Introduction

Ethical consumption has become a phenomenon since the last decade as result of
concern and awareness of abusing in workplace (Nicholls, 2002 cited in
Bezencon and Blili, 2010). Under media pressure, most advance countries
markets paid attention to build customers loyalty by acknowledging
manufacturing responsibility (Wagner, 2003). One of the effective approaches,
named Fair Trade (FT), has been encouraged in this process. Fair Trade, a trade
concurrence, bases on a partnership between consumers and suppliers in order
to promote sustainable growth by offering fair price and better working
condition for producers in developing countries (Harrison et al, 2007). Although
purchase intention could be influenced by various other moral factors, anxiety
about fair trade were defined be important among righteous buyers (Shaw and
Clarke, 1999 cited in Harrison et al, 2007). It is also reflected by the expansion of
Fair Trade products which are now available not only in restaurants, but also on
shelves of mainstream supermarkets across the world (Hiscox et al, 2011).
Consumer is primarily according to the basis of motivation and cognition theory.
The objective of this essay, therefore, is scrutinizing the function of purchasing
behavior by considering two major determinants which are motivation and
cognition.

1. Motivation
Motivation has been described as a driving force within an individual that
impels him or her to action (Schiffman and Kanuk 1987, p.67, Maslow 1970,
p.38 cited in Wagner 2003, p.19). This force can be used in order to evaluate
consumer psychology by considering precisely two elements, which are desires
and needs.

1.a. Ethical concerns
Concern is considered in the context of fair trade, in which some extent of fair
environment toward producers. It is claimed by Wagner (2003) that the actual
anxiety about fair trade might not match consumer intention. Although ethical
issues can be acknowledged by 89 percent of UK buyers, less than 5 percent
agree to purchase these social responsibility products (Lazzarini and de Mello,
2001 cited in Harrison et al, 2008). It therefore can exist a gap between
motivation and actual behavior. According to Shaw and Shiu (2003 cited in
Gielissen, 2011), however, the main factor that persuades consumer intention to
obtain fair trade goods might be supportive attitudes toward morality. Consumer
who may refuse to buy an apparel that is made under sweatshop condition, in
which poor labor might have to tolerate of low salary, extra working hour and
other discriminations (Shaw et al, 2006), but can pay 5 percent more for
garments that are not produced in this way (Marrymount University, 1995, 1996
cited in Harrison et al, 2008). Other supporting ideas can be realized is
boycotting behavior toward unethical products. Consumer boycotting can be
seen as a penalty for those companies who participate in unethical manufacture.
Nike and Gap, two large clothing manufactures, are two boycotting examples due
to the sweatshop scandals be investigated (Shaw et al, 2006). Consumer
behaviors are seen above that can explain to some degree the reason of buying
fair trade products, which might consequence of either moral duty or awareness
of injustice issues. Nevertheless, to understand the link between motivation and
behavior, there are some added that need to be considered.

1.2. Human need
According to Vogel (2008 cited in Hiscox et al, 2011), most consumers tend to be
motivated to make their purchasing decision primarily on the basic of price and
quality. Critics worry that consumers might loose their interest in fair trade
products due to the price premium added (Gielissen, 2011) and the
unfashionability of those garments that compare to alternatives (Shaw et al,
2006). Yet, It is highlighted Hiscox et al (2011) that the principle of quality
suggests to be focusing on purchaser owner wellness. Consumer might be
therefore willing to pay higher for a product that is claimed as a healthy product.
By introducing successfully of organic cotton range, Patagonia, a fashion
company, has achieved an increase in revenue together with an agreement to
pay a premium over 10% by consumers (Hiscox et al, 2012). Not only in term of
clothing, fair trade coffee products, to some extent, have attracted shopper
intention because of the taste and organic qualified. Cafdirect, one of the most
popular fair trade coffee brands which accounts for 20% of fair trade sale in UK,
confesses that the heart of its success appears to be focusing on building a
trusted value among consumers by using a wide range of organic of tea, coffee
and cocoa grown by dedicated farmers in 11 countries (Cafdirect, 2004 cited in
Harrison et al, 2008). Consequently, consumers might not intent to buy fair trade
products if there is a large amount of money needs to be paid for these products
or the quality of these commodities is dissatisfied. Price and quality, therefore,
cannot be ignored however righteous consumers might adjust additional criteria
besides motivation into decision-making practice.

