Searching for the Origins of Consumer Ethics: Bridging the Gap Between Intuitive Values and Consumer Ethical Judgments

In a cross-sectional survey study, links between two prominent measures of values structures and consumers’ attitudes – Haidt’s Values Model and Muncy and Vitell’s Consumer Ethics Scale – are examined to test the general presumption of the role of intuitive processes in shaping attitudes. Three of the five “values pools” depicted in Haidt’s model are positively linked to attitudes about recycling, doing good, actively and passively benefitting from unethical activities, activities of questionable ethicalness, and activities deemed “no harm no foul.”