Values of sustainable consumption as the criterion of ethical corporate behaviour

Kovács, Ildikó – Komáromi, Nándor – Rácz, Georgina

Keywords: social responsibility, corporate ethics, sustainable consumption, LOHAS consumer group, ethical consumption

On the basis of the results of two nationally representative surveys carried out in 2010 and 2011 our results, with the method of factor analysis, showed that demand for sustainable consumption has appeared among the values of Hungarian consumers, and within that the ethical business practice of companies is getting a highlighted role. Based on the respondents’ opinions, purchasing decisions of Hungarian women aged 30-39 and 50-69 who live in towns and county towns are mostly affected by the ethical business behaviour. Moreover, from the socio-demographic variables it is also shown that the effect of the ethical values among the values of consumers is fl uctuating; sometimes it is stronger, sometimes less so. In this view of corporate social responsi-bility (CSR) has a more crucial role in the structure of values than ethical competence values. Hence, we can say that while ethical behaviour is less popular among Hungar-ian consumers, except the members of higher social classes, ethical behaviour of com-panies has a highlighted role in purchasing decisions. There is also a group in Hungary which set a crucial role of CSR. We highlighted those areas of CSR which could be ad-vantageous for the competing firms in the market of undifferentiated food products if they build these standards into their production principles and also into their commu-nication strategies.

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