IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/mktlet/v35y2024i2d10.1007_s11002-023-09699-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What does sustainability mean in the minds of consumers? A multi-country panel study

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Goedertier

    (Vlerick Business School (Marketing Area))

  • Bert Weijters

    (Ghent University (Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences; Department Work, Organization and Society))

  • Joeri Van den Bergh

    (Human8
    Vlerick Business School (Marketing Area))

  • Ole Schacht

    (Ghent University (Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences; Department Work, Organization and Society))

Abstract

In developed countries, sustainability is increasingly an active agenda topic for businesses. Yet a view on what sustainability exactly means in the minds of consumers is missing. In response to this research opportunity, online panel respondents from seven advanced economies (France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, N = 5620) were surveyed in two cross-sectional waves. Factor analytical results show that consumers associate sustainability with three key subdimensions: ‘social equality’ (e.g., fair wages), ‘circularity’ (e.g., recycling) and ‘naturalness’ (e.g., avoiding use of pesticides and GMOs). This observation offers inspiration to update the traditional two-dimensional (social vs. environmental) structure of sustainability advanced in previous literature. In addition, the identified ‘naturalness’ dimension may point to a new route to stimulate pro-environmental behavior as it has both a strong link with the environment and may introduce an affective undertone. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications, and report observed country, gender, and age differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Goedertier & Bert Weijters & Joeri Van den Bergh & Ole Schacht, 2024. "What does sustainability mean in the minds of consumers? A multi-country panel study," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 317-333, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:35:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11002-023-09699-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-023-09699-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11002-023-09699-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11002-023-09699-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesse R. Catlin & Michael Gerhard Luchs & Marcus Phipps, 2017. "Consumer Perceptions of the Social Vs. Environmental Dimensions of Sustainability," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 245-277, September.
    2. David Griggs & Mark Stafford-Smith & Owen Gaffney & Johan Rockström & Marcus C. Öhman & Priya Shyamsundar & Will Steffen & Gisbert Glaser & Norichika Kanie & Ian Noble, 2013. "Sustainable development goals for people and planet," Nature, Nature, vol. 495(7441), pages 305-307, March.
    3. Matthew B. Lunde, 2018. "Sustainability in marketing: a systematic review unifying 20 years of theoretical and substantive contributions (1997–2016)," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 8(3), pages 85-110, December.
    4. Steven Schnell, 2013. "Food miles, local eating, and community supported agriculture: putting local food in its place," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(4), pages 615-628, December.
    5. 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.
    6. Erick M. Mas & Kelly L. Haws & Kelly Goldsmith, 2022. "Bringing Our Values to the Table: Political Ideology, Food Waste, and Overconsumption," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(3), pages 350-359.
    7. Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E M & Baumgartner, Hans, 1998. "Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross-National Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(1), pages 78-90, June.
    8. Lidia Alexa & Andreea Apetrei & Juan Sapena, 2021. "The COVID-19 Lockdown Effect on the Intention to Purchase Sustainable Brands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.
    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. Alzubaidi, Hawazin & Slade, Emma L. & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2021. "Examining antecedents of consumers’ pro-environmental behaviours: TPB extended with materialism and innovativeness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 685-699.
    2. Victoria-Sophie Osburg & Vignesh Yoganathan & Fabian Bartsch & Mbaye Fall Diallo & Hongfei Liu, 2024. "How Sustainable Luxury Influences Product Value Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions: A Comparative Study of Emerging vs. Developed Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(4), pages 713-738, May.
    3. Julia Hartmann & Sebastian Forkmann & Sabine Benoit & Stephan C. Henneberg, 2022. "A consumer perspective on managing the consequences of chain liability," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(4), pages 58-89, October.
    4. Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Dlacic, Jasmina & Zabkar, Vesna, 2022. "“We Go Together”: Understanding social cause-related purchase intentions of young adults," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 130-142.
    5. Junjun Cheng & Yimin Huang & Bo Chen, 2024. "Are We Becoming More Ethical Consumers During the Global Pandemic? The Moderating Role of Negotiable Fate Across Cultures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(4), pages 757-776, May.
    6. 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.
    7. Tsukasa Kato, 2021. "Measurement Invariance in the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale among English-Speaking Whites and Asians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-10, May.
    8. Ingrid Boas & Frank Biermann & Norichika Kanie, 2016. "Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 449-464, June.
    9. Janina Isabel Steinert & Lucie Dale Cluver & G. J. Melendez-Torres & Sebastian Vollmer, 2018. "One Size Fits All? The Validity of a Composite Poverty Index Across Urban and Rural Households in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 51-72, February.
    10. Yeung, Matthew C.H. & Ramasamy, Bala & Chen, Junsong & Paliwoda, Stan, 2013. "Customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in selected European countries," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 406-416.
    11. Martinico-Perez, Marianne Faith G. & Schandl, Heinz & Fishman, Tomer & Tanikawa, Hiroki, 2018. "The Socio-Economic Metabolism of an Emerging Economy: Monitoring Progress of Decoupling of Economic Growth and Environmental Pressures in the Philippines," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 155-166.
    12. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    13. Vincenzo Formisano & Bernardino Quattrociocchi & Maria Fedele & Mario Calabrese, 2018. "From Viability to Sustainability: The Contribution of the Viable Systems Approach (VSA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Alessandra Martinelli & Giulia Moncalieri & Manuel Zamparini & Guido Alessandri & Gian Vittorio Caprara & Gianluca Castelnuovo & Matteo Rocchetti & Fabrizio Starace & Cristina Zarbo & Giovanni de Giro, 2024. "Positivity, daily time use, mood, and functioning in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Results from the diapason multicentric study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(2), pages 319-329, March.
    15. Fritz, Wolfgang & Graf, Andrea & Hentze, Joachim & Möllenberg, Antje, 2003. "A replication study of the Chen/Starosta-Model of intercultural sensitivity in Germany and the USA," Working Papers 03/06, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Marketing.
    16. Scheible, Jana Anne & Fleischmann, Fenella, 2011. "Geschlechterunterschiede in islamischer Religiosität und Geschlechterrollenwerten: Ein Vergleich der Zusammenhänge am Beispiel der türkischen und marokkanischen zweiten Generation in Belgien," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Migration, Integration, Transnationalization SP IV 2011-702, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    17. Zhijiang Li & Decai Tang & Mang Han & Brandon J. Bethel, 2018. "Comprehensive Evaluation of Regional Sustainable Development Based on Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, October.
    18. Steve O’Hern & Roni Utriainen & Hanne Tiikkaja & Markus Pöllänen & Niina Sihvola, 2021. "Exploratory Analysis of Pedestrian Road Trauma in Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, June.
    19. Carmen Ruiz-Puente & Daniel Jato-Espino, 2020. "Systemic Analysis of the Contributions of Co-Located Industrial Symbiosis to Achieve Sustainable Development in an Industrial Park in Northern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-28, July.
    20. Jean, Ruey Jer “Bryan” & Kim, Daekwan & Bello, Daniel C., 2017. "Relationship-based product innovations: Evidence from the global supply chain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-140.

    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:kap:mktlet:v:35:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11002-023-09699-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.