e-sost 2011. responsible consumption. executive summary

7/28/2019 E-Sost 2011. Responsible Consumption. Executive Summary

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The awakening of responsible consumption:

analysis of a growing process

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Researchers:

Isabel Carrero (leading researcher)

Paloma Bilbao

Estela Daz

Victoria Labajo

Amparo Merino

Carmen Valor

E-SOST Research Team. Universidad Pontificia Comillas

This report has been carried out with the funding from the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Immigration

(Orden TIN 3297/2010, file number 11161)


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The awakening to responsible consumption: analysis of a growing process


Introduction

Much research on responsible consumption (RC)1

exists; researchers have examined the phenomenon

from diverse disciplines and with different focuses. However, none of them has been able to explain

more than 50% of this phenomenon. The current research project aims at satisfying the needs of

information expressed by the four stakeholders involved in responsible consumption (RC, hereafter):

civil society, public administrations, companies and scholars. Therefore, this study offers a series of

insights for each stakeholder so that its results and conclusions can be applied in different action arenas.

More specifically, the current report aimed at the following objectives:

Describe the responsible purchasing process, identifying the influence of endogenous andexogenous factors on consumers;

Explain the responsible purchasing process, from motivation (why such market behaviour isdecided) to decision making (isolating strategies used by responsible consumers), going through the

search and processing of information.

Explain how consumers can overcome obstacles, identifying which strategies they use in order tomaintain their motivation, as well as to overcome the lack of information and other obstacles to

purchasing;

Compare results with other surveys in other European Union (EU) countries with the purpose ofevaluating the convenience of establishing pan-European strategies to promote RC;

Address to both public authorities and the civil society suggestions on ways to promote RC in Spain;these suggestions are made from the identification of tools and engines that current responsible

consumers recognise as efficient.

Previous research has been very much determined by the researchers ideology, as RC is not a neutral

issue, ideologically speaking. The researchers ideology influences the research focus. Taking this into

account, it is possible to classify the previous works according to their ultimate research goal: we then

differentiate between descriptive, instrumental or normative works. According to the disciplinary

perspective, it is possible to identify in previous research a psychological perspective (that assumes that

RC is an individual election problem) and a sociological perspective (that assumes that RC stems from a

social and cultural process); some researchers offer a hybrid vision that reconciles both perspectives.

There have been also contributions from other disciplines but always in marginal numbers.

It is necessary to start this report by defining what RC is, in order to precisely establish the object of

study.

1RC is also called in the literature ethical consumption, political consumption, conscious consumption or

transforming consumption. We will use responsible consumption in this report.


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1. Consumers actions or consumption actions. There are more forms of RC than just purchasing (for

instance, the non-purchasing forms and all the forms of political consumption); therefore it would be

better to define RC in terms of the consumers actions rather than in terms of consumption actions. In

our report we use RC to specifically refer to consumers actions that are fully conscious and deliberate

as well as free and regular.

2. Forms of RC. We have considered four specific strategies of RC: voice, exit, smart shopping and

voluntary simplifying. Each form bears a group of behaviours performed with different levels of

intensity.

3. RC targets. The ultimate goal of RC is the common good that can be classified into three different

types that represent the RC targets: the social good, the environmental good, and the animal well-being.

4. RC motivations. Even if RC requires a motivation to enhance the common good, it is possible that

such motivation goes along with others: the same consumption action can be motivated by altruist

reasons as well as by egoistic ones. Three main types of RC can be identified according to the kind of

motivations that produce it: RC directed to create ones identity, RC directed to assure ones coherence,

and RC directed to modify the existing system.

Then, we then define RC as the consumers set of actions directed to improve the animal well-being,

the environmental good, or/and the social good, and stemming from a free decision and undertaken

on a frequent basis.

Methodology

There are no theoretical models that perfectly explain RC. We have, therefore, opted for an inductive

methodology: the Grounded Theory (GT). Using this methodology we try to formulate a theory to

explain what leads to RC in Spain. GT has been used in the research field of consumer behaviour and

also in RC. Moreover, it has been proved that it is necessary to use such methodologies in order to move

forward in the creation of new knowledge on RC.

This methodology is based on the following characteristics:

It rejects all previous forms of theory, as well as the necessity of directly contacting thephenomenon in order to analyse it.

Theoretical awareness. Literature is used to make analysts aware of the phenomenon and to equipthem with a conceptual framework that helps them apprehend the issue. Literature has been widely

revised before doing the interviews, during the information analysis, and after it, aiming at validating

the existing theory on RC.

