ABSTRACT

Recent changes in the environment (e.g., climate change and decreases in nonrenewable resources) have persuaded many scholars that we cannot continue to use the world’s resources without considering the consequences (Ottman, 1998; Wasik, 1996). As this environmental awareness increases, sustainable business practices gain in importance, leading to the emergence of a green economy as the world’s new economic engine. In fact, many people believe that the next major world economic growth area is the green economy (e.g., Hawken, Lovins, & Lovins, 1999). However, although firms are adopting more sustainable business practices (as a result of both government sanctions and social marketing orientations), consumers seem to be lagging behind (Thøgersen & Crompton, 2009). In fact, it is suggested that “there is no ‘sustainable consumer’ who is taking social and ecological aspects into account in all fields of consumption” (Schäfer, Jaeger-Erben, & Santos, 2011, p. 179). Instead, consumers tend to engage in sustainable consumption in some aspects of their lives and ignore them in others (Brand, 2000). The reluctance of consumers across the board to engage in environmentally sustainable consumption (e.g., buying green products and recycling products at the end of their life cycle), in turn, raises several questions about the use of sustainable business practices by companies. Because those practices tend to be expensive, companies may begin to question their use if there is not enough demand for their green products. Accordingly, it is important for researchers and practitioners to identify the barriers that keep customers from engaging in environmentally sustainable consumption and find ways to bring down those barriers. The purpose of this book is to bring consumer psychology and marketing communications together to begin to bridge the gap between sustainable business practices and demand for those practices.