Young consumer intention to use mobile ethical applications in consumption choices: an extension of the UTAUT2 model

The use of ethical apps could help consumers to become more sustainable in their purchase choices. Drawing on the UTAUT2 framework, this paper aims to understand the paths that can drive young consumers' intention to adopt these apps. To this end, this study also investigates consumer values (green consumption values and religious values) and the consumer propensity to behave ethically. General research propositions are evaluated using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) on the 1300 online surveys collected from potential ethical app users of Generation Y and Z. The data highlight ten paths that drive ethical apps' intention to adopt and support the validity of the UTAUT2 model in this consumer domain of technology use. Green consumption values represent only a peripheral condition in the configurations (in five out of ten); ethically minded consumption behaviors are central in two out of ten (in three out of ten is peripheral). Instead, religiosity constituted, above all, a condition that should not be present. This study underlines the relevance of enriching ethical apps with hedonic benefits to engage Gen Y and Z and stimulate their ethical app adoption.