Social Innovations for Sustainable Consumption and Their Perceived Sustainability Effects in Tehran

Abstract

Against the backdrop of current sustainability problems, various social innovations for sustainable consumption are emerging across the globe. In order to explore the sustainability potentials of such initiatives, it is vital to understand (1) why consumers are accepting and joining these initiatives and (2) how they perceive the sustainability potentials of initiatives’ offers. In order to correctly estimate the sustainability potential of the initiatives, one should consider possible negative sustainability impacts as well as rebound effects alongside all the positive sustainability effects. Moreover, studies on social innovations for sustainable consumption have mostly been conducted in the context of the Global North. This paper focuses on studying and understanding the current situation of social innovations for sustainable consumption and its sustainability potentials in Tehran, Iran. A qualitative explorative study was conducted using desk research as well as semi-structured in-depth interviews with Iranian consumers. The results of this study confirm the existence of growing supply and demand trends for such initiatives in Iran. Among the different initiatives, those that are copies of international companies or offering alternative mobility solutions seem to have more chances for diffusion, as consumers are more motivated to use their offers. The sample of this study believed that by joining these initiatives, they could contribute to achieving greater sustainability. However, the results of the interviews also show that the possible negative sustainability and rebound effects of their engagement in such initiatives were often neglected. Therefore, there is still a need not only for educating consumers about the overall sustainability potentials of these initiatives but also for exhibiting the sustainability impacts that their consumption behaviors regarding the use of initiatives’ offers can have. This way, these initiatives can be more successful in terms of contributing to sustainability.

Uncovering rebound effects of sufficiency-oriented product-service systems: a systematic review

“…One PSS, smart home assistance (Chen et al, 2018), encourages consumers to question consumption. The inclusion of RE in these studies either 1) describe the potential for RE to occur in qualitative terms (Iran & Müller, 2020;Harris et al, 2021;Siderius & Poldner, 2021); 2) anticipate RE behavior in the calculation of the environmental impact of the PSS (modeling the behavior exogenously) in ex-ante simulations (Briceno et al, 2005;Chen & Kockelman, 2016;Menon & Mahanty, 2015;Tsuji et al, 2015); or 3) estimate the RE magnitude ex-post using environmental accounting methods (Amutani et al, 2020;Font Vivanco et al, 2015;Yin et al, 2018;Warmington-Lundström & Laurenti, 2020). The studies employ a wide range of estimation methods to quantify the RE, including comparisons of environmental impact before and after the PSS interventions, for example, using consumption data and life cycle assessment (LCA); calculation of indirect rebound using re-spending models (based upon LCA and Input-Out frameworks); and comparisons of environmental impacts of different scenarios using System Dynamics or Monte Carlo simulation.…”

“…An example of a re-spending effect is using the monetary savings of a smart-home PSS to consume more energy through increased household temperatures or brightness (Chen et al, 2018). Over half of the RE mechanisms (53.33%, 8 of 15 instances) are related to re-spending of financial resources (Briceno et al, 2005;Chen & Kockelman, 2016;Menon & Mahanty, 2015;Yin et al, 2018;Iran & Müller, 2020). b. Temporal resources freed up by the PSS are 're-spent', or re-allocated, towards more consumption of the same product/service (direct rebound) or towards more consumption or less sustainable consumption of other products, services or activities (indirect rebound).…”

“…These effects are also called time-use RE (Sorrell et al, 2020). An example of a time-use RE is using time freed up through a PSS, such as a car-sharing system, to engage in consumption-intensive activities, like shopping (see Iran & Müller, 2020). c. Psychological resources are 'freed up' through the moral licensing psychological mechanism, and are 're-spent', or re-allocated, towards less sustainable activities (Sorrell et al, 2020).…”

Sustainability-Oriented Multi-Criteria Analysis of Different Continuous Flight Auger Piles

“…This is done through indicator I10, called Building site space; • Criterion C8, Innovation, is measured through indicator I11, innovation potential. The relationship between innovation potential and sustainability has recently started to be acknowledged in the literature [27].…”

Boosting Sustainability through Digital Transformation’s Domains and Resilience

“…This study targets Iranian organizations, where DT and sustainability appear in the beginning phases of implementation [17]. The literature emphasizes that there is still a need for more research for Iranian companies which are located in an important geographical area but not enough studies have been done in this regard [18][19][20]. In addition, more research is still required to better understand of the effects of DT on sustainability [21,22].…”