Assessing ethical consumer behavior for sustainable development: The mediating role of brand attachment

Despite being ethically concerned, sometimes ethically minded consumers opted for unethical brands. This research aims to uncover the underlying reasons and the role of self-congruence theory to bridge this intention-behavior gap. This paper analyses the impact of actual self-concept (ASC) and ideal self-congruence (ISC) on different dimensions of ethically minded consumer behavior (EMCB) in presence of brand attachment (BA) as mediator. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to investigate these issues in a sample of 674 respondents. The results reveal that the positively significant relationship of the ASC and ISC with the dimensions of EMCB is negatively mediated by BA. For managers, findings offer a strategical direction and real-world approach to improving BA and ethical concerns simultaneously without exploiting customer's actual self while promising a strong customer value. This study develops holistic theoretical model that addresses the intention-behavior gap in sustainable development literature and enhances the understanding of self-congruence and ethically minded consumption where brands are involved.