The Impact of Vertical/Horizontal Individualism and Collectivism on Ethical Consumption

This study aimed to investigate how cultural values affect ethical consumption behavior. For this purpose, cultural values were divided into the following four groups: vertical individualism, vertical collectivism, horizontal individualism, and horizontal collectivism. Ethical consumption was analyzed across two dimensions: eco-friendly and socioeconomic-oriented consumption. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the results of an online survey. Survey links were texted and e-mailed to 938 subjects who responded after being contacted in advance to join consumer panels registered with a marketing research company. Structural equation modeling with EQS 6 was used to test the hypotheses in this study. Vertical individualism was found to have no significant effect on socioeconomic-oriented consumption. Horizontal individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism, however, positively impacted eco-friendly and socioeconomic-oriented consumption. In addition, an exploratory factor analysis of ethical consumption was conducted to construct the variables. This study provides valuable guidelines for further research into ethical consumption behaviors, that is, eco-friendly ethical consumption behaviors and socioeconomic-oriented ethical consumption behaviors. Based on these components, subsequent studies could provide valuable information regarding consumers' ethical value structures and the identification of causal relationships with prior factors or happiness outcomes. The study implications are discussed in the conclusion.