which violates the generally accepted
norms of conduct in such situations and which are therefore held
in disrepute by marketers and by most consumers’16. Related terms
include: dysfunctional customer behaviour17 and the fraudulent
consumer, for example, those returning goods on fraudulent grounds18

• Consumer misbehaviour – associated with the behaviour exercised by

the ‘Jay-customer’ as those who deliberately act in a thoughtless or in
an abusive manner, causing problems for organisations, employees, or
other customers19. Subsequent research has focused on ‘inappropriate
behaviour’20 ,21.

• Retaliatory behaviour – the customer seeks to ‘get even’ with a service

or retail provider22,23. The concept is derived from customer complaints
and dissatisfaction and can relate to the exercise of civil liberties.

Taking account of these different perspectives, it is pertinent perhaps to

address the behaviour in question as ‘ethically questionable behaviour’.
The point of which is to refrain from pre-empting any static or fixed ethical
judgement. In other words, ethically questionable behaviour as a key term
serves to remind us of competing claims upon ethics, that ethicality rarely
achieves any clear consensus.

Examples of ethically questionable behaviour in consumption range from

behaviour harmful to business (such as returning goods after damaging
them or not liking the goods24) to illegitimate behaviour (shoplifting25,26,

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 insurance fraud5 and more recent examples including software piracy27
and counterfeit goods28).

Similarly, considering the characteristics of the relationships between

public organisations and their beneficiaries, the idea of ethically
questionable behaviour is applicable to explaining some forms of
fraudulent behaviour in the public sector such as tax evasion and benefit
fraud. Consumer judgements for such a wide range of behaviour are
proven to vary. Only a small portion of consumers appear to have strong
ethical positions29,30, exhibiting their ethical belief that these behaviours
are ‘wrong’.

When facing various ethical dilemmas in their consumption situations,

consumers can find some behaviour more acceptable than others
across different cultural settings: Austria29, other EU countries (Greece,
Italy, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland)31,
Australia32, Egypt33, Hong Kong34,35, Ireland35,36, Japan37, Lebanon36 and U.S
studies7,38,39.

One extensive literature review on consumer ethics40 concludes that

consumers typically evaluate ethical dilemmas based on:

• whether or not the consumer actively sought an advantage or was

basically passive

• whether or not the activity might be perceived as illegal, and

• the degree of perceived harm, if any, to the concerned organisation.

It is mostly the case that the behaviour is perceived as ‘wrong’ as a result

of actively benefiting from an illegal activity. Whereas, ethical judgement
towards behaviour ‘actively benefiting from a questionable action’ and
behaviour with ‘no harm and no foul’ can be culturally contingent.

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 3 The shifting terrain of consumer ethics
Factors influencing ethically questionable behaviour depend on the
specific context but might include psychological and demographic
factors, social and cultural aspects, social and peer influence, the
degree of possible harm to others, risk perception, opportunism and the
perception of fairness in relation to business41.

The characteristics of the exchange setting and marketing institutions

also influence behaviour. These include types of products and services
offered, physical environment, type and level of deterrence and security,
attitude and conduct of marketing employees, public image of marketing
institution, and the conditions in the exchange environment that vary
across time16.

It is clear that businesses need to think about a more complex, shifting

picture of consumer decision-making. This can be illustrated by the
following three scenarios which each present a certain fluidity of
consumer ethics. The emphases in each are different/dependent upon
whose ethics are most under scrutiny.

Scenario 1: claiming irrelevance

If I watch a television report about children working in a factory making
garments for next to nothing, the next day I may find myself digging
around for bargains in a high-street clothing store. My heart may sink as I
grab the clothes but I easily justify buying cheap clothing since it is not my
fault how they were made.

In this first scenario the manufacturer is arguably more at fault than the
consumer. It is not the consumers’ responsibility to decide how a product
is manufactured and raw materials are sourced. So consumers may not
see the situation as their ethical dilemma (the level of ethical concern by
consumers is perceived to be relatively low). The consumers’ perception
may be that their actions in buying the products does not actively entail
doing anything wrong, even though choosing not to make the purchase
may equally be thought of as being laudable.

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 Some consumers may therefore sense an ethical dilemma but do not
necessarily see the issues in black and white terms, as being simply
wrong or right. Generally speaking consumers have a much stronger
commitment to a ‘comfortable life’ for themselves, which contrasts with
‘ethical’ consumers who are committed to pursuing a better society42.

Nevertheless, the time and effort required to act ‘ethically’ and ‘dutifully’
can be perceived as just too much. Instead, consumers often prefer to
view the process of consumption as amoral, which helps avoid specific
moral issues (such those relating to the environment, the distribution
of wealth, civility, etc). So, for example, in green marketing literature
amoralisation refers to ‘the denial of moral status for the environment, or
the avoidance of moral reflection or attachment in relation to greening’43.

