Tag Archives: management

Ethical consumerism in the time of COVID-19 

Has climate change fallen off the public agenda due to the coronavirus pandemic? According to Birkbeck’s Dr Pamela Yeow, it’s more relevant than ever. She explains her latest remote research project exploring ethical consumerism.

Paper coffee cups

Amidst the current coronavirus pandemic that’s engulfing our global consciousness, one may wonder if research to do with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) is a tad too irrelevant and insignificant.

After all, coffee chains, which had previously encouraged customers to bring in reusable mugs (and in return benefit from a discount), no longer allow such practices to help tackle the spread of the global virus.

However, it has been shown that during this pandemic, issues surrounding climate change and sustainability have continued to be raised. Global records have demonstrated that carbon emissions have reduced as a result of lockdowns worldwide and many reports suggest an increase in birdsong, brighter and clearer skies, cleaner air and less pollution.

So it is clear that research to do with sustainable consumption should be as relevant as ever  and it would be interesting to see, in a live experiment (given that we are living through it as we write), how consumers behave and react to embedding sustainable consumption patterns.

Just before the lockdown in the UK, my colleagues and I were awarded an Eastern Arc grant to run a pilot workshop on understanding sustainable ethical consumerism from the householder’s perspective. In particular, we were keen to address the UNSDG 12.5 which states “By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.” 

Previous research that we had conducted concluded that “both individuals and institutions play a significant interaction role in encouraging a sustained behavioural change towards ethical consumerism”. We suggest that embedding behaviour is a gradual process. one with a series of stages and factors that can impede the transformation of attitudes into behaviour.  

This time round, building on that understanding of processes and journeys, we were interested to understand  the householder’s journey toward ethical consumerism and whether there would be any clarity in how they might embed and substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. 

The UNSDG website states that The current crisis is an opportunity for a profound, systemic shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet...COVID-19 can be a catalyst for social change. We must build back better and transition our production and consumption patterns towards more sustainable practices.”

Our research project aims to consider how we might begin to embed these practices by understanding where householders are nowAs researchers, we too have had to adapt due to COVID-19: instead of hosting a workshop to answer our questions, we’re asking participants to keep a photo journal of single use plastics in the home to better understand how these items are entering the household and to promote awareness among users of their consumption habits.

This project is still in the early stages, but one thing is clear: more needs to be done to promote sustainability rather than less. We need to continue to understand behaviours and attitudes toward sustainable consumerism so that we can build a better, more sustainable economy and society for us and the future generations.

Dr Pamela Yeow is a Reader in Management at Birkbeck and Course Leader of the Central Saint Martins Birkbeck MBA.

Further Information:

Share

To trust or not to trust: the role of social media influencers in corporate crisis communications

Dr Benedetta Crisafulli, Lecturer in Marketing, shares the findings from her latest research in collaboration with Professor Jaywant Singh, Dr La Toya Quamina and Dr Melanie Tao Xue.

Zoe Sugg, social media influencer

As anyone with an Instagram account will know, social media influencers (SMIs) play a prominent role in modern day marketing. Over two thirds of multinational brands plan to increase expenditure on influencer marketing within the next few years, with global spending in the area expected to reach $15 billion by 2022. 

Despite the enthusiasm from marketers to partner with SMIs, scholarly evidence on the efficacy of such a practice remains sparse. Is it always wise for brands to employ SMIs to get their message across? What about the role played by SMIs in corporate crisis communications? Our study entitled ‘To trust or not to trust: The impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis’ looks into whether brands would be wise to employ SMIs during times of corporate crisis. 

When crisis hits 

Highly negative events such as corporate crises emphasise the ‘bad’ character of big brands, putting their reputation at stake. Whether it’s a potentially harmful ingredient in our make-up, or using our data for profit, crises shake our trust as consumers and can damage our relationship with a brand. 

In this study, we were particularly interested in how a brand’s ingratiation response to the crisis, whereby customers are reminded of the brand’s past goodwillworks in minimising negative responses, and whether the presence of an influencer improves or rather worsens the brand’s efforts. We asked consumers to evaluate a corporate crisis situation and consequent crisis response from the brand alone, or from the brand and an influencer. 

