Mapping the socially responsible consumption gap research: Review and future research agenda

Abstract

AbstractThis paper provides a wide‐ranging view of the literature that is relevant to study the gaps in socially responsible consumption (SRC). The research design follows a three‐stage analytical procedure. First, we critically review the main concepts and vocabularies used in the field and propose a framework that organizes existing studies into four major types according to their approaches and focus: gap prediction, willingness ‘to go responsible’, gap understanding and barriers to SRC. Second, a qualitative content analysis provided a set of words and semantic categories for text searches in bibliographic databases. Findings showed that the Anglo‐Saxon countries lead the field, and that patterns are changing, such as the rise of China as a contributor. Finally, a bibliometric analysis of 3,367 articles, retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, identified the intellectual structure of the SRC gap literature, top contributors (countries, publications and authors), mature and emerging themes and the main barriers to SRC adoption. The 25 top journals published almost 50% of the articles and citations. The International Journal of Consumer Studies (IJCS) stands out as the only journal focused on consumer behaviour among the most prolific publications in the SRC gap literature. This finding makes the IJCS the benchmark for researchers in the field. The SRC gap research addresses five domains: clean energy, biodiversity, public safety, food‐related issues and consumer marketing research. These domains share six reasons for the SRC gaps: economic and financial factors, information and knowledge barriers, sense of effort, lack of feelings of responsibility, contextual and social factors and supply aspects. Overall, this study provides clarity into the relevant literature that helps the SRC gaps’ understanding and identifies directions for future research.