Scenario 2: claiming insignificance

Typically consumers believe that software companies make excessive
profit from licensing agreements and upgrades. So why should I pay
more when I can easily make copies for free? While in reality this is an
infringement of copyright, the perception is that no one will lose out.

In this second scenario, despite the act of piracy being illegal, we find a
case where apparently there is ‘no harm done’ (in this case to the software
companies). It’s as if there is no ethical concern raised.

Since there is no explicit market transaction involved in the situation,

it is difficult for the consumer to be aware of harmful consequences to
the distant software company (and possibly other consumers) during
the course of action. The consumer is said to be simply economising
their time and money for their own convenience. While the long-term
implications may be recognised (such as the loss of revenue to software
programmers, etc), the immediate gain to the consumer is far more
attractive. After all, the loss of potential sales is perceived to be very small
and companies are thought to be making enough profit to absorb such
losses.

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 In a similar fashion, the music industry also suffers from piracy, again
conducted by ordinary consumers (acting for their private needs),
who justify such an act by thinking that record labels and their artists
‘enjoy unreasonable profits and that minor infringement of copyright is
acceptable to this wealthy group’44. The case of piracy can to some extent
relate to explanations of tax evasion, since similarly there is no market
transaction involved.

An individual can focus on their own short-term gains (in saving money
for themselves) by not reporting taxable income. There is the potential
for a similar ‘no harm done’ effect since it can be argued the tax authority
will still gain revenues from many other taxpayers. The effect again relates
to the difficulty to imagine or indeed suffer the pain of distant others
(such as inequality among citizens) and/or to recognise the long-term
implications of the act (for example, deterioration of public service).

Scenario 3: claiming redemption

On leaving a restaurant, having received very poor service, you find you
have accidentally received too much change. Would you take the extra
money without saying anything? Many might say ‘yes, it is totally justified’.

In this final scenario both parties can be said to be at fault. The behaviour
is justified on one level, since the customer felt the restaurant served
them inadequately for the money spent (corporate unfair practice).

When consumers perceive that businesses treat them unfairly, they may
be motivated to redress the imbalance if they are given an opportunity41,45.
In the scenario of being undercharged, the customer is clearly aware their
behaviour would result in harm to the restaurant. However, in a trade-off
between the rightness of an action and the perceived unfairness of the
service provider, the customer can argue for the relative justice of not
owning up to the restaurant’s mistake in giving back too much change.

A case of redemption can again relate to the act of tax evasion and
perhaps in a much more morally aggressive form. Individuals who hold
to specific moral arguments can incline to follow self-chosen ethical

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 principles. When laws violate these principles, they are ready to resist and
act according to their principles46. So, when those individuals perceive
their government polices to be unjust, they may choose not to pay tax as a
form of protest47.

Given the financial implications at stake (noted above in the introduction),

it is clear that ethically questionable behaviour can have significant
impact on the performance of organisations. Furthermore, a recent
study48 on consumer ethics makes the startling find that up to 75% of
the respondents across the UK, US, France and Austria have engaged
in such behaviour at least once. Ethically questionable behaviour is
not the ‘doing’ of criminals as such but ‘ordinary’ consumers. However,
in accepting this shifting terrain of consumer ethics, managers can
appreciate the opportunities to improve the quality of business
operations.

12 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 4 How organisations can live
with ethical challenge
Education and deterrence are two known common approaches to tackle
ethically questionable behaviour in consumption.

• Education: this approach is effective to make ethical concern toward

a certain type of behaviour relevant to consumers. It helps to raise
consumer awareness and intolerance toward behaviours such as
claiming a refund on a good that was damaged by the consumer. Where
there are already signs of negative perception toward behaviours (for
example, shoplifting, tax evasion), education is likely to help reinforce
and/or deepen such a view.

It helps individuals develop an ability to exercise moral reasoning

using the concept of justice46. This type of programme development
has been noted of critical importance in achieving tax compliance as it
provides opportunities to appeal to individuals’ moral conscience and
strengthens social cohesion47.

• Deterrence: this approach is effective in making consumers realise

significant implications of their potential act. An example can be given
of a towel being ‘taken’ from a hotel. In response to this behaviour
hotels often make a clear statement to the effect that the item can be
purchased as a souvenir, highlighting the fact that the item is known
by the hotel to be of value to hotel guests. Offering a price for the item
establishes more clearly that ‘taking’ it away from the hotel does indeed
constitute stealing.

This type of behaviour is often related to opportunism, so while the

consumer may see their actions as being ‘wrong’, there is a low risk of
being caught. So deterrence is more effective than education, since any
negative perceptions associated with the behaviour are not seen to be
of great concern to the individual consumer (since they can get away
with their actions unseen).

