In most cultural contexts, consuming ethically is socially desirable and reporting favorable attitudes is relatively cost-free. Thus, consumers have incentives to state favorable attitudes toward ethical products despite barriers to actual purchase. This attitude-behavior gap in ethical consumption presents a global challenge to socially responsible marketing (Carrington et al., 2010, 2014, 2016). Several explanations for this gap have been offered. The current research draws from these explanations and—based on literature in psychometrics and attitude formation—develops a novel measurement tool based on the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP; Payne et al., 2005). We aim to capture consumers’ implicit ethical product attitudes which have otherwise evaded marketers (Zollo, 2021). Further, using samples of consumers in both the US and Italy, the current research examines the predictive power of this measure in predicting consequential ethical consumption choices. We conclude with a proposal for additional studies to further validate the procedure in more ecologically valid contexts.

• Brandon Reich(Portland State University)
• Hong Yuan(University of Oregon)
• Lamberto Zollo(University of Milan)
• Riccardo Rialti(University of Milan)