How do Socially Responsible Consumers Consider Consumption? An Approach with the Free Associations Method

Abstract

Socially responsible consumption, that is the incorporation by individuals of social and environmental concerns in their consumption choices, is growing. Is this new tendency a consequence of a new way of considering consumption? The aim of this research is to verify the existence of different profiles of socially conscious consumers and to study their social representation of consumption. In order to meet these objectives, a study was conducted with 392 respondents. The free association technique was used to induce social representations while involvement in socially responsible consumption was measured with the François-Lecompte (2005) scale. Data analysis shows the existence of four groups of socially responsible consumers with different social representations of consumption.

Representations of a Destination City Break. Analysis Based on Free Associations

“…The lexicometric analysis, which relied on the theory of nucleus (Gonzalez et al, 2009;Roland-Lévy & Berjot, 2009;Roland-Lévy, Pappalardo-Boumelki, & Guillet, 2010;Vergès, 1992), examined how free associations were organized and identified elements within the core and those belonging to the periphery of the representation. The aim was to identify the central core of social representations.…”

“…Social representations have been used to study knowledge and knowledge production in its various forms (Sammut & Gaskell, 2009), and they have been developed within many fields of social psychology (Farr, 1987;Jodelet, 1991;Moscovici, 2001). Today, the theory of social representations is seen as a "systemic theory," important to the future development of social psychology (Palmonari, 2008) and for brand research (Bodet, Meurgey, & Lacassagne, 2009;Michel, 1999;Tafani, Michel, & Rosa, 2009), market analysis (Baillergeau & Benavent, 2006;Lebrun & Bouchet, 2010), consumption analysis (Gonzalez, Korchia, Menuet, & Urbain, 2009), and transport problems Dickinson & Robbins, 2007, 2009.…”

“…Regarding the collection of content data, this research opted for the associative method, and among its various forms, for free word association; it was strongly recommended for the study of social representations because they were suitable for the identification of significant categories (Baillergeau & Benavent, 2006;Bodet et al, 2009;Gonzalez et al, 2009;Lacassagne, Bouchet, Weiss, & Jebrane, 2004;Lebrun & Bouchet, 2010;Michel, 1999;Tafani et al, 2009). This method of access to social representations allowed, from a stimulus word, the subject to produce all types of associations he could make.…”

Responsible tourist behaviour: The role of social engagement

“…Acting in a way that accounts for social and environmental concerns through one's choices in relation to tourism (adapted from Gonzalez et al, 2009).…”

Editorial: Institutionalization of sustainable development and emergence of sustainable marketing

“…responsible consumer. This figure is not new in the literature (Dubuisson Quellier, 2009), and its study has led to extensive research in consumers' behaviour (Gonzalez et al, 2009;Özçağlar-Toulouse, 2009, etc.). Yet questioning about the material conditions of its practice has remained little explored.…”