Abstract: In making ethical consumption decisions, consumers need to consider the instrumental and ethical attributes of products and make tradeoffs. This complexity is a critical barrier between consumers’ ethical consumption intention and actual ethical consumption behavior. With the development of artificial intelligence, algorithms are increasingly being used to provide advice to consumers, which can reduce the difficulty of decision-making. However, studies have found that people are reluctant to adapt algorithms to make decisions in ethical trade-offs.
This study aims to provide a potential solution for increasing consumers’ trust in algorithmic recommendations in ethical consumption contexts. In particular, this research proposes that marketers can influence consumers’ trust in algorithmic recommendations by changing the narrative framing strategy for ethical consumption. When ethical consumption is described as “win-win” (vs. “sacrifice”), consumers are more likely to trust the algorithm’s recommendations for ethical consumption decisions. The sacrifice narrative framing strategy emphasizes that consumers need to make personal sacrifices to help the environment or society in ethical consumption. The win-win narrative framing strategy emphasizes that there is no conflict of utilitarian interests between consumers and other stakeholders in ethical consumption. Moreover, this strategy encourages consumers to consider that ethical consumption is for the greater good of everyone. Therefore, the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing information will enhance consumers’ belief that achieving moral values is compatible with optimizing the overall utilitarian values of the community in ethical consumption situations. Thus, consumers are more likely to trust algorithmic tools that maximize utilitarian values to solve ethical consumption decision problems.
By portraying ethical consumption as a win-win, consumers perceive themselves as part of a common interest community with relevant stakeholders, helping reinforce utilitarianism-based moral beliefs. Utilitarianism believes that pursuing the maximization of common interest is a rational way to achieve moral correctness. Accordingly, activating the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing encourages consumers to identify more with utilitarianism in ethical consumption decisions, thereby increasing their trust in algorithmic recommendations in ethical contexts.
Through three experiments, this study examines the impact of ethical consumption narrative framing strategies (win-win vs. sacrifice) on trust in algorithmic consumption recommendations. Experiment 1 first tests how activating the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing affects consumers’ preference for the source of consumption recommendations. Results show that the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing significantly increases consumers’ inclination to choose algorithmic consumption recommendations. Experiment 2 further examines the influence of activating the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing on trust in consumption recommendations and the mediating role of utilitarian moral values. Results indicate that the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing enhances consumers’ trust in algorithmic consumption recommendations but does not significantly impact trust in recommendations from human experts. Consumers’ acceptance of utilitarianism in ethical decisions mediates the preceding positive effects. Lastly, this study examines the implementation boundaries of the win-win (vs. sacrifice) narrative framing strategy and finds that it only works for consumption recommendations from substitutive algorithms and has no effect on algorithm-augmented consumption recommendations from human experts.

Key words: ethical consumption, algorithmic recommendation, deontology, utilitarianism, framing effect