Social media influencers: hindrance or help? 

There is thus far evidence to suggest that SMIs boost consumer engagement with a brand. However, we find that, like salespeople, SMIs can be seen as acting out of their personal financial motives, and solely in the interests of the brand. This is especially the case in the event of corporate crises.  

Far from passively absorbing the marketing content that surrounds them, consumers are often aware of persuasive attempts from brands and actively resist these. From a very young age, consumers develop what is known as persuasion knowledge. Such knowledge allows them to identify and resist persuasive attempts at manipulating their behaviour. Our findings suggest that consumers overwhelmingly interpret the contribution of an influencer in crisis communications as a persuasive tactic of the brand to try and make consumers believe that the crisis is not as bad it seems. Such an attempt iperceived as manipulative, thus rejected. 

What does this mean for influencer marketing?  

Our study suggests that influencer marketing might not be as effective as claimed by previous research and highlights the need to exercise caution in the use of SMIs during crisis communications. Brands, therefore, need to be particularly wary of involving SMIs in any attempts to bolster reputation in crisis communications.  

The study also suggests practical ways in which companies can think of engaging SMIs to support brands during crisesWe find that an effective way for SMIs to support a brand in crisis is by making the genuine, values-driven motives behind the brand-influencer partnership known to consumers. Consumers are more likely to respond positively to messages which are dictated by motives of altruism. 

The citation for this study is Singh, Crisafulli, Quamina & Xue (2020). ‘To trust or not to trust’: The impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis. Journal of Business Research (In Press).

Further information: 

Share

Informal entrepreneurs and formalisation: insights from a role identity transition lens

Dr Manto Gotsi from the Department of Management is exploring the barriers to entrepreneurship in developing economies. She explains her findings from research into the formalisation of waste pickers in Cali, Colombia.Entrepreneurship in Colombia

Entrepreneurial development is viewed as an engine for economic growth in developing economies. However, these same economies are faced with high numbers of informal entrepreneurs: choosing entrepreneurship out of necessity rather than opportunity, these individuals operate on a small scale, are low-skilled and often marginalised.

In many developing economies, informal entrepreneurship, that is, monetary transactions not declared to the state for tax benefit and/or labour law purposes, but which are legal in all other respects, accounts for up to 60% of GDP. Informal entrepreneurs are viewed as unfair competition to formalised entrepreneurs, with the risk of stifling economic growth. These workers also face a lack of protection and are at risk of exploitation, since they are operating outside of the law.

However, despite growing efforts to influence formalisation, informal entrepreneurs are exceptionally persistent. Alongside my colleagues Dr Maria Granados and Dr Ainurul Rosli, I wanted to find out why this is the case.

This missing micro focus

Prior to our research, studies on formalisation have focused predominantly on institutions; aiming to stimulate entrepreneurs to formalise through direct controls on their actions, alongside education and appeals to raise awareness of the benefits for the individual.

Formalisation has typically been conceived of as a destination rather than a journey (Burton, Sørensen and Dobrev, 2016). We took an alternative view, understanding the process as a continuum, whereby an informal entrepreneur undergoes a role identity transition.

For this transition to take place, an individual must adopt new skills, attitudes, behaviour and patterns of interpersonal interactions, while maintaining some sense of self-continuity. They may require external resource and validation from their peers in order to legitimize their position. A successful role identity transition will result in internalization of this new identity; an alternative outcome is role abandonment.

Our research

Our research took us to Cali, Colombia, where informal waste pickers have been carrying out recycling activities for over one hundred years. For the past thirty, they’ve been relying on the Navarro landfill; collecting recyclable materials to transport and sell to intermediary informal warehouses. When Navarro was closed due to environmental concerns, a new law prohibited waste pickers from working in sanitary landfills and from recuperating recyclables from trash bags and transporting them in non-motorized vehicles. Following an intervention from CIVISOL Foundation, the Colombian Constitutional Court recognized the marginalized status of these waste pickers and granted them formal entrepreneur status.

