Value Synergy or Trade-Offs? Configuring Ethical Consumption of Agri-Products in E-Commerce Poverty Alleviation: A fsQCA Study

China’s e-commerce poverty alleviation initiatives have achieved significant progress, yet the mechanisms driving consumers’ ethical prioritization of agri-products remain poorly understood. Drawing on consumer value theory, this study employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to investigate how six factors—quality attributes, price attributes, sense of social responsibility, sense of moral gain, public welfare attributes, and brand reputation—interact to shape ethical consumption behaviors. Through a configuration lens, this study identifies four distinct trade-off pathways: price-driven, responsibility-driven, price-ethics-driven, and brand-community-driven. Key findings reveal that price attributes synergize with ethical motivations as core drivers while uncovering a substitution effect where emotional value compensates for functional value gaps. The results challenge conventional linear value models, demonstrating how multidimensional value coexistence enables ethical consumption in e-commerce, thereby advancing theoretical frameworks for ethical decision-making and offering actionable strategies for aligning platform governance, product positioning, and consumer ethics in poverty-alleviation markets. This study repositions ethical consumption as a social-technical praxis rather than just an individual moral choice, offering transnational relevance for platform economies grappling with value plurality.