Organic Food Literature Review

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A Review of Ethical Consciousness (EC) and Organic food Choice: A Ripe opportunity to communicate with the market

Abstract: Ethical consumption is a phenomena reflected by consumers all across the world. The issue of sustainable development and sustainable living has the idea of sustainable or ethical consumption at its core. Organic food is an important constituent of the “ethical basket”. Consumer attitude towards Organic food has been found to be generally positive but there is an attitude-behavior gap as the adoption of Organic food is very slow in India. This study explores the crucial role of Ethical Consciousness in influencing the consumer choice. Explaining the discrepancy in consumer’s behavior it is stated that the many individuals, …show more content…

The issue of ethical buying includes the reference to environmental issues (Ethical Consumerism Report, 2011; European Commission, 2011; IGD, 2007; Trudel and Cotte, 2008), recycling issues (Autio et al., 2009; Laroche, Bergeron, and Barbaro-Forleo, 2001; Straughan and Roberts, 1999; Sudbury-Riley, 2014; Thøgersen, 1999; Vicente and Reis, 2007) and social justice and human rights issues (Auger et al., 2003; Ethical Consumerism Report, 2011; European Commission, 2011; Golding, 2009; Trudel and Cotte, 2008) with special emphasis on worker exploitation (Brenton and Hacken, 2006; Eckhardt, Belk, and Devinney, 2010). Besides these main issues the concept of ethical consciousness also includes the issues related to animal welfare (Megicks, Memery and Williams, 2008) and local community initiatives (Carrigan et al., 2011; Grau and Garretsen Folse, 2007; Mattingly and Berman, 2006) and also any other initiative that is good for society, environment, humans and animals at large. The conscious refusal to buy/boycott products (Carrigan et al., 2004) and services because they are damaging to the environment (Papaoikonomou, Valverde, and Ryan, 2012) or because they are made by companies that lack social responsibility (Creyer and Ross, 1997; Klein, Smith, and John, 2004; Kozinets and Handelman, 2004) also comes under the purview of ethical …show more content…

and the usage and charity is growing its market share rapidly(Simms, 2003).Through various information sources and changing markets consumers are becoming more and more aware of ethical consumption(Harrison et al., 2005).The impact of boycott activity, pressure groups and other related type of consumer activism is also on rise (Auger et al., 2003; Harrison et al., 2005).There is a remarkable shift in the mindset of people from materialistic approach to a more holistic approach making people more socially and environmentally aware as well as responsible (Hemingway and Maclagan, 2004). In fact, it is found that the scenario is changing worldwide. Fullerton et al. (1996) conclude that consumers do have moral values and they do not tolerate ethical

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