Emerging nation web users think more about ethics

Online consumers in developing nations are more likely to consider ethical issues when making buying decisions than those in developed countries, a Mori poll has found.

The survey of 23,306 adults with internet access in 23 countries found more than 80 per cent of users in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Turkey and other developing markets claim to place a high level of importance on company responsibility when purchasing, compared with between 40 and 55 per cent in Germany, Japan and the US. Online consumers in Singapore and South Korea gave 'particularly high priority' to ethical concerns in purchasing.

Mori researcher Janette Henderson said the most likely explanation was that online shoppers in emerging markets were generally part of a social elite who can 'afford to consider factors other than price, product quality and service delivery'.

An emerging market that bucked the trend was Russia, where the online elite 'seemed notably less concerned about corporate behaviour in their purchase decisions'.