Metodología de estimación

Peattie (2010) conceptualizes “green consumption” broadly as “oriented toward sustainable development” and a reflection of the United Nations Environment Programme’s framing of the same issue (UNEP, 2001). This means that green consumption is consumption that not only meets basic needs and enhances human well-being, but must also be more efficient, less wasteful, and take into consideration equity across generations. In this conceptualization, efficiency and waste are to be measured based on the full life cycle of material goods, while equity must include specific consideration of environmental impact and risk to human health.

Much of the research on environment-friendly consumption has sought characterize green consumers and identify the factors that influence their behavior. Here we summarize the factors that have been posited to influence behavior presented in Peattie’s (2010) review of green consumption, which include those related to economics, socio-demographics, environmental perceptions, perceptions of responsibility and control, lifestyle and habits, identity and personality, consumption context, spatial dimension, social processes, social norms about the environment, and mass media.

• Financial incentives to induce environment-friendly consumption has been found to promote desired behavior (Stern, 1999; Eriksson, 2004; Bartelings & Sterner, 1999). Although costs and benefits can play an important role in environment-friendly consumption, factors such an awareness of specific costs and benefits also can influence behavior (Sorrell et al., 2000).

• A number of studies have been conducted attempting to profile green consumers and to explain behavior using socio-demographics, but a review by Diamantopouos et al. (2003) has found that demographic explanations are of limited value.

• A strong relationship exists between income and environmental impact, where greater affluence is positively related with greater environmental impact (WWF Cymru, 2002).

• Environmental knowledge is frequently cited as being an important determinant of environmental behavior, and indeed some research suggests that. However, other research has found some inconsistencies where knowledge did not translate into action. The inconsistency found in the literature needs to be further investigated, but one possible explanation is that t a distinction needs to be made between awareness and understanding (Davies et al., 2002; Pedersen & Neergaard, 2006; Southwell et al., 2012). That is, people may have high awareness of energy efficiency but may not understand their own impact on climate change in their personal lives (Anable et al., 2006).

• Generally, research shows the influence of consumers’ beliefs and values

on their expression of pro-environmental behavior including green consumption (Leiserowitz et al., 2006; Dietz et al., 2005; Bullock et al., 2015; Krystallis & Chryssohoidis, 2005; Nixon et al., 2009), although there has been some inconsistency between results (Pepper et al., 2009;

Barr, 2007). An understudied yet promising area of research is the role of emotion and affect in decision-making related to the environment. • Perceived consumer effectiveness—consumers’ belief that their action

can make meaningful change on a particular issue—has been shown to significantly influence consumer behavior (De Young, 2000; Gupta & Ogden, 2009). An understudied yet promising area of research related to this is personal sense of responsibility. That is, how responsible does the consumer feel for correcting or mitigating environmental ills?

• Lifestyle, conceptualized as the host of consumption behaviors that a person exhibits, is an important factor in whether or not an individual is a green consumer throughout his or her life or at just one moment at the time of purchase (Empacher & Götz, 2004; Leiserwitz et al, 2010). Moreover, daily habits are another determinant of whether individuals practice pro-environmental behaviors (Warde, 2005). Furthermore, the experience of expressing a pro-environmental behavior also plays a role in whether or not an individual will continue with that behavior (Staats et al., 2004).

• Research from environmental psychological finds that people’s self- identity has a strong influence on the nature and extent of their pro- environmental behavior (Fekadu & Kraft, 2001). Others have found that

personality can influence pro-environmental behavior, with traits such as extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness being positively related (Fraj and Martinez, 2006).

• Contextual or situational factors have been shown to strongly influence behaviors (Peattie, 2001). For example, Dolnicar and Grün (2009) found that a majority of consumers did not maintain their pro-environmental behavior while on vacation. Other research suggests that as people move through life stages and events, their propensity to practice pro- environmental behaviors also changes. For example, moving to a new house has been found to be a life-stage opportunity to establish greener behavior patterns (Bamberg, 2006). Finally, the physical and contextual factors in which consumers’ live can influence their behaviors (e.g., whether there is a local public transit system).

• Studies have found that location matters for whether or not people are able practice pro-environmental behaviors; location varies in the products available to people and in terms of the available physical infrastructure (Munksgaard et al., 2000; Tanner et al., 2004).

• Much of our consumption behavior does not simply reflect us and our circumstances, it also reflects our social relationships and obligations. We behave not just as individuals but also as members of families, households, communities, and social networks (Grønhøj, 2006; Southwell, 2013). Moreover, research shows that the behavior of others influences our reactions to and interpretations of situations that we find ourselves in (Griskevicius et al., 2006).

• Social norms have been found to be an important influence on green consumption (Zukin & Maguire, 2004). The concept of social norms includes what we perceive to be common practice or normal (descriptive norms) and behaviors we perceive to be morally right or that ought to be done (injunctive social norms), both of which can have a strong influence on green consumption (Jackson, 2005). For example, recycling was widely adopted because it was perceived as normal, whereas consumption reduction has not been because it has been seen as an alternative

championed by a few (Barr, 2007).

• Mass media can play an important role in encouraging green

consumption because of the dependence of the public on the media for environmental information (Haron et al., 2005) and because of media influence on environmental awareness, knowledge, opinion, and concern (Stamm et al., 2000; Southwell & Torres, 2006).

Clearly, a number of important factors influence green consumption behavior. Next, we examine information search behavior in the context of