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 • Combined approach: in many practices education and deterrence
are combined to protect businesses from the impact of ethically
questionable behaviour. An example can be seen with piracy. The
prevalence of piracy gives consumers a sense of ‘everyone’s doing it’
which helps to legitimise the practice further.

Widespread education is needed to develop a greater ethical

concern, including awareness about intellectual property and the
harm that results in piracy, not only to organisations and individual
copyright holders but also to the consumers themselves (for example,
jeopardising the opportunity to benefit from future development of
desired goods and the potential for inflated prices to cover losses).
Deterrence can be used to reinforce these ideas. Policing the behaviour
serves as a further reminder that piracy is unethical and indeed illegal.
Such a combined method is used to try to break the ‘friendly’ and
informal economy of software and music piracy.

However, neither education nor deterrence (or a combination of both)

works for the behaviour of consumers aware of the ethical dilemmas
and implications of their act, as described in scenario 3, of claiming
redemption. This kind of retaliatory behaviour (aimed to redress
imbalance) is motivated by consumer perception of corporate unfairness
which can develop through personal experience, hearsay and stories of
victims of common ‘aggressive’ marketing tactics.

As a response, or to prevent such behaviour, businesses need to reduce

the number of opportunities for negative perceptions to develop towards
organisations or industries. There are three options to integrate ethical
concerns with specific corporate strategy: (1) strategic communication; (2)
marketing tactics; and (3) customer-business relations.

• Strategic communication is important for all organisations in tackling

consumer perceptions of unfairness as consumers are known to seek
redress simply when they believe they have been overcharged49 or

14 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 treated unfairly. For example, the insurance industry is often associated
with the idea that policyholders are overcharged for something that
is intangible. A particular problem for this industry is the fact that the
‘product’ is hopefully never realised – you take out insurance against
something you hope will never happen. This means that increases in
policy payments are hard to justify or clarify which, in turn, can make
the industry more prone to the impact of the ethically questionable
behaviour of their customers, notably the exaggeration of an insurance
claim.

Policyholders have been known to take advantage of claims procedures

to ‘get back’ what they feel has been ‘owing’ to them following what
they believe are unacceptably high policy rates. Due to the specific
characteristics of industry, insurance companies may seek to co-operate
to improve consumer perception of the industry as a whole.

One concern is that consumers merely assess the fairness of businesses

based on their image of the company, rather than on detailed
information and genuine performance indicators. In this respect, larger
organisations are often more vulnerable to ethically questionable
behaviour.

Well-established multinational organisations, for example, are

perceived as faceless global enterprises for which many consumers
have little sympathy. Even worse, consumers may believe these
‘corporate giants’ do not act fairly. The same applies to public
organisations which serve a variety of differing groups of citizens and
therefore have policies which may not necessarily satisfy interests of all
concerned.

So, when organisations realise they are seen in a bad light due to their
industry type and size, one course of action is to establish regular
communication aimed at reducing the apparent distance between
business and consumers and to create opportunities to gain direct
consumer feedback.

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 • Marketing tactics can play a significant role in reducing the propensity
of ethically questionable behaviour. This can be done simply by
examining and revising product offerings and pricing structures. As
noted earlier, hotels and restaurants can employ promotional tactics
(such as selling souvenirs) to help customers to distinguish the
amenities that can and cannot be freely retained.

Price is another tactical domain that affects consumers’ willingness to

pay50. Consumers are unwilling to pay for unjustifiable price increases
when the reason is thought simply to maximise profit51. It is important is
to offer a fair representation of how prices (or tax rates) adequately and
meaningfully reflect what is on offer. Therefore it’s important to avoid
complex pricing structures and unexplained price increases.

• Customer-business relations can go wrong on various occasions leading

to the perception of unfairness. For example:

- despite aiming to help customers, poorly trained in-store staff,

who lack adequate knowledge of the products and services on
offer, can end up giving misleading information which costs
customers time and money

- if something goes wrong with a product or service, customers

want help from the business where they made the purchase.
However, a significant breakdown in trust occurs if customer
service staff, whether in-store, over the telephone or online, are
unsympathetic to the situation and don’t try hard enough to
rectify matters

- customers quickly develop negative connotations of a business if

they are served by staff who are rude and abrupt.

Interactions between customers and business can critically influence

customer evaluation of business. Customers can become frustrated

16 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 because they are not able to obtain what is intended or disheartened
by an impersonal exchange with businesses52. Customers also evaluate
businesses based on their preference for or against the people who
directly engage with customers53. The failure or breakdown in customer-
business relations can quickly lead to a perception of unfairness, which in
turn can lead consumers to seek redress in one form or another.

