ETHICAL, MORAL AND QUALITY STANDARD ISSUES: CONSUMER’S BEHAVIOR AND LEGAL EMPOWERMENT OF SOCIETY

Abstract

In the globalized economy, ethical, moral and quality standards are considered as instrumental force for the economic growth and development of society which vary from country to country, society to society and culture to culture. Ethics, morals and values of a society may be examined on the basis of tradition, culture, social norms, religion and laws that reign in a society or country. A business community must consider and comply with the ethical and cultural concerns of the society and avoid developing such sub-standard products and services that leads to undesirable consumer behavior or confuses or mislead the consumer and hurt personal interest and cultural response. Various Acts in different countries have been promulgated in order to provide protection and remedy to the consumers with respect to low quality, sub-standards and over-price of the goods/services. In these enactments, various Consumers Courts have been established in the country to redress the grievances of the public at large. However, there is dire need to raise awareness among people about their rights and to approach these courts for redressal of claims. Despite all, the authors are further of the view that no concrete mechanism is provided to address the issues relating to ethical or moral values pertaining to goods, services and commercial advertisement. In nutshell, the authors of this paper proposed a comprehensive strategy to create awareness among the consumers regarding their rights connected with ethical, moral, cultural and cultural values of the society. The theme of this paper is also to bring awareness among public regarding their legal empowerment bestowed upon them by the legislative bodies of the respective countries.