Ethical consumerism: a view from Finland

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility have gained more attention in recent years. However, the consumers’ perspective on ethics is still a little researched area. This study reports a survey ( n = 713) on the views of Finnish consumers about ethics in trade. Consumers’ willingness to promote business ethics as well as the obstacles to ethical consumption are investigated. The results of the study show that while the majority of the respondents regard business ethics as important, this attitude does not translate into their choice behaviour. Consumers are uncertain about which products and firms follow ethical rules and which do not. The most important obstacles to ethical cons…