Poll: ethical issues affect consumer choices
Older age groups readier to join consumer boycotts than younger buyers
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A clear majority of Finns, 70 per cent, say that the corporate responsibility shown by a company has some influence on consumer choices. Corporate social responsibility includes factors such as how a company cares for its employees and the environment.
About 15 per cent of respondents say that questions of social responsibility have a considerable influence, while 55 per cent said that it has some influence.
Under a third of respondents said that matters of responsibility or the lack of it had no influence on their decisions.
The results are from a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup.
At the time that the survey was taken there was much talk about the closure of the Stora Enso pulp mill in Kemijärvi and the shutdown of the Nokia mobile phone factory in Bochum, Germany.
Suomen Gallup CEO Juhani Pehkonen believes that the prominence given to the news items may have influenced the answers somewhat.
In addition to a willingness to alter consumer practices, an overwhelming majority was also ready to boycott companies that cut staff or close profitable factories.
Seventy per cent of respondents said that they would be ready to join a boycott, while one in four said that they would not.
Finns were nearly unanimous in their view that a company's duties go beyond producing profit for the owners. Only one in ten feel that it is enough for a company to be profitable.
The numbers suggest that Finns have a rather high sense of social responsibility, and great readiness to respond to any perceived social injustice.
Researcher Minna Halme, who has studied issues of social responsibility takes a different view.
"There is a large group of people who will say, on a level of principle, that they are ready to make decisions on what to buy on the basis of good causes. The group that ultimately does so is significantly smaller", she says.
Halme says that there are many factors that stand in the territory that lies between willingness in principle, and actual readiness to take practical actions.
She says that if an alternate, ethically preferable product costs more, or if it is not available in the same market next to the other one, a good purchase will not be made. If there is any reason to suspect that there would be some problem with the product, the purchase is also not made, Halme explains.
Nevertheless, she does not question the increase in Finnish consciousness and readiness to act in questions of social responsibility.
"There are plenty of people who can be activated. If they are offered information about a responsible product clearly stated on the package, they would be willing to choose it immediately", Halme says.
The greatest willingness to vote with one's pocket book is among those aged 50 to 64, according to the results of the survey. They are also the most eager to boycott companies which act in an ethically questionable manner.
Women are more interested in responsible consumption than men in all age groups.
"Middle aged women have a higher moral collective conscience, and they have more money at their disposal than young people do. They can afford to choose a more expensive product", Halme concludes.
Pehkonen of Suomen Gallup says that those aged 50 to 64 get more support from social safety nets, and the new type of corporate behaviour is something new to them. That is why they are more eager to defend the bygone world.
The younger generation, for its part, is not accustomed to certainty. It has grown used to changing life situations and to switching jobs frequently.
Halme is not surprised at the finding that the 15-24 age group has the largest proportion of those who are not interested in issues of responsibility.
"The youngest have been given everything. There is travel, toys, hobbies, and they are driven all over the place. Consumption has become a lifestyle", Halme says.
"For them the world is without limit. They lack experience of shortages, as well as the concept that you can't, and don't need to have everything. A consumer's conscience never emerges."
For this reason Halme feels that it is irresponsible to shift the burden for the change away from one's self and onto the younger generations.
"The change is made by those who are now adults", she says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 18.2.2008 - TODAY |
 Poll: ethical issues affect consumer choices |
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