Evaluating Consumer Understanding of Environmental Issues and Their Impact on Sustainable Consumption: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The study assesses the interplay between consumer environmental awareness and environmentally friendly consumer behavior as part of an ongoing issue - namely the vast difference between consumer environmental awareness and their ultimate purchasing decisions. Using a VBN model with 100 participants in this study, researchers investigated the relationships among consumer environmental knowledge; perceived responsibility and/or obligation to act sustainably; and personal normative beliefs regarding sustaining environmentally-friendly consumption behaviors. Although consumers demonstrated relatively high levels of environmental awareness (mean = 3.81 on a 0-5 point scale), several factors including but not limited to: price sensitivity and lack of contextual salience of sustainability-related considerations are significant barriers preventing consumers from translating their awareness into action. Additionally, results indicate that environmental knowledge indirectly influences sustainable consumption through the mechanisms of perceived responsibility and personal norms. Overall, these study’s findings will add to existing body of literature on sustainable consumption by quantifying the awareness-behavior gap within consumer environmental behavior and providing evidence-based suggestions for potential policy intervention strategies related to enhancing both eco-labels and educational programs regarding sustainability.