Understanding the Evolution of Sustainable Consumption Research

Abstract

In recent years, the problem triad of population, environment and development has been joined by the added element of consumption, with a consequent boom in studies on sustainable consumption. This study provides a holistic and quantitative overview of these studies, aiming to track the evolution of research on sustainable consumption, and identify the key authors and co‐authorship network. Using the bibliometric method and network analysis, this study traces the development of the research themes at hand, and the research network concerned with them, through the analysis of core literature and journals dated 1995–2014. The findings highlight that the research on sustainable consumption can be divided into two periods. These findings clearly illustrate that sustainable consumption has evolved from being a single practice‐oriented research topic into diverse topics studied in a systematized manner, involving the key factors of sustainability, consumption behavior, energy utilization and environmental impact. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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