A Study of İndividuals' Sustainable Consumption Behavior

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this research is to reveal whether individuals' evaluations of the sub-dimensions of sustainable consumption behavior (environmental sensitivity, unnecessary purchasing, energy conservation, and reusability) vary according to demographic characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – In the study, an online survey form consisting of two sections was used as the data collection tool. The first section included participants' demographic information, while the second section featured the "Sustainable Consumption Behavior Scale," developed by Doğan, Bulut, and Çımrın (2015), which consists of 17 items across 4 sub-dimensions to determine participants' sustainable consumption behaviors. The survey was administered to 800 individuals on a voluntary basis using a Google Forms questionnaire, employing the snowball sampling method. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26. Findings – According to the factor analysis, the reusability factor, which did not meet the necessary conditions, was excluded from further analysis, which continued with three sub-dimensions. It was found that the sub-dimensions of sustainable consumption behavior, namely environmental sensitivity, unnecessary purchasing, and energy conservation, varied based on certain demographic characteristics. Discussion – When examining the conducted studies, it is observed that there are numerous research efforts aimed at determining individuals' sustainable consumption behaviors. However, there are very few studies that investigate the variations in this topic based on demographic variables concerning environmental sensitivity, unnecessary purchasing, energy conservation, and reusability. Therefore, it is believed that this research will contribute to the marketing literature, both in terms of the richness of the representativeness of the sample size and in analyzing sustainable consumption behavior through the data obtained across the four sub-dimensions.