Research

This thesis explores how ethics, morality, and sustainability influence consumer decision-making in the fashion and beauty industries, with a focus on the value–action gap. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study examines how access, privilege, and social context shape ethical consumption beyond stated values.

This paper examines why CSR commitments in fashion and beauty retail fail to generate consistent ethical purchasing behavior. Drawing on a mixed-methods design — a Likert-scale consumer survey (n = 100) across the UAE and United States, and semi-structured interviews with senior industry practitioners — the study finds that only 18% of respondents demonstrate consistent ethical purchasing behavior despite 78% self-identifying as ethical individuals. Income, education, and geography emerge as the strongest predictors of behavioral consistency. The paper proposes a conceptual framework linking structural privilege, convenience dominance, and identity-driven rationalization as the three primary antecedents of the consumer ethics gap, and reframes the gap as a structural rather than individual problem.

This paper examines the psychological mechanisms by which emotional purchase drivers displace ethical intent in fashion and beauty consumption. Drawing on hedonic value theory, the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, retail therapy research, and social identity dynamics, alongside mixed-methods data from a consumer survey (n = 100) and semi-structured interviews with senior industry practitioners, the paper introduces the Emotional Purchase Displacement Model (EPDM). The model maps three primary emotional drivers — hedonic value, retail therapy, and in-group identity signaling — onto the approach-avoidance conflict that precedes non-ethical purchasing decisions. Survey findings reveal that 76% of respondents acknowledge their values bend under stress, while only 34% report willingness to shop ethically when doing so requires inconvenience. The paper argues that ethical consumption will not be scaled by moral appeals alone, and that redesigning the emotional architecture of the purchasing experience is a more tractable intervention for brands and policymakers.