The World Affairs Council of Austin, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, is proud to present the Texas Enterprise Speaker Series.
Looking at the world, it’s easy to see that people — in general — are ethical. They give to charity, help their neighbors, love their children. And if you ask them if they’re comfortable with sweatshops, child labor, or animal testing, it’s no surprise that most will say they are not. For example, a recent (2013) ChildFund survey indicated that 77% of respondents would not buy clothing or other goods made with child labor. Contrast that statistic with the fact that the U.S. Department of Labor’s list of goods produced by child labor in 2014 comprised of 139 goods from 75 countries, and that a large proportion of many popular goods (such as cocoa and diamonds) are made using exploitative labor. It is clear that there are inconsistencies between values and behavior.
Join us for lunch on October 25 as behavioral economist and researcher Julie Irwin, a professor at the McCombs School of Business, explores consumer behavioral patterns to help expose some of the reasons why people’s buying habits often don’t align with their values.
- Understand people’s economic behavior can be different from what they actually care about
- Identify aspects of consumer situations that can lead consumers to be “bad”
- Better align your purchases with values.
- See how corporate marketers, non-profits, and political organizations can help guide people toward expressing their ethical values
Julie Irwin is the Marlene and Morton Meyerson Centennial Professor of Business in the Business, Government and Society and Marketing Departments. Prior to joining McCombs, Dr. Irwin has taught at Wharton and the Stern School of Business at NYU. She received her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Colorado and completed post-doctoral training in quantitative psychology at the University of Illinois. She has published more than 40 refereed journal articles and book chapters such as a chapter in Wharton on Making Decisions, and a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Environment. She has also published a number of articles in the popular press, and in outlets such as the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The Conversation (reprinted by CNN), Huffington Post, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
