The effect of ethical and sustainability issues on consumer use of digital technology to effect purchases

Poole, Adam

Abstract

Against a background of increasing use of digital technology in society including the retail sector, this paper presents the findings of a preliminary investigation into the impact of ethical and sustainability issues on the use of digital technology by consumers when purchasing products or services.
The impact of ethical and sustainability issues on consumer purchasing behaviour is well documented within academic literature as is the acceptance and usage of new technology using models such as the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989). However, there is little if any research that examines the effect of ethical and sustainability issues on the acceptance and use of digital technology by consumers.
Given increasing interest in ethical and sustainability issues, particularly amongst younger more socially aware generations, this could be problematic for businesses looking to benefit from the introduction of digital technology and represents a gap in current academic knowledge.
This paper presents the preliminary findings of initial exploratory research into that issue with data collected by means of 18 semi-structured interviews and represents the first step in filling that gap.
Consumers are found to be concerned about both ethical and sustainability issues but are willing to compromise in some areas in order to gain the benefits of using digital technology, particularly those related to convenience.
Consumers are also shown to rely upon regulation to mitigate some ethical risks in some area and offset perceived negative ethical and sustainability impacts against perceived positive impacts in others.
Planned obsolescence and human involvement in the purchasing process are shown to be areas where consumers have considerable concerns and are less willing to compromise.

Citation

Poole, A. (2021). The effect of ethical and sustainability issues on consumer use of digital technology to effect purchases.

• Conference Name: Britsh Academy of Management 2021 in the Cloud: Recovering from Covid: Responsible Management and Reshaping the Economy
• Conference Location: The Cloud
• Start Date: Aug 31, 2021
• End Date: Sep 3, 2021
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Jun 12, 2021
• Deposit Date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9780995641341
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9184542
• Publisher URL: https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/1821/submission/72