What Does it Mean to Study “Green”?: Exploring Potential Barriers and Solutions to Studying a Broader Set of High Mitigation-potential Behaviors.
(A2024-119653)

AUTHORS

Christophe Lembregts, RSM Erasmus University; Romain Cadario, Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management

ABSTRACT

Sustainable consumption comprises a heterogenous set of behaviors (e.g., recycling, buying “green-labeled” products,…). In a systematic review of green consumer behaviors studied in five leading consumer research journals, we find that, up till now, only a limited set of behaviors have been frequently studied. In fact, our analyses reveal that behaviors holding greater climate mitigation potential (e.g., plant-based consumption) are less frequently studied or not studied at all, revealing promising opportunities for future research. In an exploratory survey, we replicated the latter result with a sample of consumer researchers displaying a strong, general interest in studying high-potential behaviors. We suggest potential explanations and propose several recommendations for researchers to study a wider set of high-impact behaviors.