Seeking Socially Responsible Consumers: Exploring the Intention-"Search"-Behaviour Gap

2026-04-04

AI Summary

This study addresses the persistent gap between consumers’ stated intentions toward socially responsible consumption and their actual purchasing behavior. Drawing on an online survey of 286 participants reporting recent shopping experiences, it examines disparities in attention to price, functionality, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) attributes during information search. The findings reveal that this intention–behavior gap is partly attributable to barriers in information seeking: many consumers either exhibit indifference toward ESG dimensions or struggle to access reliable and readily available information, leading their choices to diverge from their stated values. The study underscores the need for intelligent search systems that facilitate responsible consumption by mitigating these informational frictions, thereby offering a novel pathway to narrow the chasm between ethical intent and market behavior.

Abstract

The increasing prominence of Socially Responsible Consumers has brought about a heightened focus on the ethical, environmental, social, and ideological dimensions influencing product purchasing decisions. Despite this emphasis, studies have consistently revealed a significant gap between individuals' intentions to be socially responsible and their actual purchasing behaviors: they often choose products that do not align with their values. This paper aims to investigate how search in influences this gap. Our investigation involves an online survey of 286 participants, where we inquire about their search behaviors and whether they considered various dimensions, ranging from price and features to environmental, social, and governance issues in relation to a recent purchase. Contrary to expectations of a clear intention-behavior gap, our findings suggest that a considerable number of participants exhibited indifference or lack of information regarding these responsible aspects. While, difficulties related to searching for and acquiring information contributed to the gap, including the limited accessibility and reliability of information. This suggests that part of the intention-behaviour gap can be framed as an information seeking problem. Moreover our findings warrant and motivate search systems that help support consumers make more informed and responsible purchasing decisions.

Problem

• intention-behaviour gap
• socially responsible consumption
• information seeking
• consumer decision-making
• responsible purchasing

Innovation

• information seeking
• intention-behaviour gap
• socially responsible consumption
• search systems
• consumer decision-making