Ethical judgment, subjective norms, and ethical consumption: The moderating role of moral certainty

Although various empirical works have attempted to explain the gap between consumers' ethical judgments and actual purchasing behaviours, the role of moral certainty has received relatively little attention. Moral certainty refers to the subjective sense of conviction or confidence one holds about his/her ethical judgment of an object. This study contributes to the ethical consumption literature by empirically examining whether the associations among consumers' ethical judgment, intention, and actual purchasing of ethical products (EPs) vary according to their level of moral certainty. We also examined the effect of subjective norms under the same conditions. The results of regression analysis revealed that the ethical judgment of EPs has a stronger effect on consumers' intention when consumers are more confident or convinced that buying EPs is fundamentally right, as compared to moral ambiguity. The effect of subjective norms was less effective under a high level of moral certainty. Nevertheless, the results indicated that there is no evidence for the claim that consumers' intention towards EPs has a stronger effect on the actual purchasing of EPs under a high level of moral certainty. We discuss the implications of these findings to theory and practice.

Automated summary

Moral certainty, referring to the subjective sense of conviction one holds about his/her ethical judgments, plays a significant role in influencing consumers' intention and actual purchasing of ethical products. Consumers with higher moral certainty are more likely to translate their ethical judgments into actual purchasing behaviors. However, the influence of subjective norms is less effective under a high level of moral certainty.