Ethical Issues of Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

This chapter will consider the ethical issues of consumer behaviour, and frame them in relation to one of the key challenges of travel and tourism of our current times: the fact that travel causes both positive and negative impacts at the same time, and that all travel and tourism decisions are subject to trade-offs. The first section sets up the chapter by reviewing ethical theory, defining ethical consumption and ethical consumerism, and outlining the nature of the ethical business and the ethical consumer, as a brief overview of ethical theory and an introduction to the ethical dilemma. The second section reviews the role of society’s different actors in ethically responsible behaviour and outlines reasons for co-operative systems failing to meet a shared responsibility. This includes definitions of ethical consumption and ethical consumerism (which provide the context in which ethical businesses and ethical consumers exist in), followed by an overview of ethical business activities and the ethical consumer. The final section provides an overview of ethical tourism and of the ethical tourist and determines the barriers to change which impede responsible consumer behaviour, with particular regard to climate change and tourism.