Differences in Attitude Towards Ethical Shopping between Generations X, Y and Z in a Marketing Communication Context

The need to ensure sustainable consumption is one of society's main challenges.The latest research agrees that current levels must change to achieve long-term sustainability.A prerequisite for sustainable development is sustainable consumption.Communication's role in promoting the purchase of environmentally friendly products is an important field of research in this area.The article aims to identify attitudes towards the ethical aspects of purchasing and their differences among Generation X, Y and Z representatives and use these findings in marketing communication.This information can aid in increasing consumers' awareness about ethical shopping principles.Different approaches were determined through research by the Department of Business and Finance at CZU Prague from 2014-2021, focusing on sustainable shopping and applying ethical principles when purchasing.The research comprises a quantitative questionnaire survey (n = 996) and a statistical data evaluation.It was found that the direct purchase of ethical products was most often carried out by Generation Z and the least by Generation X.When considering ethical values in a purchase decision-making process, Generation X prioritizes the desire to help, whereas Generation Y and Z prioritize the sense of personal responsibility.The Covid 19 pandemic had no major effect on the Generation's approaches.