Anything Worth Doing: The Ambiguity of Values in Sustainable Luxury

The 21st century is believed to be the rise of the ethical consumer who is concerned about a broad spectrum of issues ranging from the environment and animal welfare to societal concerns, including human rights. Ethical and environmental consumerism is regarded as a mainstream phenomenon in contemporary consumer culture related to all product categories and continues to build momentum around the world. Existing research finds evidence that even the average consumer prefers e.g., fair trade coffee and chocolate, organic cotton and cosmetics produced without animal testing. The ethical buyer, who is “shopping for a better world”, is increasingly concerned about the consequences of consumption and “intents to make certain consumption choices due to personal and moral beliefs and values”. Since the consumption of luxury provides the possibility to express the deepest values, there appears to be a close association to the concept of ethical consumerism. Nevertheless, a critical perspective on the economic reality supports the assumption that there exists an enormous gap between articulated individual values and behavioral intention and actual shopping behavior. Against this backdrop, the following key question has arisen: Is the ethical consumer little more than a myth? To shed light on this important question with special focus on the luxury market, in our paper, we investigate the relationship between (a) the set of core values and norms guiding consumer behavior defined as “desirable goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in peoples’ lives” (Schwartz in J Soc Issues 50(4):19–45, 1994, p. 21) with special focus on environmental orientation on the one hand and (b) dimensions of customer perceived value understood as the “consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product (or service) based on perceptions of what is received and what is given” (Zeithaml in J Mark 52(3):2–22, 1988, p. 14) on the other hand. We suggest that customers’ general ethical and environmental orientation is translated into actual consumer behavior as represented by the demand for sustainable excellence in all business practices. Only if consumers perceive superior value reflected in all respects of a certain brand or product, they are willing to bridge the gap between basic ethical value orientation and actual ethical consumption.