The Dominant Social Paradigm, Consumption, and Environmental Attitudes: Can Macromarketing Education Help?

Abstract

It has been argued that the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of Western industrial societies is complicit in environmental decline. In the present research, the DSP and its elements and their relation to consumption behavior are first addressed in classes on social responsibility that are taught in a business school. Two quasi-experiments are then conducted using an after-only with control group design (Study 1) and a before—after with control group design (Study 2). In both studies, attitudes of students in the social responsibility classes are compared to control groups of marketing students to determine the effects of instruction on the DSP and environmental attitudes. Findings suggest that lower scores on the DSP for the experimental group result in increased measures of environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary to ameliorate environmental degradation. However, in neither experiment does willingness to change one's own behavior materialize.

Consumer behavior in choice of minimally processed vegetables and implications for marketing strategies

“…Some authors examine the interface between the natural environment and consumer behavior (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003), others focus on marketing strategies (Menon & Menon, 1997), public initiatives and macro marketing (Kilbourne & Carlson, 2008). Green marketing also shows close affinities to industrial ecology and environmental sustainability such as extended producers' liability, life-cycle analysis, material use and resource flows, and ecoefficiency.…”

It’s not easy being green: the effects of attribute tradeoffs on green product preference and choice

“…Thus an important goal for environmental activists is to eliminate the value-action gap and widely expand the proportion of dark green consumers. Suggestions include making green attributes more visible and important to consumers in marketing programs by linking them more clearly to reduced environmental degradation, and/or by associating the high prices and low sales of green products with positive attributes such as status and exclusivity (Burroughs 2010;Kilbourne and Carlson 2008;Sheth et al 2011). But these approaches imply that deficits in green behavior result from poor marketing and/or consumer irrationality regarding green alternatives, rather than a logical consumer response to known tradeoffs.…”

Cultura de Consumo, Sustentabilidade e Práticas Empresariais: Como as Empresas Podem Contribuir para Promover o valor Simbólico da Sustentabilidade nas Atividades de Consumo?

“…Alguns estudos enfatizam a necessidade de avaliar as implicações da mudança cultural e de valores sobre a percepção, atitudes e comportamentos do consumidor sobre as questões ambientais (Ester, Simões, & Vinken, 2004;Kilbourne, & Carlson, 2008). Outros estudos exploram a necessidade de um novo modelo de consumo com ampliação das responsabilidades do consumidor sobre o seu ato de consumo, incluindo a dimensão ética e de cidadania (Hansen, & Schrader, 1997;Portilho, 2005;Briceno, & Stagl, 2006;Mazzarino et al, 2011;Hoffmann, & Hutter, 2012;Mont et al, 2014).…”