Socio‐demographic basic factors of German customers as predictors for sustainable consumerism regarding foodstuffs and meat products

Abstract

An important step in promoting sustainable purchase behaviour is to explore the understanding of responsible consumerism from the consumers’ point of view. For this purpose, a study among 1040 German consumers was carried out using a two‐pronged approach. First, open‐ended questions were used to explore the characteristics of sustainable food consumption in general as well as the willingness and meaningfulness of a low‐meat diet from the consumers’ point of view. After that the interactive structure behind the term was studied using a quantitative empirical method. As standard of evaluation the four underlying socio‐demographic factors gender, age, wealth and education are used. Apart from the consumers’ financial situation, the applied statistics show significant correlations of the propensity for sustainable consumerism to each of the above factors. Women, middle‐aged and well‐educated consumers show a greater tendency to purchase environmentally and socially sustainable products. Accordingly, the suitability of socio‐demographic factors is confirmed in this study. The open‐ended questions fathom what attributes consumers connect with sustainable food consumption, in particularly with regard to the consumption of meat. It is clear that attributes that affect consumers directly and attributes which can be directly influenced by their actions are better perceived by the consumer. Altruistic factors or abstract aspects of food consumption (e.g. climate protection) are generally of less significance. Conversely, factors which concern the value added chain, like for example, origin and processing, have priority. To conclude, the findings enable the identification of the variables determining the sustainability construct. This allows policy makers to develop customized incentive systems. Similarly, private sector stakeholders are enabled to adapt marketing activities and their product mix to consumer demands.

Does Nationality Matter in Eco-Behaviour?

“…Numerous authors have found specific correlations between socio-demographic features and pro-environmental behaviour [13,[16][17][18][19][20][21]. The consumer that has a greater awareness of environmental issues tends to be younger, with a higher level of education, comes from a wealthy family, and has a good employment status.…”

“…Most research has concentrated on the analysis of a particular ecological behaviour, including differentiated waste management [101,102], transportation choice [78,103,104], energy savings [105,106], water consumption [107], littering [108], environmental activism [109], or ecological product purchasing [21,110]. In particular, sustainable consumption is mostly related to the purchase of environment-friendly products and services [7,[111][112][113][114][115][116].…”

CSR-consumption paradox: examination of UK apparel companies

“…Test 1 result suggests that differences of pro-social consumption among demographic factors such as gender, education, income and occupation are not significantly supported. Mohr & Schlich (2016) suggest that socio-demographic factors, such as gender, age, wealth, and education, have significant correlations with socially responsible consumption. The different results might be related to various research contexts and research issues.…”

“…The different results might be related to various research contexts and research issues. Mohr & Schlich (2016) examine German sustainable consumerism in foods and grocery, and this study tests UK consumers' pro-social consumption toward fashion clothes related to fairness and justice thoughts on their CSR evaluation. Demographic variables may not be consistent predictors of pro-social consumption across these different contexts and various issues related to socially responsible consumption.…”

Linking Demography to the Perception of (Un)sustainability

“…On this basis we test the relationships between demography and the perception of this gap. To select the demographic characteristics related to sustainable behaviour we use previous research [6], [9] - [11].…”