Improving the performance of frontline service staff may not only help
to build positive relations between staff and customers, but also work
toward a establishing a more reliable partnership between consumers
and business. Where customers feel they are genuinely treated by
business, it can reduce consumer behaviour that may otherwise be at
best disconnected or at worst deceptive and damaging. The importance
of relationship management is also noted in the study of tax behaviour, in
particular suggesting that taxpayers’ trust in tax authorities has a critical
impact on tax compliance within a voluntary tax system54.

A UK insurance company revealed that after reviewing its claim process,

customer satisfaction rates maintained and the number of claims was
halved after dedicated support was provided to claimants55. Providing
extra support may appear to be a drain on time and resources. However,
given the significant financial implications of ethically questionable
behaviour, we have to weigh up which is more profitable: tackling
potential causes of aberrant behaviour or brushing it off as unavoidable
criminal/mischief act and bearing the costs.

Interestingly, or perhaps ironically, tackling the ethically questionable

behaviour of consumers seems to come back to the notion of businesses
being best served by treating their customers well. To find the most
appropriate way of treating customers, it is vital that businesses come to
understand the fluidity of consumer ethics, the subtleties of its varying
behaviours, the specificities of context and the importance of the inter-
relationship between customers and businesses.

17 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 Summary
This report has discussed the nature of consumer ethics as being more
fluid than static. Only a small proportion of consumers constantly apply
their ethical principles in practice but many others are influenced by
a number of personal and situational factors at a given moment. The
complex nature of consumer behaviour has attracted various investigative
approaches and has provided various labels such as unethical and
aberrant behaviour.

Typically, these behaviours are questioned in terms of ethical contexts,

despite there being no a clear consensus regards to ethicality. In other
words it is not about making specific judgements over what is good or
bad, but instead trying to develop a picture of how different stakeholders
engage with one another and how their different needs and perspectives
relate and/or come into conflict with one another.

Three ethical scenarios have been discussed to explore possible causes

and explanations for the behaviour. These scenarios illustrated cases
that consumers may behave in ethically questionable ways because:
1. they do not find any ethical issues relevant to themselves (claiming
irrelevance); 2. while a consequence may be harmful to others it is
deemed insignificant or easily absorbed by ‘rich’ organisations (claiming
insignificance); and 3 consumers are motivated to redress an imbalance
between themselves and organisations where practices are perceived as
unfair (claiming redemption).

Two approaches, education and deterrence, are known to minimise

the impact of ethically questionable behaviour and often in practice
these approaches are used in combination. The report also suggests
several opportunities for organisations to rethink their practices and
incorporate ethical concerns into specific corporate strategies (strategic
communication, marketing tactics and customer-business relations).
Diagram 1 summarises all the various aspects relating to the decision-
making process of ethically questionable behaviour in consumption.

18 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

 Diagram 1: The decision-making process of ethically questionable behaviour in consumption

Education Deterrence

Influence upon an individual by: Judgement Intention Behaviour

• Demographic factors • Whether or not the consumer
• Psychological factors actively sought an advantage
• Social and cultural aspects or was basically passive.
• Social and peers • Whether or not the activity
Perception of: might be perceived as illegal Justification by claiming
• Degree of possible harms to • The degree of perceived • Irrelevance
others harm, if any, to the concerned • Insignificance
• Risk perception, organisation. • Redemption
• Opportunism
• fairness in relation to business
• Type of products/services
• Physical environment
• Type and level of deterrence/
Corporate strategy
security
• Marketing communication
• Attitude and conduct of
• Marketing tactics
marketing employees
• Business-Customer relation
• Public image of marketing
institution
• Conditions in the exchange
environment

19 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010

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 About the Authors
Bradford University School of Management
Bradford University School of Management is one of Europe’s
leading full-service business schools, regularly featuring in
league table rankings such as the Financial Times. Its graduates
have excellent career prospects and some of the highest employment rates
of any business school. The school focuses on business engagement, with
strong links to business and industry providing valuable student, graduate and
management development opportunities.
www.bradford.ac.uk/management

Dr Kyoko Fukukawa
Dr Kyoko Fukukawa is a senior lecturer in marketing at Bradford University
School of Management. She specialises in research on ethical decision-making
in consumption and business practices, and corporate social responsibility
(CSR). She recently co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Business Ethics on
Corporate Identity, Ethics and CSR (2007, vol.76, no.1).
www.manag.brad.ac.uk/people/people.php?name=kfukukaw

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 A research paper by Kyoko Fukukawa, Bradford University School of Management.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an information-storage and retrieval system
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26 | consumer ethics – a moving target Institute of Customer Service 2010