IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i8p4258-d534341.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Impacts Socially Responsible Consumption?

Author

Listed:
  • María Luisa Ríos-Rodríguez

    (Department of Social Psychology, Social Work, Social Anthropology and East Asian Studies, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
    Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain)

  • José María Salgado-Cacho

    (Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
    Hogar Abierto, 29001 Málaga, Spain)

  • Pilar Moreno-Jiménez

    (Department of Social Psychology, Social Work, Social Anthropology and East Asian Studies, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
    Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain)

Abstract

This study examines factors related to socially responsible consumption based on a sample of 636 Spanish consumers. The results indicate that socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, education level, and economic activity affect responsible consumption. In addition, it was found that in order to assess the antecedents of socially responsible consumption it is necessary to specify the type of consumer behavior (for example, purchasing specific products or initiatives against the purchase of certain products). It is found that perceived efficacy, affective commitment, and materialism explain different levels of variance in socially responsible consumption. Purchasing cause-related products is most influenced by affective commitment and perceived efficacy. Materialism affects purchasing motivated by firm behavior and the volume of consumption. The study finds that the referents to the responsibility that consumers adopt can be explained independently. In conclusion, with the aim of supporting a more sustainable society, the need for studies on anti-consumption behaviors as an instrument for sustainability is stressed.

