Reorienting consumer education using social learning theory: sustainable development via authentic consumer pedagogy

The paper illustrates the growing interest in understanding consumer behaviour through a social learning theory (SLT) lens, and explains the recently launched United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Then, the discussion turns to an overview of a recently developed ESD/SLT integrated theoretical framework, which is then applied to consumer education via an authentic pedagogy. The paper highlights the rich potential of authentic intellectual work in the form of observational learning by augmenting ESD within authentic consumer education curricula.