Responsible Citizens and Sustainable Consumer Behavior ― New Interpretive Frameworks

There is broad consensus on the need to shift to a new paradigm of lifestyles and economic development, given the un-sustainability of current patterns. Given this, research on consumer behavior is to play a crucial role in shedding light on the motives underpinning the adoption of responsible behaviors.

Stemming from a thorough discussion of existing approaches, this book argues that the perspective of analysis has to be modified. First, acknowledging that a profile of the responsible consumer does not exist since all of us can be more or less sustainable and environment-friendly: the sustainability of an individual should not be considered as given, being something dynamic that changes according to both subjective and contextual factors. Moreover, the book hypothesises that integrating dimensions and perspectives that have been so far overlooked by mainstream research will help deconstruct responsible behaviors adopting a flexible and holistic approach. Relevant policy implications are discussed, and empirical research on responsible behaviors is illustrated.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of consumer behavior, sustainable consumption, environmental psychology and environmental studies in general.

Pietro Lanzini is Assistant Professor at the Department of Management of Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, where he gained his PhD in 2013. He obtained a Ms in business economics and a post-lauream Master cum laude at Bocconi University in Milan, where he worked from 2003 to 2009 as junior researcher at IEFE and SPACE research centers. His international experiences include four months at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City (UNDESA, Division for Sustainable Development) and one year at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. His research interests focus on consumer behavior in the field of sustainability, and specifically on mobility and on spillover-related phenomena.