Title: Measuring consumer-oriented sustainability: a Brazilian perspective

Authors: Ana Carolina Baggio Fabricio; Claudimar Pereira Da Veiga; Renato Zancan Marchetti

Addresses: Programa de Pós-graduação em Administração – Escola de Negócios, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155 – 2º Andar – Prado Velho, 80215-901 – Curitiba, PR, Brazil ' Programa de Pós-graduação em Administração – Escola de Negócios, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155 – 2º Andar – Prado Velho, 80215-901 – Curitiba, PR, Brazil ' Programa de Pós-graduação em Administração – Escola de Negócios, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155 – 2º Andar – Prado Velho, 80215-901 – Curitiba, PR, Brazil

Abstract: Consumer-oriented sustainability follows a broader perspective that takes environmental, social and economic impacts of consumption into consideration. The main objective of this article is to broaden the sustainable consumption scale (SCS) of Ribeiro and Veiga (2011) by including communication as a variable that influences the development of sustainable consumer behaviour. For this study, data were collected from Brazilian consumers: the first with a sample of 231 respondents, and the second with 170. The results are presented on a 15-item scale with five dimensions: 1) recycling; 2) communication; 3) frugality; 4) ecological awareness; 5) resource save. This article contributes to the development of attitudinal aspects studies on consumer-oriented sustainability. The study provides a measuring instrument for organisations that seek to identify the profile of their consumers and identify a market niche in socially and environmentally responsible behaviour, and for future studies that use sustainable consumer attitudes as a variable of interest.

Keywords: sustainable attitude; sustainable consumption; sustainability orientation; measurement scale; Brazil; recycling; communication; frugality; ecological awareness; resource save.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2017.085061

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol.16 No.3, pp.257 - 278

Accepted: 03 Nov 2016
Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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