Output details

Beyond Abundance: Self-Interest Motives for Sustainable Consumption in Relation to Product Perception and Preferences

This peer reviewed journal paper presented findings from a research study which explored the perceptions and preferences of consumers identified as ‘responsible’ and ‘sustainable’ with regard to functional products.

Using data from engagement in meetings of consumer activists, the paper provided rare insights into how highly motivated citizens attempt to follow more sustainable lifestyles. The paper reflected on how the adoption of sustainable consumption patterns can not only be motivated by altruistic and environmental considerations but by perceived personal benefits, including an expected increase in personal well-being. These motivations, together with how they unfold into preferences for particular product characteristics, are important in discourse on how to achieve behaviour change.

The context of the study was the growing body of international research on sustainable production and consumption, to which Cooper has contributed through projects funded by the European Commission (SCORE -Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange, 2005-08), Council of Europe (Responsible Consumption, 2008) and ESRC (Sustainable Consumption and Production, 2006-08). Cooper’s contribution to the paper drew upon this research and his other work on consumer attitudes and behaviour change.

The paper concluded that increased understanding of consumers’ motivations and the implications for how products and services are conceived and positioned is important in order to create appropriate incentives for change towards a more sustainable future.