Why Do Consumers Participate in Ecological Boycott? An Exploratory Study Using Means-End Chains Analysis

Ecological boycott has been grown during the past years, and hence it becomes important to understand this field better. One of the key aspects in ecological boycott context that has not been sufficiently considered is consumers motivation. While motivations for economic, regilious, social, political boycotts have previously been investigated, the motives for ecological boycott participation require further investigation. A methodologically inflexible exploration of boycotting motives can thus provide useful answers for why consumers participate in ecological boycott. Based on the theoretical foundation of means-end chain analysis, the current study aims at investigating the motives underlying the participate of ecological boycotting by interviewing Vietnamese consumers who participated in ecological boycott in recent years. While previous researches on boycott motivations have focused only on different single boycott motives, the current study uses a means-end approach and laddering technique that enables a hierarchical link between motives to be investigated, thereby effectuating an understanding the subtleties of ecological boycott behavior and salient dimensions in consumers& #039, cognitive process. The findings would expect to support for the company& #039, s response strategies minimizing negative impacts as well as for boycotting organizers calling for consumers boycott participation.