Fair trade consumer behaviour in Italy: main differences between Northern and Southern regions

Up to 80’s, interest for sustainable development in scientific research is growing fast. In the economic field, several aspects have been focused including sustainable consumption as a possible lever of sustainable development. Sustainable consumption refers to an environmental and social consumer behavior. Fair Trade (FT) consumerism, defined in terms of fair prices for the products of producers in developing countries, is a category of social consumption. This paper focuses on FT. With it we aim to improve the understanding of the FT consumer behavior in South and North Italy, where the consumption of FT products is a growing phenomenon but still low in comparison with other European countries. To pursue this goal we conducted a survey in 2014. In the analysis we consider the relationships between socio-demografic and economic variables, purchase intention, Schwartz values, income and consumer buying behavior.