Factors Affecting Sustainable Consumer Behavior in the MENA Region: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Sustainable consumer behavior (SCB) gained significant attention given the relevance it bears for a broad set of actors. Since most of the relevant literature is rooted in western countries, researchers and policymakers implicitly assume that behaviors in developing countries tend to replicate those in developed countries. This review, based on seventy-one articles published since 2000, questions such assumption by analyzing the empirical research on SCBs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a distinctive region that has been so far overlooked by mainstream research. Results reveal that most MENA-based papers are rooted in traditional frameworks of the rationalistic stream and that environmental values represent a key driver of SCB, while habits and socio-demographics are relegated to a negligible role. This study provides an added value by synthesizing the fragmented evidence on the topic and discussing aspects emerging as peculiar of the MENA and differentiating the latter from other societies.

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