Consumers' moral philosophies: identifying the idealist and the relativist

Do demographic and socioeconomic variables have an impact on moral philosophies consumers adopt? Although researchers have examined this question to some extent, findings tend to be inconsistent. This discordance may be a function that prior work has examined the foregoing issue in an ad hoc fashion rather than selecting personal characteristics predicated on some underlying theory. The present study seeks to address this shortcoming by investigating three demographic and three socioeconomic variables that are intricately associated with cognitive moral development (CMD). Using Chi Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID), the results highlight the importance of considering the interactive effects of these variables on consumers' moral philosophy. Implications for retailers, educators, and researchers are provided.