Can disruptive events trigger transitions towards sustainable consumption?

Abstract

Disruptive events have historically been shown to upset business as usual practices that can leave temporary or lasting changes. The emergence of a pandemic in 2020 triggered a rapid digital transformation. Electronic platforms are able to support essential socio-economic activities through virtual transactions and interactions yet products remain a physical output of raw material consumption. Furthermore, the digital world has also easily provided consumers access to more products than they normally need, allowing for rebound effect through “retail therapy” and “revenge procurement”. As widespread digital consumption becomes the “new normal”, this paper cautions against unsustainable consumption practices in the digital world, cites affluence data, and proposes a systemic design-based poka-yoke strategy as a feasible pathway to sustainable consumption: (i) a resource-based sustainability transition that accounts for the consumption of both intermediate (producer) and end- (finished product) consumers, (ii) a design philosophy in developing products and services that embeds sustainability attributes, and (iii) limiting consumer choices to sustainability-proofed products and systems that can guide and lock-in sustainable consumption.