A critical review of the socially responsible consumer

The choice to engage in socially responsible consumption is reportedly being made more frequently, but evidence of an attitude-behaviour gap suggests that consumers often fail to translate their intentions or attitudes into actual behaviours, even when they have clearly expressed their commitment to that form of consumption. This ambiguity lies in whether ethical or socially responsible consciousness is motivating the consumers, or if other behavioural drivers have been overshadowed by the appearance of socially responsible consumption. This chapter intends to show that researchers in socially responsible consumption would benefit from a deeper understanding of the intention-behaviour gap modelled by intention, social situations and personality traits. We review the empirical evidence of the behavioural drivers such as value, attitude, situation as well as personality that can play a more effective role in motivating individuals to act upon socially responsible consumption.