Due to the growing involvement of external stakeholders including pressure groups such as Greenpeace, sustainability issues have increasingly become a focus point in the business sector. Thereby, many businesses began to integrate sustainability into their corporate mission and vision. Similar to fast food consumption, fast fashion consumption has decreased well-being of both nature and humans. With the goal of reducing harmful impact on people and planet, apparel and fashion firms such as C&A, H&M, and Nike have been gradually shifting the use of conventional cotton to bio-cotton in their production of clothing. The aim of the present thesis is therefore to investigate the influence of different factors on purchasing intention of bio-cotton clothing among young business students. In connection to this, the research question of the present study is formulated as follows: “What kind of impacts do attitude, social norm, perceived efficacy of consumer, perceived availability as well as functional, monetary, and psychological risk have on the purchase intention of bio-cotton clothing among young business students?”  The present study was conducted quantitatively by using online survey method. The survey was distributed to a random sample of 220 young business students at Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE). The research model of this study comprises seven hypotheses. Each hypothesis is assigned with a unique independent variable and a dependent variable (i.e. purchase intention). All the constructs are derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour as well as from the Theory of Perceived Risk. Following a multiple linear regression analysis, it was revealed that independent variables including attitude, social norm, perceived efficacy of consumer, and perceived availability significantly affect the purchase intention. All influencers except perceived availability was found to have a negative influence on purchase intention. Although none of the constructs from the Theory of Perceived Risk was found to significantly affect purchase intention, a significant quantity of variance in the purchase intention was explained by all independent variables combined. This contributes to the current research gap since numerous studies have focused on the behavioural intention of organic food rather than bio-cotton clothing. This study’s findings provide insights to businesses that intend to market their bio-cotton clothing among young business students. Since the availability of bio-cotton clothing was found to be low, managers are advised to increase the visibility and benefits of such products by using online and offline communication instruments. Policy makers, especially those from developed countries, are advised to support informational campaigns to transform consumer behaviour.

Development and land use change diminish the quantity of natural habitat, impacting negatively on the number of animal and plant species – biodiversity. Concern about the consequences of these losses has led to calls for mechanisms which allow development to proceed only when no net loss of biodiversity can be assured, such as biodiversity offsets. Markets for biodiversity offsets are being tried as mechanisms for achieving this societal objective in the most efficient manner possible. Theoretically, this thesis develops a framework connecting the Polanyi-inspired notion of the economy as an instituted process, and concepts developed by Callon and colleagues in the Social Studies of Finance literature. This framework is used to analyse the emergence, development and expansion of markets for biodiversity offsets. Using qualitative methodologies, the research examines in detail three existent biodiversity offset markets: Species Banking (United States), Impact Mitigation Regulations (Germany) and Biodiversity Offsets (England). The emergence of markets for biodiversity offsets is shown to be the result of performativity of economics. Changing representations of biodiversity, anchored on economic sciences, lead to policies which create economic experiments, such as markets for biodiversity offsets. Because these markets are historical and geographically contingent, the economic experiments emerge in the context of preexisting regulations and traditions, resulting in variety of forms of organising biodiversityoffset markets. To bring biodiversity to the market involves measuring and quantifying externalities. This requires the creation and development of market agencements – assemblages of agents and market devices – to commodify biodiversity. These agencements constitute the technical infrastructures upon which the markets are built, but they too are contingent of pre-market practice. This creates tensions between the role of agents and the role of devices inside the market infrastructure. Biodiversity offsets are shown to not maintain their commodity status beyond certain geographical and geopolitical boundaries. The result is the creation of mutually exclusive market nodes, between which no trade takes place. Despite common origins and infrastructures, the local markets do not exchange between themselves. This thesis contributes a framework for the analysis of market emergence, in which two literatures are used to complement each other’s limitations. As a result, the thesis is able to conceptualise how a common generative mechanism results in variety of economic organisation. It also demonstrates that it is possible for markets to share a regulatory and technical infrastructure, but not exchange between themselves and expand.

The aim of the thesis is the application of input evaluation methods related to sustainable consumption and production in a selected company. within the thesis This methodology is applied to a specific enterprise and identifies potential for improvement in all its parts, i.e. in the whole system of production and consumption influenced by the enterprise including the incorporation of all economic, environmental and social aspects. The result of this evaluation is a set of proposed measures, the anticipated implementation costs of which are calculated in relation to their realization, payback period and also the effects of these benefits. These measures are recommended to the enterprise for implementation in order for it to achieve savings, increased competitiveness, improved economic performance, strengthen social prestige, and reduce the negative environmental impact and other effects.

