A comparative analysis of the purchase motivations of Fair Trade products: the impact of social capital

Objective of this paper is to analyse the motivations in the purchase of Fair Trade (FT) food products sold in the World Shops (WS) in order to characterize WS consumer profiles according to the ethical content of their motivations. A questionnaire has been distributed, at this end, to a sample of consumers in Emilia Romagna, Puglia and in Campania. A principal component analysis has been performed in order to identify the main motivations in the purchase. On the basis of these results, consumers have been classified, by applying a cluster analysis, in homogenous segments. The cluster analysis reveals that 76% of consumers in Emilia Romagna buy FT products for an ethical motivation, 56% of consumers in Puglia and 43% of consumers in Campania buy these products for an ethical motivation. These percentages reflect the rank of social capital, intended as the civicness component a la Putnam, of the regions analysed. These results show a clear relationship between the civicness component of social capital a la Putnam and the diffusion of consumer social responsibility, even in the niche market of WSs consumers.