Abstract
Despite the increasing number of studies investigating environmentally friendly behavior, relatively little research has examined the attitudes, subjective norms, perceived ability, and intentions of individuals to restrict their consumption. The current study validated a new measure of consumption restriction developed from the Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 243 college-aged students completed the Consumption Restriction Questionnaire (CRQ), in addition to measures of greed, frugality, materialism, and consumption. Results confirmed the importance of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control as determinants of both intentions to restrict consumption in addition to actual consumption, and also demonstrated the superiority of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control in predicting consumption related to individual differences in greed, frugality and materialism. However, intentions to restrict consumption were modest. Results have implications for both our understanding of environmentally friendly behavior, as well as for the targets that interventions designed to restrict our consumption should address.
Highlights
The typical American household owns some 300,000 items, everything from paper clips and ironing boards, to washing machines and sofas [1]
This study found support for the importance of assessing personal norms to intentions to reduce the consumption of clothing (i.e., “I feel obliged to reduce my personal clothing consumption because of my personal values,” p. 947), other factors typically examined within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) that are hypothesized to influence intentions were not investigated, including attitudes towards consumption, the importance of perceived control over reducing consumption and actual consumption restriction
We evaluated the relative importance of attitudes, expectations, and perceived control for predicting consumption restriction behavior relative to other constructs such as frugality, greed, and materialism
Summary
The typical American household owns some 300,000 items, everything from paper clips and ironing boards, to washing machines and sofas [1]. Estimates suggest that more than $1.2 trillion is spent annually on non-essential goods and services [2], and personal spending per capita has increased by 33% between 1993 and 2004 [3]. North American and Western European households, representing just 12% of the world’s population, are responsible for 60% of private consumption spending, whereas individuals in South-Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, representing 33.3% of the world population, are responsible for a mere 3.2% of goods and services consumed by households [4]. The 2018 Living Planet Report [10] estimates that the population abundance of vertebrate species from around the world declined some 60% between 1970 and 2014. Estimates indicate that the point at which global consumption exceeds the rate at which consumption can be sustained—what has been deemed Earth Overshoot Day—is arriving earlier and earlier each year [11]. Earth overshoot day in 2019 was reached on 29 July, nine days earlier than in 2016
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
