Is an Increase in Organic Consumption Accompanied by A Healthier Diet? A Comparison of Changes in Eating Habits among Danish Consumers

Several studies have shown that consumers with a high organic consumption often have dietary habits that include more fruit and vegetables but less red meat. This paper takes a novel approach by investigating whether changes in consumption of organics and improvements in dietary habits also are related. The results show that many consumers seem to improve their diet while increasing the organic consumption. Further, the study suggests that some households already have a relatively healthy diet in terms of fruit, vegetables, and meat consumption, when they start buying organic food. When organic consumption reaches a certain level, further increases in organic consumption are more likely to take place at the same time as dietary habits are improved. References to health and climate considerations seem to be the most important motivations for reducing meat consumption, while higher availability of organics is the most important reason for increasing organic consumption.     

How does the theory of consumption values contribute to place identity and sustainable consumption?

The importance of consumers’ role in sustainable consumption is reflected in the vision of the Sustainable Development Education Panel: To educate consumers to make informed consumption decisions, to take responsibility for their actions and to realize the impact of consumption decisions on future generations. However, educating and informing consumers alone is unlikely to change deeply entrenched unsustainable consumption behaviour. A multi‐faceted approach is required – enforcing sustainable development initiatives through legislation, promoting corporate social responsibility programs on the part of business, and (most importantly), supporting communities that engage in sustainable consumption. This study examines the proposition that individuals who identify with their community (i.e. the residential suburb or a locality where identity is understood geographically) are more likely to engage in sustainable consumption. Specifically, it examines how consumption value (i.e. the perceived value of living in a particular residential suburb) contributes to place identity and to environmental attitudes and sustainable consumption behaviour. Structural equation modelling is used to verify the conceptual model using data from a telephone survey of 561 residents from two inner city suburbs in Auckland, New Zealand. The results support the proposition that environmental attitude and sustainable consumption behaviour is enhanced by consumption values through place identity. Residents who enjoy living in their community, value a clean and healthy environment and believe their suburbs are unique tend to develop a stronger identity with their residential suburb, and are more positive towards sustainable consumption. The results have important implications for social marketers, property marketers and city councils who strive to encourage sustainable consumption among its citizens.     

Gender,generation and sustainable consumption: Exploring the behaviour of consumers from Izmir,Turkey

This study investigates the relationship between consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviour and both gender and generation‐related individual differences in a sample of Turkish consumers. A total of 393 participants from different generations and gender took part in the study. To measure sustainable consumption behaviour, we used four‐dimensional sustainable consumption behaviour scale. The results showed that generation is associated with unneeded consumption as a dimension of sustainable consumption behaviour. Consumers who are Baby Boomers found to have the highest level of unneeded consumption behaviour while Gen‐Zers have fewest. Additionally, data supported the association between gender and sustainable consumption behaviour. Women showed a higher level of sustainable consumption behaviour both in overall behaviour and tendency to reuse products. Taken together, the findings suggest that gender and generation of consumers can differentiate sustainable consumption behaviour. The implications of these findings, as well as the limitations and future directions, are also discussed.     

网络零售能撬动城乡居民消费吗？

形成强大的国内市场,构建新发展格局离不开发达的消费市场。各种形式的网络零售是数字经济时代销售供给的新形态,其是否以及如何影响城乡居民消费,关系到供给侧促消费的效果。文章在对网络零售影响居民消费的内在机理进行理论探讨的基础上,检验了网络零售的消费效应。研究发现：无论是城乡整体、城镇居民还是农村居民,网络零售都显著促进了其消费水平的提高,虽然存在对线下消费的一定程度的挤出,但总体来说,网络零售的需求创造效应大于对线下的需求转移效应。网络零售促进消费的机制在于扩大市场范围、降低交易成本和促进行业内竞争,上述结论在处理了内生性后仍然稳健。异质性检验表明,网络零售对农村居民消费的提升作用较城镇居民更为明显,对东部地区城乡整体消费的提升作用要高于中部和西部地区;城乡整体生存型消费受网络零售的正向影响低于享受型和发展型消费,城镇居民在生存型和发展型消费方面更依赖于网络零售,农村居民对享受型消费的网络零售依赖度更高。     

