The influence of personal values on fair trade consumption in South Africa
Date
2017
Authors
Subramany, Gehrard
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Abstract
Fair trade has become a growing movement within the field of ethical consumption. It has become important to consumers to be aware of the conditions under which agricultural products are grown, considering factors such as fair wages, avoidance of child labour, fair prices, working conditions and sustainable development.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between personal values using the Schwartz (2011) Theory of Basic Values, and consumer attitudes and purchase intentions with regard to fair trade products in South Africa.
An online survey was used on a sample of entrepreneurs and corporate employees.
The key findings of this study were that on the overall research sample, self-transcendence values were shown to have an influence on purchase intention only and not on attitudes to fair trade. Openness to change values were shown to have no influence on attitudes to fair trade and on purchase intentions. It was found that there were differences between purchasers and non-purchasers in terms of the influence of self-transcendence on attitudes to fair trade and purchase intentions. Openness to change values again showed no difference in influence between purchasers and non-purchasers. However, there were differences between purchasers and non-purchasers in terms of the influence of openness to change values on purchase intentions.
Personal values do have an influence on the attitudes and purchase intentions amongst current purchasers of fair trade products.
Description
MBA(Thesis)
Keywords
Consumer behavior -- South Africa. Food industry and trade -- Moral and ethical aspects.