Pro-Ecological Consumer Behavior versus Energy Reduction and Sustainable Consumption: A Case from Poland

Abstract

The concepts of sustainable consumption and production increased in popularity after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Moreover, the focus of attention was turned to the consumer and their key importance in achieving the goals of more sustainable practices. Hence, the main aim of this article is to present the influence of factors related to pro-ecological consumer behaviors on sustainable consumption including energy-use reduction. Epsilon regression was implemented as the research method. This statistical tool enabled the authors to carry out research on such complex phenomena and make the analysis immune to the high correlation among explanatory variables. Moreover, it allowed the authors to consider interactions in the set of diagnostic variables. The research presented in this paper is based on data drawn from the Barometer of Consumer Social Responsibility in Poland for 2022. As the final result of this research, a ranking of pro-ecological consumer behavior factors was constructed. On the one hand, not buying products using excessive packaging can be considered the most important factor of Polish pro-ecological consumer behaviors. On the other hand, trying to choose more ecological products with comparable prices can be regarded as the factor which has the smallest impact. Furthermore, the presented method also allowed for determining the contribution of individual factors to the pro-ecological behavior of consumers.