Consuming in one's mind: An exploration

Consumer research generally focuses on the consumption of tangible objects and experiences, which are concrete. However, consumers often consume in their minds by fantasizing, dreaming, or imagining that they possess some desired object or that they are living some experience. In this article, the term consumption dreams is used to refer to mental representations of consumption objects that consumers desire and experiences that they want to realize. These are distinguished from uncontrolled mental activities that occur when asleep. The results of two exploratory studies that examined consumption dreams are presented. In the first study, five adult consumers were asked about their most important consumption dream, as well as the factors that influenced this dream and the behaviors that ensued. The second study consisted of a survey of 195 adult consumers where the determinants and consequences of consumption dreaming were probed. It was found that indulging in consumption dreaming is a common activity among most consumers and that consumption dreams and their characteristics depend on general as well as dream‐based variables. In addition, those dreams were found to impact on several consumer behaviors. A causal model involving a subset of the variables examined in this exploratory research was put forward and tested with the survey data. The results showed the value of a proposed conceptual framework to generate theoretical propositions about consumption dreaming. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumption and macroeconomic policies: Theory and evidence from developing countries

Abstract

This paper examines determinants of private consumption in a sample of developing countries. The empirical model includes income, a proxy for the cost of consumption, and the exchange rate. Anticipated movements in these determinants are likely to trigger adjustment in planned consumption, while unanticipated changes determine random transitory adjustment in consumption. Fluctuations in private consumption are mostly random with respect to unanticipated changes in income and, to a lesser extent, the exchange rate. Consumption increases during cyclical expansion of income and decreases in the face of an unanticipated increase in the cost of consumption. Exchange rate fluctuations have mixed results on private consumption. As for the effects of domestic policies, fiscal policy has a limited, and sometimes negative, effect on private consumption. Monetary growth, in contrast, stimulates an increase in private consumption. This evidence supports recent calls to decrease the size of government and enhance the role of monetary policy in stimulating private activity in developing countries.     

大学生消费结构分析

大学生作为一个特殊的消费群体正受到越来越大的关注.由于大学生较年轻,群体较特别,有着不同于社会其他消费群体的消费心理和行为.一方面,大学生有着旺盛的消费需求,另一方面,又尚未获得经济上的独立,消费受到很大的制约.消费观念的超前和消费实力的滞后,都对大学生的消费有很大影响本文通过问卷调查、统计分析的方法,通过了解样本群体的消费来源、消费结构等方面的情况,分析其消费成因,并提出引导大学生合理消费的建议.     

Marketing Sustainable Consumption within Stores: A Case Study of the UK's Leading Food Retailers

Sustainable consumption is a core policy objective within the UK Government's Sustainable Development Strategy and there is a growing awareness that retailers have a vital role to play in promoting more sustainable patterns of consumption. This article explores how the UK's top ten food retailers are communicating sustainable consumption agendas to their customers within stores in the towns of Cheltenham and Gloucester. The findings reveal that while these retailers are providing customers with some information on sustainable consumption the dominant thrust of marketing communication within stores is designed to encourage consumption. The article concludes with some reflections on how sustainable consumption fits into the large food retailers' business models.     

Greening the Danes? Experience with consumption and environment policies

Consumer-oriented environmental policies came high on the political agenda during the 1990s. Internationally, consumers were assigned a key role in environmental policies; also in Denmark, political initiatives were taken to promote sustainable consumer behaviour. In this article, the results of Danish policies related to consumption and environment are assessed by considering first, the environmental impacts of the political measures, and second, whether the policies have succeeded in addressing the dynamics behind increasing consumption. The study combines a theoretical understanding of consumption as an inseparable part of daily practices with empirical analyses of three fields of consumption: housing, transportation, and information and communication technology. It is pointed out that policies to promote sustainable consumption are successful only when technological development, economic structures, and information are all in accordance with each other, and this is the case only when sustainable consumption does not conflict with economic growth. A more fundamental critique thus concerns the failure of Danish consumer-oriented environmental policies to address consumption growth and the rising standards for “normal consumption.”     

