Ms. Priti Jhawar, Fashion Management Scholar, Department of Fashion Management Studies
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Daman Campus
Abstract:
The ethical concerns in the worldwide human hair industry, whose sourcing procedures are frequently ambiguous and delicate, were examined in this study. It demonstrates that while many customers are concerned about consent, equitable compensation, and labour exploitation, these concerns frequently conflict with emotional elements such as guilt, discomfort, and beauty ambitions. As a result, rather of altering their purchasing patterns, people frequently defend their decisions. The study urged for greater accountability and openness from companies in the human hair market and highlighted how emotions have a big impact on moral judgments.
Keywords:
Ethical consumption, human hair supply chain, consumer emotions, responsibility, ethical sourcing transparency, attitude–behaviour gap, qualitative research.
Introduction:
Due to shifting fashion trends, medical requirements, and religious customs, the worldwide market for human hair products—such as wigs, extensions, and hair systems—has grown quickly. However, consumers are still mostly unaware of the supply chain that underlies this expansion. Concerns regarding consent, just compensation, and cultural exploitation are raised by the fact that hair is frequently acquired through unofficial networks, religious gifts, and cross-border trafficking involving vulnerable people. Human hair is more intimate than other materials used in fashion. Even while the ethical concerns regarding hair procurement are frequently hidden by ostentatious marketing and a lack of clear sourcing information, their intimate connection to identity and culture makes them even more emotionally intense. Consumers’ decisions are frequently impacted by feelings like guilt, discomfort, and moral detachment, even though they may be worried about ethical behaviour. By examining how consumers balance their emotions, sense of duty, and ethical awareness when buying human hair items, this study fills a significant need.
Objectives:
- To examine existing literature on ethical consumption.
- To critically and theoretically interpret the reviewed literature.
- To identify factors contributing to the gap between ethical concern and actual consumption behaviour.
Literature Review:
Tandon, A. et al. (2025) describes in the paper that ethical sourcing as a growing concern in fashion, yet little is known about how supply-chain employees perceive and navigate ethical issues. Using moral agency theory, this longitudinal qualitative study of UK-based fashion employees discloses how ethical thoughts operate at supplier, organizational, and individual levels. The findings reconceptualize ethical sourcing from a practice perspective and highlight barriers and enable shaping employees’ ethical decision-making.
Ajayi, S. A. et al. (2024) with the help of quantitative study examines ingredient sourcing in the organic skincare and cosmetics industry and its impact on consumer health, ethics, and the environment. Findings from 700 working-class women reveal strong links between sourcing costs, proximity, and increased risks of unethical or unsafe products, particularly among small-scale producers. The study emphasizes the need for greater transparency, ethical accountability, and holistic sustainability practices in the industry.
Roberts, S. (2003) examines in this paper how corporate social responsibility and supply network sustainability influence corporate reputation. It assesses the effectiveness of ethical sourcing codes of conduct across three sectors—branded clothing, DIY wood products, and branded confectionery. The study explains sectoral differences in implementation success and offers recommendations for managing sustainability in supply networks.
Kim, S. et al. (2016) reviews the evolution of ethical sourcing research using a systematic literature review combined with citation network analysis in the paper. It identifies key growth trends, influential studies, major research areas, and emerging themes in the field. The findings map how ethical sourcing knowledge has developed over time and highlight important directions for future research.
Ercan et al. (2025) examines how perceptual and emotional factors influence consumer acceptance of a human-hair-based bio-fabricated textile product. The paper shows aesthetic pleasure positively drives adoption, while perceived naturalness has no direct effect. Disgust strongly moderates adoption intentions, highlighting the need to reduce negative emotional responses while enhancing aesthetic appeal.
Agrawal, D. et al. (2024) explores ethical sourcing as a vital component of sustainable development and responsible supply chain management in this study. This paper outlines its benefits, key principles, and differences from sustainable sourcing, emphasizing its role in corporate competitiveness. The chapter also discusses levels of ethical sourcing, the use of technology, and the importance of collaboration and impact measurement.
Machleit, K. A. et al. (2001) here, two studies find that emotions impact shopping satisfaction more strongly when shoppers attribute their feelings to the store rather than to themselves. A field study and a lab experiment show that attribution type and purchase outcomes shape emotional responses, which in turn influence satisfaction.
Gregory-Smith et al. (2013) in this study explores emotions and harsh choice behaviour in ethical consumption through 31 in-depth interviews with British consumers. Their findings show that consumers alternate between ethical and unethical choices, often compensating one with the other. Guilt emerges as the key emotion driving this behaviour, with consumers using guilt-management strategies to cope with cognitive dissonance and the attitude–behaviour gap.
Oh, J. et al (2014) propose and validate an extended theory of reasoned action model to explain ethical consumption intentions by incorporating emotions and selflessness in their paper. The survey results from 343 consumers show that ethical obligation, self-identity, selflessness, attitude, and positive anticipated emotions significantly influence attitudes and intentions toward ethical products.
Yeo, A. C. et al. (2018) explored how corporate social responsibility influences Malaysian consumers’ buying intentions. It finds that social, ethical, legal, and philanthropic CSR efforts positively shape purchase decisions, showing that consumers increasingly prefer and trust brands that act responsibly.
