Sustainable Consumption Behavior in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

This paper develops a conceptual framework for investigating the adoption patterns, inhibitors, and facilitators (PIF) of sustainable consumption in sub‐Sahara African (SSA) settings. Literature evidence shows paucity of empirical studies on sustainable consumption from SSA, which partly explains lack of suitable conceptual framework to guide research in this area. Also, the existing frameworks, which were developed outside SSA may not be suitable for constructing sustainable consumption behavior in SSA because of its peculiarities. The key significance of this article is the potential of providing future researchers in this area with a framework to guide and manage their studies. As a conceptual article, insight was drawn from a plethora of scholarly articles in the domain of sustainable consumption and related areas. The framework is built on four key constructs—adoption patterns, inhibitors, facilitators (PIF), and intention. As a guide for studies from the SSA, the article includes an empirical section, which provides preliminary empirical validation for the proposed PIF conceptual framework based on a pilot test. The result from the pilot study, using structural equation modeling (SEM), led to positing the PIF Sustainable Consumption model, thus giving support for the PIF Conceptual Framework, which this article puts forward. In addition, the proposed PIF conceptual framework is capable of providing insight for crafting sustainability‐related policies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.