浅析我国绿色消费存在的问题及发展绿色消费的对策

绿色消费是 2 0世纪后半叶兴起的一种可持续性消费观念和消费行为。随着人类社会经济可持续发展战略的推进 ,绿色消费作为一种全新的消费理念 ,已经成为 2 1世纪全球消费模式的呼声和消费者的共同追求 ,是温饱问题解决以后人们更加重视自己的生存质量的结果。绿色消费是一种适度的消费 ,既不奢侈又不吝啬 ;又是一种崇尚自然 ,保护环境的消费。既然这样 ,就应该大力发展绿色消费。从绿色消费的内涵与特征出发 ,对我国绿色消费存在的问题及发展绿色消费的对策进行了分析。     

推动消费升级 引领经济发展——创新江苏消费经济发展新阶段

2018年9月,中共中央、国务院联合发布《关于完善促进消费体制机制,进一步激发居民消费潜力的若干意见》文件。文件根据习近平中国特色社会主义思想,认为“消费是最终需求,既是生产的最终目的和动力,也是人民对美好生活需要的直接体现。”对消费在国民经济中的重要作用进行了深入阐述,将扩大和升级消费放在战略高度来进行谋划和部署,为今后如何进一步发展国民消费指明了前进方向。改革开放以来,江苏省的消费与全国一样发生了巨大变化,但是我们也应看到,江苏消费虽然增长较快,但是与党和国家的要求还存在一定的差距,消费能力、消费意愿、消费供给消费三要素的发展不充分,在消费水平、消费规模和消费结构等方面还存在一定的问题,在满足人民日益增长的需要方面还需要继续努力。特别是在推动江苏经济发展上要发挥更大的作用,通过消费对经济的调节、引领、带动机制促进江苏经济创新发展。因此,我们要继续贯彻党和国家“两个一百年”、江苏率先小康的“强富美高”战略目标,采取得力措施来解决消费矛盾,激发居民消费潜力,通过消费升级使江苏消费和经济均上升到一个新阶段。     

新生态体系下的新消费、新业态、新模式

在新冠肺炎疫情防控常态化、“双循环”新发展格局加快形成的态势下,亟待发挥新消费引领作用,形成新供给新动力。消费是经济循环的终点,也是新的起点,发展壮大新型消费,以消费升级推进智慧流通新模式、新业态,以现代流通创新激发新的消费增长点,不断释放消费增长潜力,具有推进经济高效循环的作用。新消费既是消费的新引擎、新动力,也是国民经济循环的重要引领力量。疫情影响下,数字化零售、在线服务、直播电商等线上消费快速发展,我国消费市场及业态、模式面临新的变化。消费呈现出从功能型消费向享受型消费转变、从商品消费向非商品消费转变的趋势,消费者更追求优质消费体验、愿意为美好生活埋单。线下商业逻辑从坪效导向、品牌导向日益向消费者体验导向转化,线上商业进入数字化消费的3.0阶段,产业互联网蓬勃兴起,通过跨界与融合,新零售体系不断创新。我们应主动把握消费升级趋势和发展规律,构建“新消费、新业态、新模式”的消费新生态体系,形成强大的国内市场,推进“双循环”新发展格局加快形成。     

‘Blame it on marketing’: consumers' views on unsustainable consumption

This paper addresses consumers' attitudes towards consumption, the extent to which excessive consumption is perceived as an environmental problem and what consumers perceive as their personal responsibility vs. that of marketing for this consumption. Findings from a focus group and a survey administered to lecturers of a university in Portugal are reported. A critical reflection upon the findings reveals that participants view consumption as excessive and mostly due to marketing, but do not associate high levels of consumption with environmental damage. The consumers surveyed did not accept personal responsibility for excessive consumption, and many of them do not perceive their actions to have a significant impact on the environment. The high educational level of our sample makes these findings of particular concern. This paper feeds the debate on sustainable marketing and expresses the need to address consumers', as well as marketing's, place in sustainability. Implications of this study are drawn and directions for future research are suggested.     

