The Impact of Vertical/Horizontal Individualism and Collectivism on Ethical Consumption

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how cultural values affect ethical consumption behavior. For this purpose, cultural values were divided into the following four groups: vertical individualism, vertical collectivism, horizontal individualism, and horizontal collectivism. Ethical consumption was analyzed across two dimensions: eco-friendly and socioeconomic-oriented consumption. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the results of an online survey. Survey links were texted and e-mailed to 938 subjects who responded after being contacted in advance to join consumer panels registered with a marketing research company. Structural equation modeling with EQS 6 was used to test the hypotheses in this study. Vertical individualism was found to have no significant effect on socioeconomic-oriented consumption. Horizontal individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism, however, positively impacted eco-friendly and socioeconomic-oriented consumption. In addition, an exploratory factor analysis of ethical consumption was conducted to construct the variables. This study provides valuable guidelines for further research into ethical consumption behaviors, that is, eco-friendly ethical consumption behaviors and socioeconomic-oriented ethical consumption behaviors. Based on these components, subsequent studies could provide valuable information regarding consumers’ ethical value structures and the identification of causal relationships with prior factors or happiness outcomes. The study implications are discussed in the conclusion.

Impact of spirituality, culture, behaviour on sustainable consumption intentions

“…They place importance on the well‐being of their family, community and environment as a whole. These results are also consistent with the recent study by Cui et al, (2022), wherein vertical and horizontal collectivism are found to significantly contribute to ethical consumption among customers. Additionally, Cheah and Phau (2011) also reported a positive relationship between collectivism and consumer's attitude towards green products.…”

How Do Individualism and Collectivism Influence Pro-Environmental Purchasing Behavior Based on Environmental Self-Identity?

“…Unlike the HI group, they respect the group's individuality and consider achieving status within the group as more critical than autonomy or uniqueness [25,26]. VI was found to have a significant positive impact on eco-friendly ethical consumption [27]. Furthermore, sustainable consumption is driven by self-interested motivations that emphasize status, a characteristic of VI [15,28].…”

“…When making decisions, they consider the well-being of others, accept shared responsibility, and prioritize the group's interests [20,30]. HC was found to influence perceived consumer effectiveness positively and to have a positive impact on environmental attitudes and eco-friendly consumption behavior [15,27]. Given that the HC type values social equity and cooperation and appears to engage in sustainable consumption [9], HC can be considered a key predictor of proenvironmental purchasing behavior.…”

“…An examination of research on VC and pro-environmental purchasing behavior in the context of consumer behavior studies found that individuals with high VC values believe that their purchasing decisions have an impact on the natural environment and social issues [32]. VC was found to have a significant positive impact on eco-friendly ethical consumption [27] and to positively influence environmental responsibility, leading to an increased intention to purchase green products [24]. Given that VC values fulfilling obligations and maintaining hierarchical relationships [21,25,29], it strives to adhere to normative duties through environmentally friendly consumer behavior [33].…”

“…HVIC is recognized as a significant factor in understanding pro-environmental purchasing behavior. However, most previous studies on HVIC and pro-environmental purchasing behavior primarily focused on assessing the overall impact of consumers' HVIC or making cross-cultural comparisons that consider differences in national and cultural backgrounds [9,12,15,24,27]. While such studies are valuable in their ability to identify motivational factors and consumer characteristics across HVIC categories or nations, they have limitations when it comes to capturing practical pro-environmental behavior.…”