University of Twente Student Theses
The impact of group membership on individual sustainable consumer behaviour : a systematic literature review
Sha, A. (2022) The impact of group membership on individual sustainable consumer behaviour : a systematic literature review.
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| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of group membership on individual sustainable consumer behaviour. The theories used to define group membership are social identity theory, social norms, norm activation theory, theory of normative social behaviour and the theory of planned behaviour. From these theories, two categories were made as measures of group membership. Namely, social norms and social identity. Demographic variables were added as a third category. The unique aspect of this paper is the fact that it attempts to link group membership and individual sustainable consumer behaviour together in a comprehensive overview. To define the search queries, a meta-characteristics approach was used to deduct appropriate search queries. The first three pages of the results were scanned. The abstract of every paper was read to determine its relevance. The systematic literature search yielded 48 relevant papers. When the papers were collected and analysed, two groups of individual sustainable consumer behaviours were analysed closely. Papers that analysed the relationship between group membership and sustainable fashion consumption or green food consumption were analysed closely, and it was found that demographic variables did not have a significant effect on sustainable fashion consumption. Measures of social identity and social norms were both found to have a significant effect on sustainable fashion consumption and green food consumption. The most interesting finding was that the preference for durability had a negative effect on sustainable fashion consumption. A surprising lack of longitudinal research into individual sustainable consumer behaviour leads to the conclusion that future research should focus on that to identify the long-term changes in sustainable consumer behaviour. Furthermore, the implications for managers include the necessity of considering social groups in advertising messages to target specific consumers. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 02 science and culture in general, 05 communication studies, 70 social sciences in general, 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | International Business Administration BSc (50952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92020 |
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