Title: Decoding unethical youth buying behaviour: fair trade and unfair means

Authors: Archana Shrivastava; Kanchan Tolani; Sancheeta Pugalia; Geetika Jain

Addresses: Jaypee Business School, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India ' Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur, India ' Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Building 11, Ultimo Road, Sydney, 2000, Australia ' Faculty of Management Studies, Amity School of Business, Amity University Uttarpradesh, India

Abstract: In recent years, a lot of incidents of unethical consumer behaviour have been reported, affecting sellers adversely worldwide. Unethical transactions have become a major concern in the current time and thus it becomes necessary to find the factors that drive unethical consumer decisions. Many studies have focused on understanding the unethical consumer behaviour, this study is one of a few that proposes a theoretical model to present the hierarchy of factors related to unethical consumer decisions. An interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) was used in order to create a theoretical model for the study. The model reveals 12 factors that are responsible for unethical consumer behaviour. Pareto analysis identified value system as primary driver for unethical consumer practices whereas lack of awareness emerged as the primary outcome of the model. The study will enlighten the marketers, sellers, producers, policymakers and society at large about the reasons for unethical buying decisions and will help them to mitigate the damages caused by unethical consumer practices.

Keywords: unethical consumer behaviour; consumer ethics; unethical buying decisions; ethics; consumer behaviour; young adults; decision making; interactive qualitative analysis; IQA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2022.127370

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2022 Vol.32 No.2/3, pp.287 - 308

Received: 15 Jun 2019
Accepted: 05 Jan 2020
Published online: 01 Dec 2022 *

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