Follows and Jobber (2000) test a consumer model of environmentally responsible purchasing and successfully predicts both eco-friendly and non-eco-friendly choices in this paper. It confirms a hierarchy from values to attitudes, intentions, and actual behaviour, showing that personal consequences matter as much as environmental impact in shaping purchase decisions.
Caldeira and Moro (2024) looked at how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) shapes a company’s reputation and influences consumer behaviour, with a special focus on ethical practices and greenwashing with this study. This paper emphasised that consumers need clearer information and better awareness to judge environmental claims and truly responsible brands.
Research Methodology:
A qualitative, exploratory research design was chosen to gain deep insights into consumers’ emotions, senses, and ethical judgments related to human hair consumption. This approach is well-suited for examining complex and under-explored ethical issues in a detailed manner.
Connection of Literature Review to the Study:
This study was informed by the literature review, which clarified how consumer conflicts, emotional decision-making, and ethical sourcing influence ethical consumption. The majority of current research concentrates on clothing, cosmetics, or general ethical items, leaving human hair relatively unexplored as a special material. This study switches the focus to the human experience by applying these well-established concepts to the human hair supply chain, demonstrating how ethical demands rise when the product originates from the human body.
Analysis of Literature Review:
According to the research, consumers’ emotional connections to products are just as important to ethical fashion and beauty consumption as rules and awareness. A common worry in research on ethical sourcing is that manufacturing workers are frequently unseen because of a lack of transparency; this problem echoes the hidden reality in the human hair industry. Research on consumer behaviour shows that feelings like discomfort and shame, as well as the need for fulfilment, have a significant impact on decisions and frequently override moral intentions at the time of purchase.
Findings:
The results show a substantial discrepancy between consumers’ perceptions and their real behaviour. Many people have sincere worries about moral behaviour, but they still make decisions that go against their ideals. This pattern can be explained by research on emotions and consumer dissonance, which demonstrates that guilt is frequently reduced by rationalization or by placing blame on systems and brands. Human hair products have a particularly strong tendency to exacerbate emotional conflict due to the connection to the human body and identity. Although CSR programs and ethical branding can foster trust, their impact is lessened by lax laws and growing scepticism about greenwashing.
Conclusion:
The study comes to the conclusion that ethical consumption in the human hair market cannot be driven solely by ethical considerations. The attitude-behaviour gap is sustained by emotional conflict, aesthetic desire, and a lack of sourcing openness. Stronger governance to encourage more responsible consumer choices, more supply chain visibility, and more transparent ethical narratives are all necessary to address these issues.
References:
- Tandon, A., Dhir, A., Kaur, P., & Ogbonnaya, C. (2025). Ethical sourcing and Decision making in the fashion industry: A longitudinal Qualitative Examination. Journal of Business Ethics, 196(4), 723–751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05876-9
- Ajayi, S. A., Olaniyi, O. O., Oladoyinbo, T. O., Ajayi, N. D., & Olaniyi, F. G. (2024). Sustainable sourcing of organic skincare ingredients: A Critical analysis of ethical concerns and environmental implications. Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports, 18(1), 65–91. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajarr/2024/v18i1598
- Roberts, S. (2003). Supply chain specific? Understanding the patchy success of ethical sourcing initiatives. Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2–3), 159–170. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1023395631811
- Kim, S., Colicchia, C., & Menachof, D. (2016). Ethical sourcing: An analysis of the literature and implications for future research. Journal of Business Ethics, 152(4), 1033–1052. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3266-8
- Ercan, S., Yaprak, B., Ecevit, M. Z., & Duman, O. (2025). Sustainable but disgusting? A psychological model of consumer reactions to Human-Hair-Derived textiles. Sustainability, 17(17), 7799. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17177799
- Agrawal, D., Kumar, A., & Kumar, K. (2024). Ethical sourcing. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 774–778). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-443-13701-3.00016-5
- Machleit, K. A., & Mantel, S. P. (2001). Emotional response and shopping satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 54(2), 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0148-2963(99)00093-4
- Gregory-Smith, D., Smith, A., & Winklhofer, H. (2013). Emotions and dissonance in ‘ethical’ consumption choices. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(11–12), 1201–1223. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2013.796320
- Oh, J., & Yoon, S. (2014). Theory‐based approach to factors affecting ethical consumption. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 38(3), 278–288. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12092
- Yeo, A. C., Lee, S. X., & Carter, S. (2018). The influence of an organisation’s adopted corporate social responsibility constructs on consumers’ intended buying behaviour: a Malaysian perspective. Social Responsibility Journal, 14(3), 448–468. https://doi.org/10.1108/srj-05-2016-0082
- Follows, S. B., & Jobber, D. (2000). Environmentally responsible purchase behaviour: a test of a consumer model. European Journal of Marketing, 34(5/6), 723–746. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560010322009
- Caldeira, R. N., & Moro, A. I. (2024). The influence of the Code of Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility on consumer buying behaviour. Revista De Gestão Social E Ambiental, 18(12), e09369. https://doi.org/10.24857/rgsa.v18n12-092
