Dickson (2001) identified four segments of consumers based on the
importance they attach to various product attributes of clothes. She found
that only one segment, containing 16% of their sample, attached a lot of
importance to the no-sweat label. The other three groups were qualified as
nonusers. Moreover, often the attitudes and intentions toward ethical products
are measured without explicitly taking the higher price of these products
into account (Browne et al. 2000). Other explanations for the
discrepancy between attitudes and ethical buying behavior can be the lack
of availability of ethical products, disbelief of ethical claims, and lack of
information (Carrigan and Attalla 2001; Mielants, De Pelsmacker, and
Janssens 2003; Roberts 1996).
What could explain the attitude–behavior gap? In attitude research, people
often give socially desirable answers. Ulrich and Sarasin (1995) somewhat
cynically claimed not to do any research and not to ask the public any question
on this subject because the answers are never reliable and often useless, if
not misleading. Especially in situations in which respondents want to make
a good impression on the researcher or want to conform to social norms,
attitudes measured tend to be more positive than actual behavior (King
and Bruner 2000). Moreover, attitudes are traditionally measured by means
of explicit attitude measures, mostly self-reported paper-and-pencil tasks.
Respondents are not always able and willing to report their attitudes and convictions
accurately, especially in the case of socially sensitive issues such as
ethical consumption behavior (Greenwald and Banaji 1995; Maison 2002).