Suggested Citation

  • María Luisa Ríos-Rodríguez & José María Salgado-Cacho & Pilar Moreno-Jiménez, 2021. "What Impacts Socially Responsible Consumption?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:8:p:4258-:d:534341
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4258/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4258/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ingo Balderjahn & Anja Buerke & Manfred Kirchgeorg & Mathias Peyer & Barbara Seegebarth & Klaus-Peter Wiedmann, 2013. "Consciousness for sustainable consumption: scale development and new insights in the economic dimension of consumers’ sustainability," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(4), pages 181-192, December.
    2. Vermeir, Iris & Verbeke, Wim, 2008. "Sustainable food consumption among young adults in Belgium: Theory of planned behaviour and the role of confidence and values," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 542-553, January.
    3. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    4. Matthew A. Maxwell-Smith & Paul J. Conway & Joshua D. Wright & James M. Olson, 2018. "Translating Environmental Ideologies into Action: The Amplifying Role of Commitment to Beliefs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 839-858, December.
    5. McNeill, Lisa S. & Snowdon, Jasmine, 2019. "Slow fashion – Balancing the conscious retail model within the fashion marketplace," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 215-223.
    6. Webster, Frederick E, Jr, 1975. "Determining the Characteristics of the Socially Conscious Consumer," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 2(3), pages 188-196, December.
    7. So Young Song & Youn-Kyung Kim, 2018. "Theory of Virtue Ethics: Do Consumers’ Good Traits Predict Their Socially Responsible Consumption?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1159-1175, November.
    8. Richins, Marsha L & Dawson, Scott, 1992. "A Consumer Values Orientation for Materialism and Its Measurement: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 19(3), pages 303-316, December.
    9. Witkowski, Terrence H. & Reddy, Sabine, 2010. "Antecedents of ethical consumption activities in Germany and the United States," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 8-14.
    10. Ishfaq Ahmed & Mian Sajid Nazir & Imran Ali & Mohammad Nurunnabi & Arooj Khalid & Muhammad Zeeshan Shaukat, 2020. "Investing In CSR Pays You Back in Many Ways! The Case of Perceptual, Attitudinal and Behavioral Outcomes of Customers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Brooker, George, 1976. "The Self-Actualizing Socially Conscious Consumer," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 3(2), pages 107-112, Se.
    12. Daniel Hanss & Gisela Böhm & Rouven Doran & Andreas Homburg, 2016. "Sustainable Consumption of Groceries: the Importance of Believing that One Can Contribute to Sustainable Development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 357-370, November.
    13. Alain d’Astous & Amélie Legendre, 2009. "Understanding Consumers’ Ethical Justifications: A Scale for Appraising Consumers’ Reasons for Not Behaving Ethically," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 255-268, June.
    14. Sen, Sankar & Gurhan-Canli, Zeynep & Morwitz, Vicki, 2001. "Withholding Consumption: A Social Dilemma Perspective on Consumer Boycotts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(3), pages 399-417, December.
    15. Carmen Valor, 2008. "Can Consumers Buy Responsibly? Analysis and Solutions for Market Failures," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 315-326, September.
    16. Milne, George R. & Villarroel Ordenes, Francisco & Kaplan, Begum, 2020. "Mindful consumption: Three consumer segment views," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 3-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wintschnig, Bea Alexandra, 2021. "The Attitude-Behavior Gap – Drivers and Barriers of Sustainable Consumption," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 6(2), pages 324-346.
    2. José Javier Pérez-Barea & Ricardo Espantaleón-Pérez & Peter Šedík, 2020. "Evaluating the Perception of Socially Responsible Consumers: The Case of Products Derived from Organic Beef," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Ildiko Kovacs & Eva Reka Keresztes, 2022. "Perceived Consumer Effectiveness and Willingness to Pay for Credence Product Attributes of Sustainable Foods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Murtaza Haider & Randall Shannon & George P. Moschis, 2022. "Sustainable Consumption Research and the Role of Marketing: A Review of the Literature (1976–2021)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-36, March.
    5. Manchanda, Parul & Arora, Nupur & Nazir, Owais & Islam, Jamid Ul, 2023. "Cultivating sustainability consciousness through mindfulness: An application of theory of mindful-consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Chris Hydock & Neeru Paharia & T. J. Weber, 2019. "The Consumer Response to Corporate Political Advocacy: a Review and Future Directions," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 6(3), pages 76-83, December.
    7. Magdalena Jaciow & Edyta Rudawska & Adam Sagan & Jolanta Tkaczyk & Robert Wolny, 2022. "The Influence of Environmental Awareness on Responsible Energy Consumption—The Case of Households in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Anett Wins & Bernhard Zwergel, 2016. "Comparing those who do, might and will not invest in sustainable funds: a survey among German retail fund investors," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 9(1), pages 51-99, April.
    9. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    10. Barbara Seegebarth & Mathias Peyer & Ingo Balderjahn & Klaus-Peter Wiedmann, 2016. "The Sustainability Roots of Anticonsumption Lifestyles and Initial Insights Regarding Their Effects on Consumers' Well-Being," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 68-99, March.
    11. Smirti Kutaula & Alvina Gillani & Diana Gregory-Smith & Boris Bartikowski, 2024. "Ethical Consumerism in Emerging Markets: Opportunities and Challenges," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(4), pages 651-673, May.
    12. Urša Golob & Klement Podnar & Mateja Kos Koklič & Vesna Zabkar, 2019. "The importance of corporate social responsibility for responsible consumption: Exploring moral motivations of consumers," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 416-423, March.
    13. Christine Kreuzer & Susanne Weber & Mona Off & Tobias Hackenberg & Chiara Birk, 2019. "Shedding Light on Realized Sustainable Consumption Behavior and Perceived Barriers of Young Adults for Creating Stimulating Teaching–Learning Situations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Paweł Brzustewicz & Anupam Singh, 2021. "Sustainable Consumption in Consumer Behavior in the Time of COVID-19: Topic Modeling on Twitter Data Using LDA," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    15. Sylvia López Davis & Longinos Marín Rives & Salvador Ruiz‐de‐Maya, 2021. "Personal social responsibility: Scale development and validation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 763-775, March.
    16. Ryoo, Yuhosua & Sung, Yongjun & Chechelnytska, Inna, 2020. "What makes materialistic consumers more ethical? Self-benefit vs. other-benefit appeals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 173-183.
    17. Azzurra Annunziata, 2013. "Il contributo dei modelli di consumo responsabili al perseguimento della sostenibilit? del benessere," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 191-210.
    18. Kristina Haberstroh & Ulrich R. Orth & Stefan Hoffmann & Berit Brunk, 2017. "Consumer Response to Unethical Corporate Behavior: A Re-Examination and Extension of the Moral Decoupling Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 161-173, January.
    19. Anne Bäro & Felix Toepler & Timo Meynhardt & Vivek K. Velamuri, 2022. "Participating in the sharing economy: The role of individual characteristics," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3715-3735, December.
    20. Saari, Ulla A. & Damberg, Svenja & Frömbling, Lena & Ringle, Christian M., 2021. "Sustainable consumption behavior of Europeans: The influence of environmental knowledge and risk perception on environmental concern and behavioral intention," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:8:p:4258-:d:534341. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.