Sustainable consumer behaviour of Indian millennials: Some evidence

Abstract

Despite policy thrusts and initiatives, driving consumer behaviour towards sustainable consumption is a challenging task. The paper in this context carries out a detailed analysis of consumer behaviour in the Indian context with a specific thrust on sustainable consumer behaviour. The paper builds on the theoretical conception of the ‘Value Belief Norm (VBN)’ framework developed by Stern et al. (1999) and adapts and expands the same in the Indian context by employing exploratory factor analysis. Based on consumption behaviour patterns, the study classifies Indian millennials into five different categories such as aware consumers, conscious consumers, consumers under transition, unwilling consumers, and rejecters respectively, which help to map the heterogeneities present among the Indian millennials in terms of their consumer behaviour. In addition, it emerges from the study that Indian millennials are more concerned about the environmental dimension of consumption than social and economic dimensions, which has clear policy implications in terms of creating awareness and sensitising people.