Behavioral prediction of environmentally oriented anticonsumption and consumption: A multilevel study of five Eurobarometer surveys

Abstract

To tackle climate change, greater public engagement is called for in actions that fall under the umbrella of environmentally oriented anticonsumption (EOA), in addition to environmentally oriented consumption (EOC) ones. This study examines potential behavioral effects on EOA and EOC actions in response to climate change, by placing attention on the EOA versus EOC distinction, as well as the behavioral domain and frequency of the selected behavioral outcomes and predictors. Multilevel analysis is conducted on a large-scale, European pooled dataset (N = 137,097 respondents) combined with secondary country data at the societal level (N = 30 countries). The findings provide overall evidence for positive behavioral effects or spillovers on EOA and EOC behaviors in response to climate change, while emphasizing also the need to account for the specificity of different proenvironmental actions. Also, the findings show that positive spillovers are more likely among actions within the same EOA/EOC path of action, pertaining to the same behavioral category (i.e., intra-domain, rather than inter-domain spillovers), and having similar behavioral frequency characteristics (e.g., among non-daily actions). The findings reported here improve understanding of the behavioral mechanisms behind environmental spillovers, for less-researched EOA (and EOC) outcomes, in response to climate change, and cross-nationally.

How and when Narcissism and faith in humanity drive sustainable consumption

“…The sustainability literature has overlooked many critical aspects of sustainable consumption (Ortega Egea & Garcia de Frutos, 2020) that fall under the umbrella of postuse consumption such as product reuse (see Table 1). It is typically assumed that consumers will reuse products, and thus both the sustainability literature and policy makers lack a clear understanding of the factors and conditions that prompt consumers to reuse products.…”

“…By contrast, scholars have neglected product reuse as a key aspect of postuse sustainable consumption and a solution to solid waste problems (Table 1), despite recent calls for more work on aspects of postuse consumption, other than recycling (Ortega Egea & Garcia de Frutos, 2020). This lack of attention is problematic given the enormous political and social investments (i.e., effort, time, money) needed to promote and encourage consumers (so far unsuccessfully) to reuse products (Kaza et al, 2018).…”

“…From the perspective of sustainability marketing, novel insights into individual traits that drive consumers to act responsibly are critical for tackling a wide range of environmental issues (Hassan et al, 2022; Ortega Egea & Garcia de Frutos, 2020). The literature on this matter focuses on “isolated environmental practices such as recycling” (Ortega Egea & Garcia de Frutos, 2020; p. 308), while other key aspects of sustainable consumption remain unstudied. One essential aspect of sustainable consumption that has been overlooked is product reuse (see Table 1).…”

“…First, despite significant political and social investments (i.e., effort, time, money), global waste production is likely to reach 3.40 billion tonnes in the next two decades (Kaza et al, 2018), an escalation that is likely to have detrimental effects on the environment. In response to calls for more research on aspect of sustainable behavior beyond recycling (Ortega Egea & Garcıa de Frutos, 2020) and the lack of focus on product reuse as a key indicator of sustainable consumption (Table 1), we offer novel insights into consumers' tendency to engage, or not, in product reuse. Our study expands knowledge of the effects of personality traits' on sustainable consumption by showing that while narcissism has negative effect on product reuse, faith in humanity has a positive effect on product reuse.…”

Concepts Describing and Assessing Individuals’ Environmental Sustainability: An Integrative Review and Taxonomy

“…EOA has not yet been operationalized. Instead, a recent study uses behavioral measures from the five Eurobarometer studies on climate change (see Gesis-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, 2020 ) to approximate EOA ( Ortega Egea et al, 2020 ). These borrowed measures refer to avoidance behaviors such as the purchase of local products, car use, and short-haul flights, indicating a focus on the product and personal practice scope.…”