The incremental awareness ofenvironmental issues and sustainability has shifted the retail industryin past years. Consumers are increasingly demanding for sustainable products and services and consequently, companies need to address customers’ demands to maintain their profitability. One of the most sustainable consumption patterns is thrift shopping which has several economic, social, and environmental benefits. Despite the huge sustainable benefits of secondhand shopping,only a few studies investigated the behavior of thrift shoppers to identify determinants or barriers to their secondhand purchase behavior. This study is going to address this gap in the literature by extending the theory of planned behavior in the context of secondhand shopping. This leadsto three research questions which provide a strong theoretical and practical contribution to the secondhand shopping literature:RQ1: How large is the gap between the intention and the behavior of consumers buying secondhand products?RQ2: Is the gap more contributed by those who intend to buy them while they do not so, or those who intend not to buy them but do so?RQ3: What are the determinants ofpurchasing secondhand products?This study aims at investigating Swedish consumers’ secondhand purchasing behavior regardingsecondhand household durables. A quantitative research approach was adopted using a self-administered survey among 179respondents.The main findings of this study state that there is a positive gap between secondhand purchase intention and behavior. Inclined abstainers whose intention to buy secondhand products is higher than their thrift shopping behavior coverthe largestshare of the respondent in this study. Additionally, the results of this study posit that thrift shoppers’ attitude toward used goodsand thrift shopping, their past experience of secondhand shopping, social norms and peer pressure, trust in the performance of used products, product availability and shoppers’ access to thrift stores, and thrift shoppers’ perceived value are the positive determinants of thrift shopping behavior through the mediation role of purchase intention. Conversely,thethrift shoppers’ perception of the risks associated with used products negatively impacts on their secondhand shopping behavior.

Till följd av de stora miljöutmaningar som världen står inför idag, där majoriteten av dem orsakats av människan, har ett hållbart konsumtionsbeteende blivit alltmer betydelsefullt. För att uppnå ett hållbart konsumtionsbeteende bör butikers gemensamma mål vara att involvera kunder till att handla mer hållbart samt främja miljövänliga och hållbara produkter. Tidigare forskning indikerar att konsumenter ofta vill konsumera mer hållbart men misslyckas emellanåt att konsumera efter sina värderingar, bland annat på grund av bristande information eller av ouppmärksamhet. Digitala skärmar kan anses vara ett fördelaktigt marknadsföringsverktyg för att främja hållbar konsumtion då det engagerar flera mänskliga sinnen samt tillkallar uppmärksamhet hos kunden. Syftet med studien är att empiriskt undersöka hur olika innehåll på en digital skärm kan påverka försäljningen av en specifik marknadsförd ”hållbar” respektive ”icke-hållbar” produkt. För att besvara syftet genomfördes ett fältexperiment på två likvärdiga avfallspåsar i en stormarknad där ena alternativet var ”hållbart” och det andra ”icke-hållbart”. Vidareplacerades en digital skärm ovanför de båda alternativen med ett affektivt innehåll under ena veckan och ett socialt validerande innehåll under den andra veckan. Studien utgick från en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi där resultaten baserades på försäljningsdata framtagen från de olika försäljningsplatserna. Studien indikerar att innehållen på den digitala skärmen inte påverkade kunders beslut vidvalet mellan den ”hållbara” och den ”icke-hållbara” avfallspåsen, då försäljningen av den ”icke-hållbara” avfallspåsen genomgående såldes mer än den ”hållbara”. I stället för att kunderna blev påverkade av hållbarhetsaspekten som förmedlades via skärmen kan det antas att andra faktorer såsom vanor och rutiner samt placering i butiken hade en störrepåverkan på kundernas beslut. Vidare framkommer vikten av butikernas inflytande vid kunders konsumtion, både med vilka varor de väljer att exponera och marknadsföra samt hur de väljer att bemöta kunden både verbalt och via skyltning. / As a result of the major environmental challenges facing the world today, where the majority of these have been caused by humans, sustainable consumption behavior has become increasingly important. To achieve sustainable consumption behavior, the common goal of stores should be to involve customers in more sustainable shopping behavior and to promote environmentally friendly and sustainable products. Previous research indicates that customers often want to consume more sustainably but sometimes fail to consume according to their values, among other things due to lack of information or inattention. Digital screens can be considered as a beneficial marketing tool to promote sustainable consumption as it engages several human senses and attracts customer attention. The purpose of the study is to empirically investigate how different content on a digital screen can affect the sales of a specific marketed sustainable and non-sustainable product. To answer the purpose, a field experiment was carried out on two equivalent waste bags in a supermarket where one alternative was sustainable and the other non-sustainable. Furthermore, a digital screen was placed above the two alternatives with an affective content for one week, and socially validating content during the second week. The study was based on a quantitative research strategy where the results were based on sales data produced from the various points of sale. The study indicates that the contents of the digital screen did not influence customers' decisions in the choice between the sustainable and the non-sustainable waste bag, as sales of the non-sustainable waste bag were consistently sold more than the sustainable one. Instead of the customers being influenced by the sustainability aspect that was conveyed via the screen, it can be assumed that other factors such as habits and routines as well as locations in the store had a greater impact on the customers' decisions. Furthermore, the importance of the stores 'influence on customers' consumption emerges, both in which goods they choose to expose and market and how they choose to respond to customers both verbally and via signage.

