Less is more!
- Enhancing consumer satisfaction and well-being is an important objective of companies, retailers and public policy makers. In the current debate on climate change, a consistent theme is that consumers in developed countries must learn to consume less. The present study (based on representative data sets from the US, N = 1,017, and Germany, N = 1030) addresses these issues by using a scenario-based experiment to analyze how satisfied voluntary simplifiers (people who voluntarily abstain from consumption) are with their purchase decisions in the case of a muesli brand. The research question is whether people who follow a sustainable, simple lifestyle are more satisfied with their daily consumption choices than people who have a more consumerist lifestyle. If so, it would be easier for many people to change their lifestyles and consume less. In addition, this scenario experiment manipulates consumer empowerment and decision complexity since both factors are supposed to influence purchase satisfaction. The results are consistent acrossEnhancing consumer satisfaction and well-being is an important objective of companies, retailers and public policy makers. In the current debate on climate change, a consistent theme is that consumers in developed countries must learn to consume less. The present study (based on representative data sets from the US, N = 1,017, and Germany, N = 1030) addresses these issues by using a scenario-based experiment to analyze how satisfied voluntary simplifiers (people who voluntarily abstain from consumption) are with their purchase decisions in the case of a muesli brand. The research question is whether people who follow a sustainable, simple lifestyle are more satisfied with their daily consumption choices than people who have a more consumerist lifestyle. If so, it would be easier for many people to change their lifestyles and consume less. In addition, this scenario experiment manipulates consumer empowerment and decision complexity since both factors are supposed to influence purchase satisfaction. The results are consistent across both countries and indicate that voluntary simplifiers experience a higher level of purchasing satisfaction than non-simplifiers, whereby empowerment and decision complexity play different roles.…
| Author details: | Ingo BalderjahnORCiDGND, Barbara SeegebarthORCiDGND, Michael S. W. Lee |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124802 |
| ISSN: | 0959-6526 |
| ISSN: | 1879-1786 |
| Title of parent work (English): | Journal of cleaner production |
| Subtitle (English): | The rationale behind the decision-making style of voluntary simplifiers |
| Publisher: | Elsevier Science |
| Place of publishing: | Amsterdam |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of first publication: | 2020/10/26 |
| Publication year: | 2021 |
| Release date: | 2024/02/22 |
| Tag: | consumer empowerment; decision complexity; sustainable consumption; voluntarily simplicity; well-being |
| Volume: | 284 |
| Article number: | 124802 |
| Number of pages: | 12 |
| Organizational units: | Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Wirtschaftswissenschaften / Fachgruppe Betriebswirtschaftslehre |
| DDC classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft |
| 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 69 Hausbau, Bauhandwerk / 690 Hausbau, Bauhandwerk | |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