Categories as the cornerstone of built theories. Theory has been built using categories and linkingone to another with propositions.


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Theoretical sampling. All interviewed consumers considered themselves as responsible consumers.They were different in age, sex, academic background, marital status, and religion. We contacted

them by placing ads in places and sites frequently used by responsible consumers. To identify more

specific profiles we used the so-called snow ball method. We interviewed 30 consumers, but

saturation was reached in the 12th

interview. Most interviews took place in Madrid, and some of

them were undertaken in some other Spanish towns mainly in Catalua and Pas Vasco. These

interviews were oriented to find out if the geographic context would modify the determinants of RC.

Interviews. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. The questionnaire also contained structuredquestions (personality test and terminal values test), and it was slightly modified and adjusted as the

study moved forward and saturation was approached. The research team was split into analysts,

interviewers and verifiers. The interviews were done in pairs and followed the principles of

existential phenomenology in order to succeed in having the interviewees as reflexive as possible.

The use of codification paradigms for the analysis. None of the classical codification families wasapplicable to capture the emergent categories; therefore, we structure the categories using analogy

with the botanical world. Furthermore, we suggest images also from the botanical world to

represent the resulting qualitative cluster or typology of consumers.

The reliability of the study can be assured by the consistency among codifiers. The validity isensured thanks to the comparison with the literature, the report utility to stakeholders, and the use

of verbalizations that support the analysis. Nevertheless, the results cannot be extrapolated to the

population: the theory has been formulated under precise circumstances and it must now be refuted

under different space and time conditions.

Fundamental Thesis

We have applied a botanical analogy because the world of plants captures very well the essence of

growth, the central category stemming from our analysis. This is how most interviewees interpreted RC,

as a personal growing process. The following figure summarises the RC model that we have been able to

formulate according to our study results.


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Summary of the model: the RC growing process

Responsible consumers share a common base that we call soil. The soil is necessary for RC to develop. Soil depends on two factors: the individuals identity

his/her ego and the individuals biography his/her circumstances.

We define the individuals identity as the interrelation among his/her personality traits, values,needs, beliefs and emotions.

We define the individuals biography as the set of experiences and live events that have helpedhim/her learn what was necessary to develop RC.

Every plant needs a seed; in our model, the seed is the information. The information processed canbe related to the system, to the undertaken actions, and to the effectiveness of these actions. The

seed comes, mainly, from other plants other responsible consumers: therefore, the first source of

information available to the individual is the mere observation of RC behaviors (modeling).


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The plant needs the sun in order to grow. The sun represented by the significant others playsthree roles: inspire, and empower cognitively and emotionally the consumer.

Sap is also required for the maintenance and growing of the plant. Sap represents the personalsatisfaction felt by individuals when they exert RC.

The RC growth also depends on the external environment. Plants are exposed to meteorologicalphenomena which may determine their size and shape. In the case of RC, such phenomena are

represented by what we call the obstacles to behaviour. The causes of these obstacles are related

to the individuals identity, to the significant others (meso-environment), or to the individuals

macro-environment (economic, political, and cultural system) and then affect his/her motivation

and cognition.

Responsible consumers are not identical. RC is not a homogenous phenomenon, not in what refersto the consumers basic motivation, nor in what refers to the psychological dimensions of the

individual; it is not homogenous in terms of information (type and processing mode), nor in terms

of behaviour. Regarding motivation, we find substantial differences among two types of consumers:

we say that the plant grows outwardly, when the basic motivation is the will to change the existing

system (political self); we say the plant grows inwardly, if the basic motivation has to do with being

coherent with ones own values and beliefs (moral self). If we take into the consideration the size of

the roots, the growing mode, and the obstacles to growth affecting the plant, we can propose a set

ofarchetypes of responsible consumers behaviours. Therefore, we outlined a qualitative cluster

or typology of responsible consumers behaviours not individuals. We use these archetypes as a

way to gain a better understanding of the complexity of RC. These archetypes synthesize processing

modes, patterns of behaviour, and emotional states. The typology is especially useful to represent

both the outward and the inward dimensions of the individual, that together with the intensity of

action, produce a variety of responsible consumers:

The inward dimension that produces RC is symbolised by what happens within the soil, bythe type and the depth of the plant roots;

The outward dimension what is shown to others, the specific consumption and no-consumption practices is represented by the different biological forms adopted by plants.