In Sweden, the municipalities are responsible for a good living environment, and today most municipalities work actively with climate change mitigation intending to decrease their emissions of greenhouse gases. Municipalities must decrease consumption-related emissions to achieve this. Further, this is a relatively new area that has gained focus within local governance, which asks the question, how are municipalities working to govern resident’s consumption behavior? This thesis investigate how a Swedish municipality works to steer their household consumption to become more sustainable and the experienced challenges. Bulkely & Kern (2006) three different mode of local governance: governing by authority, governing by provision, and governing through enabling will be employed to analyze how local government steer household consumption.  This thesis was carried out as a qualitative, in-depth case study, analyzing the experiences of civil servants operating in a Swedish municipality through semi-structured interviews and analyzing policy documents. Research findings show that measures to steer household consumption were performed mainly by deploying enabling governance by the municipality through information-based measures to promote sustainable consumption. The main obstacles identified are municipalities' lack of agency over household consumption behavior and the inherent complexity of environmental sustainability issues and lack of resources.

No description available.

Malawi rural households’ dependence on fuelwood as a form of energy and as a source of income is contributing to alarming rates of deforestation in the country with detrimental consequences for climate change. This study targeted two of the rural areas in the southern part of Malawi, worst affected by climate change in recent years. The study aimed to generate empirical evidence of households’ energy consumption as a consequence of their way of life, and to gather evidence of their practical- and discursive consciousness concerning sustainable consumption practices and climate change as pre-requisites to facilitate and promote behavioural change. This research was conducted in three sequential phases. Phase 1 entailed a quantitative survey that involved 231 non randomly selected households from two rural areas, namely Balaka and Phalombe, in the south of Malawi. Questionnaires were completed in interview format, facilitated by trained research assistants following a pre-test in a nearby village. Phase 2 entailed focus group discussions with selected members from phase 1, to allow opportunity for discussion of main topics. Phase 3 involved the contribution of government officials and important role players to share their views about environmental issues, the issue of indiscriminate deforestation and use of energy sources by communities. Results show that biomass, including fuelwood, is still the predominant source of energy that most rural households use for diverse activities because other sources of energy are either inaccessible, or too expensive. Negative consequences such as respiratory problems caused by smoke inhalation are therefore common among females and children who are constantly exposed to toxic substances that are present in the air in their homes and immediate surrounds. The wood that is used, is mostly collected by females who perform this tedious task almost daily, collecting from nearby woodlots and forests, further aggravating deforestation. Households’ practical consciousness of sustainable energy consumption practices seem fairly good and their discursive consciousness, specifically with regard to the effect of climate change on rainfall patterns, micro- and macro factors that are responsible for climate change, are fairly impressive. This may be attributed to first-hand experience of the environmental challenges that they have experienced in recent years. Unfortunately, lack of knowledge concerning the implications of their behaviour in terms of the economic growth of the country, as well as nearby countries’ well-being, confirm the complexity of the phenomenon that may be difficult for them to comprehend. Concerted effort is thus required by local- and Governmental bodies to educate and empower communities socially and economically, also to supply safer sources of energy to replace what they are obliged to use presently. Rural households are struggling financially and will not be able to adapt their behavioral practices without the premeditated support of government and relevant role players who have an interest in environmental issues and who have the well-being of Malawi citizens at heart. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / PhD / Unrestricted

The environmental sustainability challenges faced by society represent a discontinuity that requires new systemic ways of thinking and approaching problems. For business and consumers this entails finding new ways of creating value. In this respect, this study argues that an important source of value lies in efficient service co-creation between business and consumers in the consumption process. To this end, this study set out to explore the potential of business-to-consumer co-creation to advance solutions to sustainable consumption in the grocery retail setting. Exploratory qualitative research was conducted with grocery retailers and environmentally conscious consumers to gain insights into the types of initiatives that are important with respect to sustainable consumption. The willingness of business and consumers to work together to co-create solutions was gauged, and potential processes and mechanisms for co-creation were explored. The research found that both grocery retailers and consumers recognise sustainability as a systemic issue and welcomed the notion of co-creating solutions. However, the overarching narrative of the research findings with respect to the how of co-creation is that the market may not yet be ready. Retailers are driving sustainability initiatives across the supply chain, with consumers occupying a relatively passive role. This study argues that co-creation represents a fundamentally new paradigm that poses the challenge of a new orientation for the business-to-consumer relationship. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Background: The food industry has become one of the key actors in today’s sustainability equation. Consumers are becoming more conscious than ever before, putting more thought into ingredients and packaging. The number one trend of 2020 is clean label food, thus inviting for research within this specific field.    Purpose: This thesis aims to investigate the role of sustainable consumption in clean label food purchasing. In addition, exploring why consumers purchase clean label food products.    Method: This study follows a deductive interpretivist approach based on ten qualitative semi-structured interviews. The research is based on the Censydiam framework on human motivations, and the results are analyzed, compared, and tailored to this model.    Results: There is a strong implication that those who consume sustainably are also very likely to purchase clean label food products. The main reason why people purchase clean label food products is Expertise. Taking care, Safe Choices, and Boost Energy are also prominent motivations.