Impacts of empathy, identity, and ethical branding on sustainable local food consumption

This study clarifies the pathway to sustainable local food consumption highlighting ethical branding. Literature suggests that ethical brands promote continuous local food consumption, however, the structure of purchasing factors and impact has not been fully elucidated. A model is constructed in which empathy-based social responsibility and self-identity drive the purchase of local food, and ethical brand purchasing influences consumers’ perception of retailers’ ethics. The model is tested using a questionnaire survey and three years of actual purchase data on consumer purchases of ethically branded local foods. Results show that purchasing local food products, especially ethically branded ones, is mediated by consumers’ self-identity toward social responsibility based on empathy, and self-oriented purchasing enhances consumers’ perception of retailers’ ethics. Theoretical implications of the validated model for the studies on local food and ethical consumption, and the practical implications of ethical branding for organizations striving for sustainable development, are discussed.