Consumer acceptance of new bio-based products plays a key role in the envisioned transition towards a forest-based bioeconomy. Multi-storey wooden buildings (MSWB) exemplify a modern, bio-based business opportunity for enacting low-carbon urban housing. However, there is limited knowledge about the differing perceptions consumers hold regarding wood as an urban building material. To fill this gap, this study explores Finnish students’ perceptions of MSWB relative to their familiarity with wooden residential buildings, and then connects these perceptions to ‘consumption styles.’ Data were collected in the Helsinki metropolitan area via an online questionnaire (n = 531). The results indicate that the aesthetic appearance of MSWB are appreciated most by frugal and responsible consumers, whereas the comfort, environmental friendliness, and longevity of MSWB are important to consumers who identify themselves as ‘thoughtful spenders.’ The study suggests that both environmental and hedonic young consumers already familiar with the use of wood in housing contribute to a successful bioeconomy in the urban context.
The home is an integral part of human life and everyday experiences. Home refers to a private (Vanzella-Yang, 2019) and physical place that provides shelter, psychological comfort and familiarity (Scott, 2009). Home is also a commodity and it carries economic value, especially for those who invest financial resources into their own apartment or a house. Others lack physical shelter, for example due to economic constraints, and are interpreted as homeless (Kellett & Moore, 2003). Having a home is also a practical matter with cultural constraints that affect people when modifying their houses (Wilk, 2001, p. 135). For example, consumers make material choices concerning interior decoration such as the acquisition of parquet flooring, furniture or kitchen cabinets. Yet, the material of the building itself also has meaning for consumers.
Pets live with people; they participate in people's everyday life activities and are often seen as human‐like family members. Consumers in the industrialized countries are investing more money in their pets and spending more time with them than ever before. The pet and the owner can even be considered to form a unit that consumes together. In this article, we develop a conceptual understanding of co‐consumption by examining how pets act as co‐consumers in everyday consumption. The pet owner and pet have joint consumption experiences in which they interact with other actors such as service providers. The consumer (pet owner) consumes because of the pet, meaning that he or she constantly needs to take the pet into account in choices and activities beyond pet‐related consumption, such as what kind of car to buy, where to work, whom to marry and how to live. The co‐consumer (pet) also acts as an active agent who experiences, feels, suffers and likes the goods and services that the consumer buys for the pet. Reciprocally, the pet provides the consumer (pet owner) with companionship, support and a boost to wellbeing. As such, our research suggests that co‐consumption provides an understanding not only of consumption with pets but also of other contexts, especially those in which the aim is shared well‐being such as consumption together with children, the disabled or the elderly.
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