Food consumption and political agency: on concerns and practices among Danish consumers

Increasingly ordinary individual consumers are expected to perform some kind of societal or political agency. In the debates about political consumption it is a recurrent topic to what degree consumption practices can be seen as political practices and how many consumers perform such practices. The aim of this article is to empirically qualify the demarcation of the political in individual consumer activities by integrating the concept of political agency in the definition of political consumption. On the basis of empirical results from a representative survey among food consumers in Denmark, the article suggests that by supplementing the criteria of consumers performing specific consumption activities with a criteria of consumers expressing political agency, a more precise empirical delimitation of political consumption can be achieved. Three groups of food consumers are identified: those who perform political consumption practices; those who perform politicized consumption practices; and those who vocalize the discourse of political consumerism.     

US Trade Policy Power and Sustainable Consumption: Beef and Cars in North East Asia

This paper describes the historical development of the traditionally marked contrast in regional consumption patterns between the Americas and North East Asia, and discusses the impact of these consumption patterns on the environment. Using the literature on consumption of beef and cars as indicators of consumption patterns and sustainability, the paper shows that the consumption style of the Americas is less sustainable than the traditional consumption patterns in North East Asia. However, it is also demonstrated that a change in consumption patterns in North East Asia has taken place throughout the 1990s, resulting in a move toward greater unsustainability. The reasons for this change are discussed, and it is argued that US trade policy power has played a significant role.     

Sustainable consumption: consumption,consumers and the commodity discourse

This paper examines the concept of sustainable consumption by focusing on the consumption habits of Irish consumers. The key research findings fit into three broad and interrelated categories. Firstly, whilst recent sustainable consumption literature suggests that new research should focus on the issue of consumption, in and of itself, our study shows that consumers themselves view environmental problems from a supply and not a demand perspective. They focus on issues such as recycling and waste and not consumption itself. Secondly, our study shows that consumers have green opinions about very diverse issues and these are directly related to the individuals' lifestyles. Finally, our research shows that “material green” consumers are buying into a particular image in their consumption practices. This is very much connected to the meanings of their consumption that are derived from the communication value they attach to commodities. As such our study provides support for earlier conceptual research which suggests that in order to encourage less consumption we must use existing commodity discourse to achieve such ends.     

Lifestyle and Demographic Influences on Females' Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages

Using responses to a national survey, levels of consumption of beer, wine and spirits were related to life-style, age, education, and income. The findings suggest different sets of factors are linked to consumption levels for the various beverages, but that most life-style variables are of limited value in predicting higher levels of consumption. Implications to advertising are highlighted.     

Home Equity Use and the Life Cycle Hypothesis

The life cycle hypothesis of consumption assumes the household to take a life-time perspective on all resources available for consumption, and to use the assets accumulated during the life-time to fund later consumption. Typically, households in the middle, high earning years, are able to save; younger and older households borrow or dissave. For many, a large share of accumulated household assets reside in home equity. This paper analyzes the propensity to use home equity to fund current consumption using a logit analysis of homeowners. The results support earlier criticism of the life cycle hypothesis in finding that older households do not rely on dissaving from assets. Older homeowners are less likely to use home equity to fund current consumption than others. Both sociodemographic determinants of life cycle changes as well as income variables are significant determinants of willingness to use home equity. Liquidity considerations appear to be less important.     

新疆电力消费量发展现状与影响因素分析

总结电力消费量发展相关理论,分析新疆规模以上工业企业电力消费量及万元GDP电力消费量。对工业企业电力消费量和电力消费总量的影响因素进行实证分析,得出新疆与全国电力消费量的总体趋势一致,相差不大,新疆各地对电力消费量需求量地域差异明显,规模以上工业企业原煤消费量、工业总产值等对规模以上工业企业的电力消费量影响显著,居民消费水平、总人口数及GDP对电力消费总量影响显著。建议电力能源发展应注重提高能源效率,优化经济结构,引进高新技术,提高能源利用率,加强节能意识。     

广西城乡居民信息消费分化影响因素研究

根据消费理论及信息消费的特点,城乡居民信息消费分化是多因素综合作用的结果。5变量SVAR(2)模型的实证结果进一步表明收入分化和文化素质分化是信息消费分化最重要的两个内在影响因素,其贡献率分别为29%和28%;紧随其后的消费氛围分化与消费条件分化是不容忽视的外在因素,贡献率分别为20%和18%。显然,降低这些影响因素的分化程度是有效缓解城乡信息消费分化的关键。