Examining the psychological and social drivers of unsustainable and sustainable consumption, this Concise Introduction provides an insightful overview of the causes of unsustainable consumer behaviour and the instruments and interventions needed to create a sustainable consumption pattern.

If global society is to address the many environmental and other sustainability challenges that confront us in the twenty-first century, such as climate change and water resources, it will be necessary to make significant changes in our patterns of consumption, production, and distribution. There is a growing realization that while changes in production and distribution are formidable, the proposed solutions may not succeed unless it is possible to persuade individuals and households to change their patterns of consumption to make them more sustainable. However there are significant differences in how key disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, and history conceptualise consumption, empirically test their theoretical predictions, and use these to inform policy-makers across the private, public and third sectors on how to make consumption more sustainable. This book contains chapters from world-leading experts in these different disciplines that seek to explain the perspectives on sustainable consumption of their disciplines, suggest how these might be further enriched by taking on board some of the findings from other disciplines, and consider what this implies for new policies to address the key sustainability challenges outlined above. The book is dedicated to Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, one of the world's leading economists who has worked across a range of topics, including environmental and resource economics and development economics, and throughout his career has sought to incorporate into his economic thinking ideas from a range of other disciplines.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Sustainable Consumer Behavior" that was published in Sustainability

This new volume, Green Consumerism: The Behavior of New Age Consumer, provides a holistic understanding the importance of promoting green products and discusses consumers’ buying intentions and decisions. The chapters consider consumer behavior theory in the context of green or ecologically friendly products from both the academic and business perspectives. The chapters present the latest empirical and analytical research in the field of green marketing and provide an abundance of information about profitable and sustainable ways and strategies to deal with environmental problems. The volume considers how consumers are taking responsibility and becoming more aware, driving change in the marketplace. In response, companies are integrating appropriate green strategies into their operational activities, product development processes, and marketing activities to achieve a competitive advantage in saturated markets. This helps companies gain market share and minimize their production costs. Topics discussed in the volume include green pricing, green consumer behavior, various dimensions of consumer purchase intention, sustainable marketing, innovation techniques used to go green, eco-awareness, and other ongoing developments in this rapidly expanding area. Key features: • Discusses research on the latest trends in the field of green marketing, green practices, green products, eco-literacy, environment awareness, protection, management etc. • Provides insight about current consumer behavior, consumers’ eco-literacy levels, and their desires to go green • Covers a multitude of topics, including green pricing, green consumer behavior, sustainable marketing, innovation techniques used to go green, eco-awareness, and more

Adolescents around the globe are demonstrating for a sustainable future. Businesses, too, increasingly embrace the idea of sustainable economic activities. Sustainability has evolved from a niche topic into a mainstream one. Nevertheless, there still is a discrepancy between people’s attitudes toward sustainable practices and the extent to which they actually act on them. Which drivers and barriers of sustainable consumption exist? What are the reasons for the attitude-behavior gap? Bea Alexandra Wintschnig discusses the necessity of sustainable consumption patterns in practice as a key enabler of a general sustainable development. The variety of identified factors can broadly be subdivided into two categories: individual-related and environmental determinants. The former includes socio- demographics, personal characteristics and value orientation. The environmental determinants comprise product, service or behavior-related factors, such as cost of consumption or stereotypes of sustainable products. Bea Alexandra Wintschnig explains why people seem to talk more about environmental protection than they actually do for it. In this book: - Climate protection; - Sustainability; - Corporate Social Responsibility; - Self-efficacy; - society

Sustainable consumption is a central research topic in academic discourses of sustainable development and global environmental change. Informed by a number of disciplinary perspectives, this book is structured around four key themes in sustainable consumption research: Living, Moving, Dwelling and Futures. The collection successfully balances theoretical insights with grounded case studies, on mobility, heating, washing and eating practices, and concludes by exploring future sustainable consumption research pathways and policy recommendations. Theoretical frameworks are advanced throughout the volume, especially in relation to social practice theory, theories of behavioural change and innovative visioning and backcasting methodologies. This groundbreaking book draws on some conceptual approaches which move beyond the responsibility of the individual consumer to take into account wider social, economic and political structures and processes in order to highlight both possibilities for and challenges to sustainable consumption. This approach enables students and policy-makers alike to easily recognise the applicability of social science theories.

This book investigates the concept of consumer social responsibility (CnSR) by considering the combination of ‘consumption behaviour’ and ‘social responsibility’. It puts forward a theory of responsible consumption behaviour, then models and empirically tests this theory using quantitative research methods. In so doing, the book offers a new consumer behaviour model: the C-A-C-B (Concern-Attitude-Commitment-Behaviour) model. The book appeals to readers interested in consumer behaviour, research methodologies, social responsibility, corporate social responsibility, segmentation and profiling, sustainability, and structural equation modelling with path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The book also offers concrete recommendations that will benefit businesses and governments alike.

This book examines issues and implications of digital and social media marketing for emerging markets. These markets necessitate substantial adaptations of developed theories and approaches employed in the Western world. The book investigates problems specific to emerging markets, while identifying new theoretical constructs and practical applications of digital marketing. It addresses topics such as electronic word of mouth (eWOM), demographic differences in digital marketing, mobile marketing, search engine advertising, among others. A radical increase in both temporal and geographical reach is empowering consumers to exert influence on brands, products, and services. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media are having a significant impact on the way people communicate and fulfil their socio-economic, emotional and material needs. These technologies are also being harnessed by businesses for various purposes including distribution and selling of goods, retailing of consumer services, customer relationship management, and influencing consumer behaviour by employing digital marketing practices. This book considers this, as it examines the practice and research related to digital and social media marketing.

Presenting a contemporary reflection on ethical and sustainable consumption, this insightful Research Handbook offers discussions on the challenges and complexity of living an ethical and sustainable life, and for the researchers who study them. Featuring cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research from authors with unique perspectives and expert insights, this Research Handbook takes a deeper look at the past, present, and future of ethical and sustainable consumption.