Self-Control and Sustainable Consumer Behavior
Recent evidences from popular press and academic journals present a very disturbing picture of our consumption oriented society. For example, 66% of US population is obese, 25 million people are categorized as “binge eaters” (Godfrey 2004; Godfrey and Bro
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ipals (Kahneman and Taversky 1979; Thaler 1980, 1985) which help consumers decide if the total benefit of consuming now versus saving for future is worth the cost they are incurring in the present time. In other words, a consumer at any point evaluates the cost and benefit of his/her consumption behavior not just in the present time, but also does some mental accounting using discounting principles to bring the benefits to the future generation to the present time – i.e., the notion of net present value to compare it to the net benefit or cost in the present time. Time, Mental Accounting and Sustainability Time has been acknowledged as an important variable in consumer behavior literature (e.g., Amyx and Mowen 1995; Bergadaã 1990; Guy et al. 1994). Time is not perceived in a similar manner by everyone. There is an objective perspective or an external yardstick—seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years, etc. (Shallis 1983). It determines past, present, and future and everything associated with the passage of time—growing up, school, college, fashion, marriage, family, expenditure, savings, to name a few. Then there is the psychological perspective of time which is very different from the objective view (Guy et al. 1994; Hirschman 1987) and is hypothesized to be a function of the beliefs and standards shared by a group of people at a given time and context (Graham 1981). Guy, Rittenburg, and Hawes (1994) present three models of time—linear-separable, circular-traditional, and procedural-traditional. The linear-separable model views time as “… stretching from the past, into present, and onward to the future. Time is seen as a commodity whose purpose is investment for future return … this orientation is very future looking and sees the spending of time as a means to an end and not an end in itself ... time is closely associated with a monetary value” (p 40). In the circular-traditional model, time is seen as cyclical and repetitive. “Time is not associated with a money value, because things are not perceived as being worth more in a future that is not expected to be different from the present or past” (p 40). In the procedural-traditional model the focus is on the task, and time takes a back seat. Social scientists have also used the conceptualization of time orientation—present and future time orientation (e.g., Amyx and Mowen 1995; De Volder 1979; Gjesme 1979, 1983). Irrespective of the perspective taken, we argue that the concept of time is central to the mental accounting that consumers go through before they decide to engage in sustainable behavior, because of the very definition of sustainability – fulfilling current generations’ needs without compromising the ability of future generations’ ability to fulfill their needs. This mental accounting takes place when consumers are faced with a dilemma – on the one hand there is the option of fulfilling one’s here and now needs and paying a price for it, and on the other hand trying to think of possible future consequences of such behavior and price one
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