Ethics in Consumer Choice

1. Front Matter

   Pages 1-1

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2. What this Dissertation is about: Relevance, questions and approaches to arrive at the Ethics in Consumer Choice

   • Nina Langen

   Pages 1-18

3. Ethics and Consumers’ Choice

   • Nina Langen

   Pages 19-167

4. Empirical Studies based on the Example of Coffee

   • Nina Langen

   Pages 169-329

5. Synthesis: Ethics in Consumer Choice and Empirical Analysis based on the Example of Coffee

   • Nina Langen

   Pages 331-344

​This dissertation elaborates differences and similarities of forms of ethical behaviour in general and analyses whether German consumers differentiate between different types of ethical behaviour in particular. The thesis is characterised by its intensive combination of theoretical and empirical research. It furthermore contributes to the literature as the method triangulation applied in the different surveys reveals previously unknown relationships between different kinds of ethical behaviour, such as ethical consumption and charitable giving, as well as between different forms of ethical products. Choice experiment, latent class analysis, information display matrix and item-based attitude assessment allowed the comparison of stated and revealed preferences as well as an analysis of the relevance of ethical product features within the context of different product and process attributes. The dissertation provides insights into a research field which is becoming more and more relevant and improves the understanding of consumers’ assessment and the interdependencies of the possibilities of ethical behaviour. This allows the development of recommendations for consumer policy makers, business and NGOs concerned with the ethics of consumer choice as well as future research on ethical behaviour in general and ethical consumption in particular.

• , Inst. f. Lebensmittel- u. Ressourcenökon, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

  Nina Langen

Dr. Nina Langen obtained her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Bonn. She conducted her Ph.D. studies at the Center for Development Research in the Department of Economic and Technological Change and at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics in the Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research, both at the University of Bonn.

Policies and ethics