Responsible Citizens and Sustainable Consumer Behavior: New Interpretive Frameworks

by Pietro Lanzini

Overview

There is broad consensus on the need to shift to a new paradigm of lifestyles and economic development, given the un-sustainability of current patterns. Given this, research on consumer behavior is to play a crucial role in shedding light on the motives underpinning the adoption of responsible behaviors.

Stemming from a thorough discussion of existing approaches, this book argues that the perspective of analysis has to be modified. First, acknowledging that a profile of the responsible consumer does not exist since all of us can be more or less sustainable and environment-friendly: the sustainability of an individual should not be considered as given, being something dynamic that changes according to both subjective and contextual factors. Moreover, the book hypothesises that integrating dimensions and perspectives that have been so far overlooked by mainstream research will help deconstruct responsible behaviors adopting a flexible and holistic approach. Relevant policy implications are discussed, and empirical research on responsible behaviors is illustrated.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of consumer behavior, sustainable consumption, environmental psychology and environmental studies in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138302778
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/24/2017
Series:	Routledge-SCORAI Studies in Sustainable Consumption
Pages:	124
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pietro Lanzini is Assistant Professor at the Department of Management of Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, where he gained his PhD in 2013. He obtained a Ms in business economics and a post-lauream Master cum laude at Bocconi University in Milan, where he worked from 2003 to 2009 as junior researcher at IEFE and SPACE research centers. His international experiences include four months at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City (UNDESA, Division for Sustainable Development) and one year at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. His research interests focus on consumer behavior in the field of sustainability, and specifically on mobility and on spillover-related phenomena.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 New perspectives in consumer behavior

1.2 Consumer behavior in the age of sustainability

1.3 Research in a crowded field: how to contribute?

1.4 Book structure

Chapter 2: From green consumers to responsible citizens

2.1 Labels matter: the concept of responsible citizens

2.2 Early attempts of analyzing sustainable behaviors

2.3 From Reasoned Action to Planned Behavior

2.4 Values, norms and other psychological models

2.5 The need for further perspectives of analysis

Chapter 3: The trap of behavioral patterns: the role of habits

3.1 Habits in consumer behavior research

3.2 Operationalization of habits

3.3 How to measure habits

3.4 Integrating habits in a rationalistic perspective on consumer behavior

3.5 How to disrupt deeply rooted behavioral patterns

Chapter 4: Praise or money? Rewards’ effectiveness in shaping behaviors

4.1 An overview on incentives

4.2 The effects of rewards on motivation

4.3 Implications for policy and business

Chapter 5: How behaviors are interrelated: the spillover effect

5.1 Behavioral spillover, an intriguing concept for an open debate

5.2 Theoretical foundations for positive spillover

5.3 Theoretical foundations for negative spillover

5.4 A methodology to investigate spillover

Chapter 6: A model for understanding responsible citizens’ behavior

6.1 The need for a holistic and flexible approach

6.2 Factors to be included in the analysis

6.3 The proposition of an innovative interpretative framework

Chapter 7: From theory to practice: a real-life intervention study

7.1 Investigating sustainable behaviors: an intervention study

7.2 Methods

7.3 Results

7.4 Appendix - Online questionnaire