Determinants of sustainable consumption in France: the importance of social influence and environmental values
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Determinants of sustainable consumption in France: the importance of social influence and environmental values Nathalie Lazaric 1 & Fabrice Le Guel 2 & Jean Belin 3 & Vanessa Oltra 3 & Sébastien Lavaud 3 & Ali Douai 1 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Our article provides empirical findings for France related to sustainable consumption and what triggers sustainable behavior. We investigate various potential key explanatory variables including social influence and environmental values, among others. Our main contribution is to survey and to analyze a set of consumption practices (rather than the examination of single practices as in most of the literature) for a large sample of more than 3000 households. The survey was conducted in France in 2012. We use cluster analysis to identify and describe the different consumer behavior profiles. This methodology identifies three clusters of consumers characterized by diverse concerns related to the environmental impact of their consumption. Based on these clusters, ordered Logit models are fitted on three levels of sustainable consumption behaviors. Our results emphasize the importance of age, gender, education, environmental concern and peer effects for spurring sustainable consumption. We discuss the role of peer pressure as a major determinant. Learning about sustainable behavior from peers seems to complement changing environmental values and stimulate pro-environmental behavior. Our findings show that local externalities clearly outweigh the global consequences related to the promotion of sustainable consumption behaviors that is, the ability to learn in small networks is critical for the promotion of trust and the exchange of ideas and practices. JEL codes Q58 . D23 . D11, D91 . R21 Keywords Sustainable consumption . Peers effect . Social influences . Green
neighborhood . Conformity bias . Environmental values
* Nathalie Lazaric [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
N. Lazaric et al.
1 Introduction Sustainable consumption is critical for reducing society’s carbon footprint and complying with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Citizens are concerned increasingly about the environmental impact of their practices and the products they consume. Eurobarometer shows more specifically that French citizens are keen to engage in sustainable consumption, with 78% showing some awareness of the environmental impact of their daily consumption (European Commission 2011). Projection of their self-image when they buy sustainable products or engage in sustainable practices seems to be very positive across European consumers, with 80% agreeing that family and friends would achieve a positive image from their commitment to sustainability (European Commission 2013: 22). Research on this topic has focused on daily practices across countries related to the supply of natural resources and the satisfaction of basic needs (Berkholz et al. 2010; Goldsmith and Goldsmith 2011), which are subject t
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