Fair trade products should be marketed in conjunction with broader sustainability issues, says new research coming out of the UK’s Kingston University.

The research found that extraverted, agreeable, or conscientious people are more likely to support fair trade.

The findings from ethical consumer behavior expert Dr. Smirti Kutaula show consumers with one of the three personality traits are more likely to support the fair trade concept.

The findings highlight the potential benefits of using personality-based marketing to sell fair trade products.

Dr. Kutaula examined the relationship between personality and fair trade engagement, which means how emotionally involved people are with the fair trade ethos.

Dr. Kutaula, alongside academics from the University of Surrey, University of Cyprus and Cyprus University of Technology, conducted a survey on 323 consumers in the UK and India. 

It’s all about personality
This used the Big Five Personality trait model, a psychological theory that measures five critical dimensions of an individual’s personality – agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, extroversion, and neuroticism.

A series of in-depth interviews with British customers followed this to understand better how their personality influences their perceptions and behaviors around fair trade. 

The process also identified how their involvement with the fair trade ethos influences their attitudes toward the circular economy.

The study’s findings, published in Journal of Business Research, revealed that extraverted, agreeable, or conscientious individuals are more likely to support fair trade.

“Our analysis of the interviews highlighted that extraverts were significantly more engaged with fair trade and spreading awareness of its ethos,” Dr. Kutaula explains. “They are more likely to share their beliefs around supporting the fair trade ethos with their family and friends, as well as recommending products,” she says.

What do different traits mean in terms of fair trade? 

Agreeableness linked to environment
Those with the agreeableness trait were aware of the impact of their consumption on producers and workers down the supply chain, and those with the consciousness trait felt strongly that they had an individual responsibility to help protect the environment when consuming fair trade products.

The research revealed that having the openness personality trait does not significantly impact fair trade engagement, while neuroticism has a negative effect.Dr. Smirti Kutaula 

“We found that interviewees who exhibited the openness trait were more curious to experiment and try out different products, rather than focusing on fair trade products. While openness means you are honest about whether you behave ethically or not, it might not necessarily lead to ethical behavior,” Dr. Kutaula continues.

They also discovered that people who displayed high levels of fair trade engagement were more ethically conscious in their decision-making and consumption choices relating to the circular economy.

“They had an increased understanding of how wider sustainability issues are linked with fair trade,” Dr. Kutaula says. “They recognized that fair trade products are produced in a way that is not harmful to the environment and that these products use packaging which can be widely recycled, reused, or re-purposed. Some were even re-purposing the packaging from their tea bags or coffee to store items such as make-up or jewelry,” she adds.

Circular economy connection
Dr. Kutaula stressed this finding highlights the importance of marketing fair trade products in conjunction with the circular economy rather than treating them as separate issues.

“Fair trade companies could look at ways to incorporate the circular economy in their strategies to raise awareness for multiple social and environmental issues,” she says. “A lot of marketing around fair trade focuses on the social implications, the poor working conditions of developing countries. Fair trade is also increasingly linked with economic and environmental aspects of sustainability, and our research shows that these issues feed into consumers decisions to support fair trade and buy fair trade products.”