Abstract

Being an important aspect of sustainable development, sustainable consumption has attracted great attention among Chinese politicians and academia, and Chinese governments have established policies that encourage sustainable consumption behaviors. However, unsustainable consumption behavior still remains predominant in China. This paper aims to classify consumers with similar traits, in terms of the characteristics of practicing sustainable consumption, into one group, so that their traits can be clearly understood, to enable governments to establish pointed policies for different groups of consumers. Q methodology, generally used to reveal the subjectivity of human beings involved in any situation, is applied in this paper to classify Chinese consumers based on Q sample design and data collection and analysis. Next, the traits of each group are analyzed in detail and comparison analyses are also conducted to compare the common and differentiating factors among the three groups. The results show that Chinese consumers can be classified into three groups: sustainable (Group 1), potential sustainable (Group 2) and unsustainable consumers (Group 3), according to their values and attitudes towards sustainable consumption. As such, Group 1 cares for the environment and has strong environmental values. They understand sustainable consumption and its functions. Group 2 needs more enlightenments and external stimuli to motivate them to consume sustainably. Group 3 needs to be informed about and educated on sustainable consumption to enable them to change their consumption behavior from unsustainable to sustainable. Suggestions and implications of encouraging each group of consumers to engage in sustainable consumption are also provided.

Highlights

  • China is on the road to becoming a huge manufacturing and export nation, indicating that the Chinese economy is undergoing successful transformation and national power has been strengthened [1]

  • With rapid development of urbanization, industrialization and modernization, and ever-increasing living standards, traditional individual consumption patterns have exacerbated the problems of resource depletion, ecosystem deterioration and environmental pollution caused by industries in China [2]

  • This study indicates that with regard to sustainable consumption, consumers can be categorized into three groups, namely: sustainable, potential sustainable and unsustainable consumers

Read more

Summary

Introduction

China is on the road to becoming a huge manufacturing and export nation, indicating that the Chinese economy is undergoing successful transformation and national power has been strengthened [1]. In July 1992, the Environmental Protection Bureau, in conjunction with another 52 departments of State Council and 300 experts, wrote the report: 21st century agenda of China: Population, Environment and Development [4], which analyzed individual consumption in detail and found that individual consumption was unsustainable and sustainable consumption needed to be established according to the status quo of the population, resources and the environment. In 1999, the Chinese central government reemphasized in its working report that individual consumption played a very important role in promoting social and economic development; transforming traditional consumption behaviors into sustainable consumption would benefit economic growth and relieve the environmental pressure on resources [5]. After 10 years, at the international conference of sustainable consumption co-hosted by Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Finance of China, United

Objectives
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call