Every consumer will act according to one of these archetypes, or according to a combination of

some of them; therefore, it is useful to identify these patterns of behavior because it helps the

public administration, companies, the civil society, and scholars, in the design of policies and

recommendations.


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Archetypes characteristics

ARCHETYPE MAIN TRAIT NEED VIRTUEPOTENTIAL

OBSTACLES

FUNGUS ConscienceDeep

comprehensionSerenity

Lack of energy to

fulfill external

action

HOLM OAKStrength

Permanence

To create

FreedomCoherence Humility

BOX TREE Constancy Understanding Stamina Slowness

POME

GRANATE TREEGenerosity Participation Persuasion

Sensitiveness to

context

JASMINESubtle

transformationAffection Charm Dependency

ORCHID Opportunism Social identity Beauty Insincerity

Referring to the actual behaviour, we have found that our interviewees understand that many different

actions can be identified as forms of RC. These actions have been summarised in the following table that

is based on the classical matrix used to classify the different types of RC.


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Consumers acts mentioned in the interviews

Scope

Mainstream Alternati

Buying

Voice strategy

Purchases of products from more sustainable companies (social environmental

labeling; listed in white NGOs lists)

Sends letters expressing satisfaction with a specific sustainable practice

Buys only seasonal products

Buys products with biodegradable packaging

Buys national/local brands with a lower ecological footprint

Buys craftwork, hand-made products

Smart s

Buys from small businesses, in local markets,

Buys via cooperatives or consumer associatio

Buys from social insertion companies

Buys fair-trade products

Buys organic products

Vegan lifestyle

Vegetarian lifestyle

Holds current accounts and deposits in ethic

Purchases leisure services from fair trade, or

Replaces commonly used goods by others m


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Notbuying

Exit strategy

Boycotts some product categories (e.g. soft drinks, bottled water)

Avoids buying products from multinationals, high street chains

Avoids buying products containing additives

Reduces significantly the consumption of meat. Reduces the consumption of fish.

Avoids consuming fish from fish farms

Boycotts some brands because of bad practices

Sends letters to companies and public authorities to protest about certain

practices

Sends emails containing information about companies, campaigns, etc.

Participates in campaigns against certain practices

Supports NGOs that protest against certain practices

Voluntary

Reduces consumption. Revises his/her own

whims and maintains investment purcha

Reduces consumption of energy. Makes an

very efficient domestic devices (e.g., for w

paper and plastic bags. Avoids buying prod

weight). Reduces the number of electrical

mobile phone). Uses public transportation m

Travels by train, not by ship. Reduces the num

Reuses goods. Recycles waste. Uses compost

Satisfies his/her needs out of the market: ba

Satisfies his/her need without using moreproducts with friends, etc.

Own vegetable gardens for food sovereignty


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Study implications

Our study main implications can be summarised according to four dimensions as shown in the next

figure. These implications are oriented to each of the three stakeholders fundamentally involved in RC:

public administration, civil society organisations and responsible firms.

Study implications and recommendations

Segmentation and Differentiation

Emotional

empowerment

Reinforce satisfaction: be grateful

Show the consequences of

responsible behaviours

Reinforce the social norm and avoid

to create the sense of minority

Create physical and virtual social

networks for responsible

consumers

Identify groups within RC

Send messages adapted to different

profiles of responsible consumers

Cognitive

empowermentCreate a social norm

Labelling and other information

shortcuts (white and black lists,

purchase guides)

Create alternatives: enhance the

creation of responsible companies

Show specific behaviours in

documentaries, television shows,

television news

Public Administrations should set a

good example of responsible

consuming behaviour

Complete and simple labelling

Specific contents on RC at all

education levels

Effort decrease

Segmentation and Differentiation

As explained previously, our work has evidenced that not all responsible consumers are the identical.

Therefore, the variables related to the consumers identity and to his/her biography variables that

strongly influences consumers behavior must be used to segment the target and to plan awareness-

raising campaigns.

Then, institutions should not follow the one-size-fits-all approach; on the contrary, they should

emphasize different issues in different pieces aimed at each target. In relation to the consumers

motivation, some individuals exert RC because they search for coherence while others search for social

transformation. Therefore, the message should be adapted to each type of motivation. In what refers to

values, needs, emotions and personality traits, all these variables can be used as segmentation criteria in

order to design campaigns that better appeal to each target audience; in this case, the campaigns

messages should resonate with the individuals, because they echo their values, needs, emotions and

traits of personality, that is, because they echo the targets identity.

