LAUSR

Socially responsible consumption (SRC) behaviors have progressed over the last few years and appear to show signs of a lasting trend. Situations of atypical consumption such as Christmas time, however, raise an important and as of yet unexplored question: What are the influences of unusual situations upon the relationship between people's socially responsible profile and their socially responsible purchase intentions? The objective of this article is thus to use the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and environment-based variables, called “atmospherics”, to answer to this question. A Web survey on a total sample of 301 Canadian consumers, shows that people's past SRC behaviors are positively related to their socially responsible purchase intentions in unusual situations. Moreover the atmosphere of the place consumers are situated in has a negative moderating influence upon this relationship. This result is explained by a change in people's attitude towards SRC. However, this negative moderating effect of atmosphere is contained and constrained by social desirability in the form of subjective norms on SRC and the level of behavioural control consumers perceive. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.