Experimental Testing of Antecedents for Sustainable Consumer Behaviour

Abstract:

This doctoral thesis aims to develop and experimentally test a comprehensive model to understand sustainable consumer behaviour. Such models are essential in order to develop interventions and communication strategies that help consumers to realise an urgent transition towards making more sustainable choices. The project's main theory is the “Comprehensive Action Determination Model" (Klöckner, 2013), which is based on well-established models of consumer behavior and prosocial behaviour including the ‘Theory of Planned Behaviour’, the Norm Activation Model Theory and Value Belief Norm Theory. Based on this theoretical ground the project is collecting representative consumer data in Sweden, Germany, Poland and the United States (N> 4000). In addition, a set of relevant conditions enabling consumer behaviour change will be identified and tested in a laboratory setting. The results will provide valuable insights about understanding consumer behaviour and tools to change it.