Surprisingly, despite this change in the law, by no means all waste pickers became and stayed formal entrepreneurs. Some became paid workers instead of entrepreneurs, while others chose to continue as renegades outside of the system. There was also evidence of individuals moving back and forth between these options, with many entry and exit points on the road to formal entrepreneurship.

Through our interviews with waste pickers in Cali, we found that those who had successfully transitioned to formal entrepreneurs in what we see as a ‘virtuous cycle’ had in common a high sense of calling that enabled them to adopt the formal entrepreneurial identity. In addition, they were comparatively less concerned about receiving validation from their peers and wider society.

Those who became renegade waste pickers also did not feel a strong need for external recognition, however they didn’t feel the same calling, so didn’t adopt the formal entrepreneur identity. Similarly, although those who became paid workers had access to information and resources, they couldn’t see themselves in the role of formal entrepreneur.

How to encourage virtuous cycles

Our research tells us that granting formal status to marginalized workers is necessary, but not sufficient for sustained formalisation. It is essential to take into consideration the norms, values, beliefs and struggles of informal entrepreneurs, and encourage role identity development through information initiatives and social network support. People who felt a calling and could visualise themselves in the role were more likely to remain in formalised status.

In order to create more external support, there should also be campaigns to motivate local government, local business communities and broader civil society to recognize and support the formalisation journey.

All this needs to take place before, during and after role transition to ensure more people stay in formalised roles.

Further Information:

Share

Austerity – it can really drive you Wilde…

Dr Sue Konzelmann, author of Austerity, discusses the long-term impact of a policy that places price before value.

Over the last decade, most of us have been on the receiving end of innumerable attempts to justify continued austerity in the UK, all of which have had one thing in common – they focus purely on money. There has been much talk of public deficits and debt – although at times, even our prime ministers have confused one with the other. The impression you get is that everything has a price; and when it comes to austerity, that’s all that matters. In the words of Oscar Wilde’s Lord Darlington, a cynic is “a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

There has been a fair amount of cynicism in discussions about austerity. For example, the value of spending over £136bn in public funds bailing out the banks following the 2008 financial crisis would be questionable enough in itself, without then using it as an excuse to deprive so many tax payers of essential government support services – especially since, as described in my new book, Austerity, the case of Iceland had clearly shown that there was a viable policy alternative to austerity. But whilst it all came down to cash at Westminster, the vast majority of us were losing essential public services that we use, value and, in many cases, depend upon.

If this continues, our society will soon begin to unravel at an even more alarming rate, as we cut the ties that bind it together. Cuts to local authority spending have already had a drastic effect on the level and effectiveness of social services, whilst you hear a lot on the TV – on a daily basis – about the devastating effects of cuts to the police and emergency services.

The corrosive effects of multiple cuts, acting together, became all too clear whilst filming a video about austerity at the Euston food bank – but that’s something you hear a lot less about in the news.

Perhaps counterintuitively, the vast majority of people who have been forced to use the food bank since it was set up in 2010 are actually in work. But the government’s attempts to save money through changes in the benefit system, like Universal Credit, has meant that people claiming it would not get a payment for up to five weeks. How many of us would be comfortable about missing a month’s salary – or more? Not many, I suspect.

It also turns out that in order to avoid homelessness, many Euston food bank users are choosing to pay their rent, rather than buy food. This is probably rather less surprising, given that the average UK household income is around £28,000 – and renting a two bed flat anywhere in that part of London will cost around £2,000 a month. Cuts to social care have also resulted in rising homelessness – and another source of people reliant on food banks.

Austerity, as a single policy, is a very blunt instrument, that has focused on price, rather than value. As a result, it has critically impacted many inter-related policy areas. Undoing its damage will therefore mean not only sharply revising policies in such areas of affordable housing, employment, health, education and social services; it will also require changes in benefit structures and delivery – to ensure that they work together as seamlessly as possible.

In a world where it is, for some unknown reason, apparently impossible to integrate such obviously linked services as the NHS and social care, this vision might seem ambitious. It shouldn’t be. In the words of Oscar Wilde’s Lord Darlington once again, “we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Further Information:

Share