The effect of income growth on the mix of purchases between disposable goods and reusable goods

With each passing year consumers find more and more disposable goods for sale in the market place. Even goods that were considered to be reusable goods just a few years back are now disposable goods. As a result the American economy has been labelled a ‘throwaway society’. This paper examines a main underlying cause for this trend by linking growth in consumer income with the purchases of disposable goods. More specifically, the model proposes that as incomes rise, consumers will purchase more of both reusable goods and disposable goods. However, as incomes rise, consumers will naturally substitute purchases away from reusable goods and into disposable goods. The shift towards disposable goods occurs because it becomes too costly for consumers to spend their time repairing and maintaining products. Their time is better spent in more productive endeavours. It is simply cheaper (in terms of opportunity cost of time) to dispose of old products and replace them with new products.     

Factors impacting the demand for repair services of household products: the disappearing repair trades and the throwaway society

The repair trades for common household appliances and products were once a viable trade in America, employing hundreds of thousands of skilled blue‐collar workers. However, over the past few decades, these trades have been dying out. The reason is that many household products are simply disposed of rather than repaired and reused, a result of the throwaway society. The disposal of household products, especially those considered ‘e‐waste’, can have negative consequences for the environment. Through time series analysis, this paper explores those factors that contribute to the decline in demand for repair services and, hence, the shrinking demand for employment within the repair trades. The purpose of this paper is to give the reader a greater understanding of those economic forces that contribute to a throwaway society.     

Do consumers act in a sustainable way using their refrigerator? The influence of consumer real life behaviour on the energy consumption of cooling appliances

Over recent decades, energy savings and resource conservation have become increasingly important issues for debate, and this includes the residential sector. Since the introduction of the European Energy Label, the energy consumption of appliances has decreased drastically. Additionally, a number of guidelines have been published to assist the consumer in adopting more energy‐saving behaviours. Refrigerators and freezers in particular are covered by these recommendations because they are large energy consumers in domestic households. In order to understand the influence of consumers' real life circumstances and their behaviour in relation to the energy consumption of refrigerators, a web‐based survey was carried out. A total of 1011 participants in four European countries completed a questionnaire to allow the researchers to gain information about refrigerator characteristics and consumer behaviour in relation to refrigerator use. As well as demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of the participants, data were collected on refrigerator configuration and specification, ambient conditions (ambient temperature, position near any heat sources), and consumer behaviours such as shopping frequency, loading of the refrigerator, door opening and food consumption. The study has shown that recommendations on energy efficient usage are not always observed. A major finding of the present study is that for 25% of refrigerators, correct operation is not ensured as these appliances are operated outside the temperature ranges specified according to their climatic classes. This suggests a lack of consumer information on this topic. Consequently, guidelines and recommendations will have to be revised and their dissemination to be improved in order to ensure the sustainable and safe use of domestic refrigerators.     

Jingle bells or ‘green’ bells? The impact of socially responsible consumption principles upon consumer behaviour at Christmas time

Socially responsible consumption (SRC) behaviours have progressed over the last few years and appear to show signs of a lasting trend. Situations of atypical consumption such as Christmas time, however, raise an important and as of yet unexplored question: What are the influences of unusual situations upon the relationship between people's socially responsible profile and their socially responsible purchase intentions (SRPI)? The objective of this article is thus to use the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991 ) and environment‐based variables, called ‘atmospherics’, to answer to this question. A Web survey on a total sample of 301 Canadian consumers, shows that people's past SRC behaviours are positively related to their SRPI in unusual situations. Moreover, the atmosphere of the place consumers are situated in has a negative moderating influence upon this relationship. This result is explained by a change in people's attitude toward SRC. However, this negative moderating effect of atmosphere is contained and constrained by social desirability in the form of subjective norms on SRC and the level of behavioural control consumers perceive.     

‘Sustainable transport choices’ in consumer shopping: a review of the UK evidence

In the UK, as elsewhere in Europe, government policy aims to reduce the use of private cars for consumer shopping trips. One major instrument of policy aims to ensure that new retail development is located in places accessible by all transport modes. This paper reviews the effectiveness of this and other such policies through analysis of survey evidence relating to routine shopping behaviour in the UK. It appears that these policies are likely to have little impact upon shopping travel, given the advantages to the consumer of private car use. However, demographic trends and increasing use of the Internet for food shopping are likely to stabilize or even reduce the use of private cars in the future.     

试论可持续消费与全面建设小康社会

传统的消费模式主要体现为追求利益的短期性,它严重破坏了人类环境。可持续消费是可持续发展的必然选择,它以节约、共同富裕、文明为特点,以公平、适度、人本为原则。可持续消费对于全面建设小康社会有着重要的意义,在全面建设小康社会的过程中,要采取切实措施实现消费的可持续性。     

优化社区消费环境的思考

党的十七大提出建设生态文明,必然要求形成与之相适应的和谐消费。营造和谐社区消费环境,是构建和谐社区乃至构建和谐社会的根本与基础。目前,我国社区消费环境存在的问题制约了我国居民消费水平与消费结构的合理发展。优化社区消费环境具有重要意义,解决社区消费环境存在的问题就必须加大社区商业投入、加强市场监管、规范商家经营行为以及不断进行消费教育。     

An examination of the values that motivate socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours

This article extends social psychological research on the motivations for sustainable consumption from the predominant domain of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour to socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours. A UK‐based survey study examines relationships between socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours and Schwartz's value types, personal and socio‐political materialism, and demographics among the general public. Socially conscious consumer behaviour, like its ecological counterpart, appears to be an expression of pro‐social values. In contrast, frugal consumer behaviour relates primarily to low personal materialism and income constraints. As such, it does not yet represent a fully developed moral challenge to consumerism.