Sustainable Consumption: Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers addressing sustainable consumption, including consumer attitudes and behaviors. Sustainable consumption and production are identified as essential requirements for sustainable development. Sustainable consumption can encompass both sustainable attitudes and sustainable behaviors. There is an “attitude–behavior gap” or “values–action gap”, as 30% of consumers report that they are very concerned about environmental issues, but are struggling to translate this into practice. Securing public participation in recycling, energy conservation measures, and green consumerism is a means of progressing toward sustainable consumption. Third-party certification labels on sustainable products provide brand-like information cues that reduce the perceived risk of sustainable products, but consumers must perceive them as credible to have their risk perceptions reduced. It is crucial to better explain and understand the holistic nature and complexity of sustainable consumer behavior in terms of its various stages (i.e., acquisition, usage, and post-use) within key behavioral functions, in particular mobility, housing, clothing, and food.

Some key research questions are as follows:

1. What are the attitudes of consumers toward sustainable consumption in selected areas: mobility (e.g., electric cars and use of public transportation), housing (e.g., water and energy conservation, installation of solar panels and wind turbines), clothing (e.g., less frequent purchases and acceptance of second-hand items), food (e.g., reducing waste, selecting organic and local products, etc.)?

2. What are the actual consumer behaviors in the same areas? How do they change over time?

3. What is the level of the attitude–behavior gap or values–action gap in the various contexts of sustainable consumption, in various segments of consumers, in different cultures and countries?

4. What is the effectiveness of various incentives to stimulate sustainable consumption (e.g., sustainable labeling, social marketing, and financial incentives)?

5. What are the barriers to adopting sustainable consumption habits and lifestyles?

Dr. Paweł Bryła
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.

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• sustainable consumer behavior
• green consumer behavior
• consumer attitudes to sustainable consumption
• attitude-behavior gap
• values-action gap
• sustainable labeling
• sustainable consumption incentives and barriers
• sustainability
• anti-consumption
• ecological citizenship