Using the classical model of the innovation adoption cycle, we can say that the interviewed consumersmatch the so-called initial adopters. In order to enlarge the base of responsible consumers, the next


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step should be to include the so-called early majority. This group shares with the initial adopters some

of the soil fundamental categories: they hold an intellectual and/or socially prestigious professional

position; they have earned a university degree (especially from sensitive fields such as philosophy or

environmental sciences); their needs are less focused in owning and are more related to being and

doing; their values are close to the ideal of common good; and they have personality traits such as

being curious and being opened to experience.

The innovation adoption cycle

In order to enlarge the base of responsible consumers, it may be necessary to appeal to other

motivations that are not strictly altruist. Some previous research suggests that trying to persuade the

responsible consumers through altruist arguments such as society needs our sacrifice may be a

counterproductive strategy; therefore, it is suggested that campaigns use an approach based on a deep

comprehension of human being, then more focused on the consumers own motivations. For instance,

in energy services arguments based on a positive emotional experience such as you feel good when

you do good are very effective even with the less environmentally involved consumers; this works

much better than arguments such as nature deserves it or we owe it to nature. It could also be

useful to apply other models like the transition matrix in which other different consumer profiles are

represented, as well as the ways they can find to evolve.

In relation to target segmentation, the biography analysis shows that family, especially the mother,

plays a vital role in the transmission of values and beliefs, and in the construction of personality traits

and social affective networks. It is essential to address awareness-raising campaigns and action-

requesting campaigns to families, especially to women. These campaigns should be oriented at

enhancing the conditions required to let RC flourish.


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Cognitive empowerment

As aforementioned, for RC to grow, we need a seed. It is therefore evident that information the seed

must be given to consumers in order to enlarge the base of responsible consumers. However, this

information should not focus on the existing problems as most strategies currently do but on

actions that can be performed by consumers and on their effectiveness to achieve changes.

Campaigns should show specific behaviours that can be easily adopted and reproduced by consumers

and included among their daily habits. This does not mean that consumers should be given a list of such

behaviours, but rather, they must be shown how other consumers perform such behaviours. Modelling

should be the basic tool for the cognitive empowerment. If a consumer realises that a specific behaviour

is doable and is actually performed by many others, or at least that it is not a marginal behaviour, thenthey will assume that such behaviour is a social norm and will tend to adopt it.

Modelling can be fostered in many different ways: for instance, via documentaries, television shows or

television magazines, communication campaigns, shops information points, direct experiencing; also in

many different places: in fairs, in schools, in the streets. Obviously, the most adequate means to bring

modelling closer to consumers are television and internet. Also, public leaders strength in modelling

should be exploited since it will be more effective than advertisement campaigns.

Direct experiencing can also be very effective, usually more than observation and modelling. Consumers

should be invited to directly experience nature because this will add a new relevant event in terms of RC

development. It is also possible to foster virtual experiences; this type of experience is very powerful to

persuade consumers in the case of environmental products because many urban consumers do hardly

have direct experiences with nature. Therefore, inviting them to virtually experience nature is an

effective persuasion tool, because it provides them with psychological benefits such as the pleasure of

silence, or the decrease of stress, among others. This will ultimately help to increase the consumption of

environmentally respectful products.

We would like to insist on the necessity of using the point of sale as a communication channel. In

previous research it has been shown that, in the markets of credence products, products with a social

and/or environmental attribute, some of the traditional communication channels such as

advertising, guarantees, or company reputation are not efficient enough to inform consumers about

the quality of the products. The reason why they are not effective is due to the information

asymmetries. In other type of products, consumers can assess quality by themselves, either before,

during or after the consumption. But in credence goods, consumers cannot evaluate quality before,

during or after the consumption. This may lead to the development of a market of false quality as it

has been found in previous papers about organic agriculture and fair trade. This explains why labelling

works as a basic quality signal for the consumer.

Social and environmental labelling has been developed to inform and therefore to educate on

social, ethical and environmental conditions under which goods are produced and distributed. This type

of labelling has become a common practice especially for responsible products. Social and

environmental labelling initiatives are frequently promoted by independent organisations that set


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standards of good practices and quality that companies search to comply with in order to gain the right

use these labels in such products. Doing so, firms can get an accreditation on their social and

environmental practices. For instance, this kind of labelling is used to inform and educate consumers on

the social, ethical and environmental attributes of products in the food and textile industries.

