Abstract

Over time, the concept of ethical consumption has gained increasing attention from scholars who have focused on studying environmental and social-related aspects of consumption such as the willingness of consumers to buy organic, Fair Trade products, or goods that do not promote exploitation of child labour. However, by looking at literature on ethical consumption it seems that research has neglected one area of consumption that should be taken into consideration, i.e. the extent to which consumers pay attention to the “legal” sustainability of their consumption choices. By “legal” sustainability the author refers to any consumption decision that is made by consumers and that can favour criminal organisations such as organised crime groups or any other criminal groups. The aim of this developmental paper, which represents a first step into this research, is to better understand whether it would be feasibile to add a “legal” dimension to the concept of ethical consumption.