Consumer ethics in the European Union: A comparison of Northern and Southern views

There is a growing interest in understanding consumer ethical actions in re lation to their dealings with firms. This paper examines whether there are differences between Northern and Southern European Union (EU) consumers' pe rceptions of ethical consumer behaviour using Muncy and Vitell's (1992) Con sumer Ethics Scale (CES). The study samples 962 university students across four Northern EU countries (Germany, Denmark, Scotland, The Netherlands) an d four Southern EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece). Some differe nces are identified between the two samples, which might question the abili ty of organisations to consider the EU as one homogeneous market.