Seeking Socially Responsible Consumers: Exploring the Intention-"Search"-Behaviour Gap

TL;DR

This study investigates how search behaviors influence the gap between consumers' socially responsible purchase intentions and actual behaviors, highlighting information accessibility issues.

Contribution

It identifies information seeking as a key factor in the intention-behavior gap and advocates for search systems to support responsible consumer decisions.

Findings

Many consumers lack information on responsible aspects of products.

Search difficulties and unreliable information contribute to the gap.

Supporting better search tools could improve responsible purchasing.

Abstract

The increasing prominence of Socially Responsible Consumers has brought about a heightened focus on the ethical, environmental, social, and ideological dimensions influencing product purchasing decisions. Despite this emphasis, studies have consistently revealed a significant gap between individuals' intentions to be socially responsible and their actual purchasing behaviors: they often choose products that do not align with their values. This paper aims to investigate how search in influences this gap. Our investigation involves an online survey of 286 participants, where we inquire about their search behaviors and whether they considered various dimensions, ranging from price and features to environmental, social, and governance issues in relation to a recent purchase. Contrary to expectations of a clear intention-behavior gap, our findings suggest that a considerable number of participants exhibited indifference or lack of information regarding these responsible aspects. While, difficulties related to searching for and acquiring information contributed to the gap, including the limited accessibility and reliability of information. This suggests that part of the intention-behaviour gap can be framed as an information seeking problem. Moreover our findings warrant and motivate search systems that help support consumers make more informed and responsible purchasing decisions.