2. Cognition.
At this stage, the reason for consumers buying fair trade products will be
discussed in cognition perspective. Cognition refers to self communication
process in term of mind of individual(Wagner, 2003,p.2). In other word, it
means studying about how customers recognize information and how that
knowledge might effect on purchasing intention. In this essay, two approaches of
cognition will be identified, which are ethical label and media campaign.

Well-Informed label
Label can be defined as a lodestar that help consumer to classify biography about
products before making decision (Harrison et al, 2008). Critics worry that fair
trade label may not reliable due to the lack of evidence relating to the origin of
the items and ethical certificated (Shaw et al, 2006). Consumer therefore might
not obligatory consider fair trade products holding justice-restoring qualities
then uncertainty can be a barrier of purchasing intention (White et al, 2010). As
maintained by Shaw and Duff (2002, cited in Harison et al, 2008), however,
consumers can be overloaded with companies ethic strategies; a simple well-
informed label might be preferred. Consumers may be easy to recognize the
ethical evidences such as anti-sweatshop or fair price through the label in order
to make the decision. In addition, label can act as an issue indicator, by which
consumers would aware of the fair trade concept effectively (Harrison et al,
2008). According to Hiscox et al (2011), a competition was taken between two
different types of bulk coffees; the result was recognized by a rise in
approximately 10% of sale of the coffees Fair Trade branded than the other. This
can be seen as considerable evidence explaining that customers more likely to be
better informed about what Fair Trade represents than other alternative brands.
Besides recognizing a label, consumers can learn more information from other
external sources in order to make a right decision.





























Media campaigns
Besides label, media campaigns might contribute a role in reporting information
about fair trade products to consumers. It is claimed by Shaw et al (2006)
gaining knowledge from media sources such as newspaper is extensive and
inefficient while the information from those sources might be unreliable. Once
the evidence about ethical certificated is not transparent, consumer might refuse
to consume ethical items as the need for support is considered being low (White
et al, 2010). Nevertheless, it is highlighted by Wagner (2003) that media
campaigns appear to be an important filter tool, which can help consumers to
evaluate companies performance. It is not obvious that manufactures that claim
to be fair trade are following to the agreement of acting ethically (White et al,
2010). An example can be seen from Western media campaigns, which
contributed to generate consumer boycott toward enterprises Nike and Gap due
criticism of poor working condition (Shaw et al, 2006). Furthermore, due to the
development of Internet, consumers now can access easily to fair trade partners
profiles that are display on public website (Harrison et al, 2011). Information
collected from Internet might help righteous buyers quickly determine the
ethical value of products while reduce time-consuming. An efficiency moral
decision can be made if consumers understand deeply about characteristic,
manufacturing background of those products.

Conclusion
Consumer intention toward fair trade products has been clarified in this essay. It
is primarily according to the basis of motivation and cognition theory. Concern
about moral issues such as better working condition for developing countries
producers might encourage purchasing process. Consumers also can be
motivated to purchase if their basic needs of better price and quality are fulfilled.
However, a barrier that might interrupt consumer intention to purchase is
lacking of background information about these products. It is therefore well-
informed label together with ethical evidences from media campaigns might
become a key indicator which help consumers to feel confident about fair trade
items. By scrutinizing these factors of consumer behavior, it might indicate that
besides the effect of human psychological functioning toward morality, social
media engaged to this issue may contribute significantly to influence consumer
behavior. This article has not attempted to evaluate the involvement of customer
behavior in ethical issues and marketing campaigns, which might be expected in
future researches.