Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Consumption: Opportunities and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

At present, it is vital to understand consumer behavior and its connection with sustainable consumption issues. Our behavior as consumers is having unparalleled impacts on our natural and social environments. This Special Issue will comprise papers that analyze the importance of sustainable consumption and consumer behavior as determinants of the production of goods, brand, and services in online and offline environments and the use of natural resources. The objective is to advance knowledge of the origin of these resources, to understand how the determinants of needs, desires, and demand operate, to identify how they are specified, and to identify the values that have an impact on the consumer decision process and the responsibility with which consumers act. We are particularly interested in developing an understanding of consumer behavior in the exchange of goods and services from a sustainability perspective. The consumer’s behavior, which responds to the stimuli and communication they receive, determines their way of life and the production necessary to satisfy their present and future needs—in short, the sustainability of life. The consumer society and the standards that characterize it should be reviewed both from a strategic perspective, at the macro level, as well as from a tactical perspective, focusing on the daily decisions of consumers and suppliers. We are delighted to present the Special Issue of "consumer behavior and sustainable consumption issues", with the aim of obtaining an in-depth understanding of consumer behavior and sustainable consumption and offering new possibilities for future research.  Research on consumer behavior and sustainability requires a comprehensive approach that examines these aspects from various viewpoints. This Special Issue will contain studies focusing on the role of sustainable consumption and consumer behavior in various academic areas. Conceptual and empirical studies including but not limited to the following topics are welcome:

• Consumer behavior;
• Responsible consumption;
• Consumption and sustainable development;
• Consumption as a determinant of production;
• Environmental consequences of the consumer society;
• Consumer behavior in a digital environment;
• Brand, production, and consumption;
• Fair-trade ethical marketing and management;
• Consumer as a citizen; 
• Formation of consumers’ attitudes toward social brand, company, brand communication, and CSR/CSV/ESG activity;
• Sustainable food consumption;
• Consumer behavior regarding ethical management and products;
• Other topics and related issues.

Dr. Chang-Hyun Jin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• responsible consumption
• consumption and sustainable development
• consumption as a determinant of production
• environmental consequences of the consumer society
• consumer behavior in a digital environment
• brand and production consumption
• fair trade ethical marketing and management
• consumer as a citizen
• formation of consumers’ attitudes toward a social brand
• consumer perception of CSR/CSV/ESG activity
• sustainable food consumption
• consumer behavior regarding ethical management and products
• other topics and related issues