How to get everyone to consume less? Remove the barriers to sustainable consumption!

There is a growing consensus in society that altering consumption patterns is one of humanity’s greatest challenges in the quest for environmentally sound and sustainable development. A recent call for further exploration of... [ view full abstract ]

There is a growing consensus in society that altering consumption patterns is one of humanity’s greatest challenges in the quest for environmentally sound and sustainable development. A recent call for further exploration of the conditions required for society to engage with the ‘less is more’ philosophy asks how we can get everyone to consume less and/or differently? A number of theoretical approaches and research methods have been employed in the marketing literature to gain a greater understanding of the relatively small percentage of people (estimated to be in the low single digits), who DO consume sustainably, investigating their perceptions, attitudes, values, motives, intentions, sustainable consumption behaviours, and the intention-behaviour gap across many sectors from energy saving to recycling. This paper argues that it is time to place greater focus on research efforts that increase our understanding of the much larger proportion of consumers who do NOT consume sustainably. A preliminary review spanning the marketing, psychology and environmental literature was conducted to bring together the research already undertaken into the barriers to sustainable consumption across these three disciplines, providing a more holistic insight into why consumers find sustainable consumption so challenging in the first place.