Role of socio-cultural capital and country-level affluence in ethical consumerism

So far, most ethical consumerism research has been contained within Western countries, thus limiting our understanding of the concept in emerging markets. Given the call for extending empirical-based knowledge for a better understanding of peculiarities, dynamics and country-level variations (i.e. social, cultural) in the context of ethical consumerism in emerging markets, this research cross-examines the interactive nature of individual- and country-level predictors of ethical consumerism in emerging and developed markets, employing a multilevel approach. At the individual level, we posit that ethical consumerism is motivated by social and cultural capital. In contrast, at the contextual level, we choose country-level afuence as an infuential factor that might impact the relationship between socio-cultural capital and ethical consumerism. The study uses the International Social Survey Programme’s (ISSP) 2014 citizenship module data set (including 34 countries) for investigating individual-level predictors (of social and cultural capital). The GDP per capita data from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Economic Outlook database was used to examine the cross-level interactions between individuallevel predictors and country-level afuence. The fndings suggest that social and cultural capitals positively infuence ethical consumerism in emerging and developed markets. Further, country-level afuence moderates the relationship between socio-cultural capital and ethical consumerism for both markets. However, cultural capital proved to be a stronger predictor of ethical consumerism as country-level afuence increases. The research fndings highlight meaningful cross-country-level interactions that help further understand the basis of ethical consumerism from a global perspective.