It would be desirable that all social and environmental products exhibit a label. This is because

products with social/environmental products are credence products Therefore, labelling would offer

information on the minimum quality standard set by some accreditation institution. However, the use of

social and environmental labelling is not compulsory.

Consumers claim for a more complete labelling, one that offers clear information on the origins of the

product specifying all countries the product went through along its value and supply chain , on its

potential polluting emissions, and generally speaking, on its social, environmental and animal impact.

Furthermore, consumers insist upon the fact that information must be simple: an easily readable and

understandable code should be used in the label. For instance, graphic codes stars and alphabetical

codes letters on domestic appliances are very useful information tools. It seems to us that this

system of labelling is not likely to be developed if it is not promoted by the public authorities.

Findings of this study allow us to firmly conclude that consumers do not trust the information provided

by companies; they think it is misleading and deliberately confusing. It seems that the only way for firms

to recover their credibility is to get labels from reliable organisations (especially environmental and

human rights organizations). If a responsible company wants to gain trust from its consumers, it must

have its processes verified by this type of organisations.

Apart from labelling, other information tools can be used in the point of sale: brochures, stoppers,

posters and other merchandising devices. In what refers to brochures, they can offer information on the

efficacy of the consumers responsible behaviour in a quite specific way (for instance, in terms of the

emissions savings when a certain product or brand is purchased and/or consumed).

Cognitive empowerment could also be enhanced through academic curricula at all education levels:

contents on RC could be included in syllabuses and programmes structures so that knowledge on the

issue could be reinforced at three different levels: on the system (the problem and its nature), on the

action (that can be undertaken) and on the effectiveness (of the undertaken actions). Specific contentson the three levels should be proposed and adapted to different maturity levels of students.

Other communication channels should be taken into account such parishes and other social

organisations; of course, this would work as far as these organisations values match with those to be

promoted.

Finally, every single chance to set a good example should be used. Probably the strongest example, the

most powerful action to transform RC into a social norm is the involvement of the State, as another

responsible consumer. If public administrations consumption actions are an example to us, then RC will

be a social norm and will be rapidly adopted by the early majority.


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Emotional empowerment

Emotional empowerment has emerged as a key factor in the maintenance of responsible consumers

loyalty as well as a means to enlarge the base of responsible consumers. This RC dimension has not been

researched in the past because RC campaigns have been traditionally aimed at cognitively empowering

consumers. Our findings suggest that emotional empowerment could be a more efficient way to

maintain RC.

Two strategies are suggested. First of all, RC consumers should be targeted with communication

messages that reinforce their satisfaction, that is, the sap that keeps RC behaviours alive. Such messages

should thank and positively reinforce these consumers, and also provide them with figures on the good

consequences the effectiveness of their behaviours. Such communication would also become astimulus to other consumers that have a similar soil, but have not yet initiated a responsible lifestyle.

If consumers from this group that we have called early majority perceive that their effort is worth

it, avoiding then the feeling of loss, and they feel that RC is supported by a social norm, avoiding the

feeling of being different, then they will join the responsible lifestyle.

Second, virtual Internet and physical social networks are another strong tool to enhance emotional

empowerment, especially in the case of consumers that live in unsupportive contexts. Consumers

declare they need a place where they can interact with other responsible consumers. When

responsible consumers meet, they succeed to get the positive reinforcement they need to maintain the

high effort required by a responsible lifestyle.

Decreasing the effort

Consumers are not heroes. Even though there some consumers among our interviewees that keep their

responsible lifestyle despite the obstacles they find in their way, the truth is that the rest of our

consumers feel that maintaining a responsible lifestyle requires an effort that is not always possible to

exert. This effort is manifested in the price premium to pay in order to buy responsible products, in the

long distance they have to travel to be able to purchase the desired products, and in the time spent in

searching and processing all the information to be able to buy responsibly. Besides, they may experience

conflicts with their significant others. Our suggestions to create a social norm on RC could help to

increase the salience of their values, so that their motivation to behave responsibly is enhanced.

It is easier to work on the obstacles related to information searching and processing. Our above

mentioned suggestions on labeling, on information in the point of sale, and on modeling through

documentaries and television shows, could surely help overcome these obstacles. But to minimize the

ultimate obstacle, that is, the lack of alternatives, it is only possible to increase the supply in quantity

and diversity to respond to the responsible consumption demand. And for this, more responsible

companies must exist.

e-sost 2011. responsible consumption. executive summary

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