Conscientious Consumers: The Relationship Between Political Orientation and Sustainable Consumption

Our consumption choices about where to shop and what to buy, articulate something about our political beliefs and how we believe society should function in order to achieve social justice (Jost, 2006). Scholars outside of marketing have conducted notable research employing the left and right political continuum as a basis for predicting individuals’ behaviour (Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009), however, there has been little research focusing on political ideology in marketing (Kidwell, Farmer and Hardesty 2013), and its relationship to the moral foundations underlying everyday consumption decision. This study uses structural equation modelling to demonstrate the relationship between moral foundations, political orientation, sustainable consumption behaviour and political involvement in sustainability issues.