Green Consumption Practices Among Young Environmentalists: A Practice Theory Perspective

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 152; no. 3; pp. 843 - 864
• Main Authors: Perera, Chamila, Auger, Pat, Klein, Jill
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.10.2018; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Business Ethics; Consumer organizations; Consumers; Consumption; Credibility; Education; Empowerment; Environmental ethics; Environmentalists; Ethics; Green marketing; Happiness; Management; Meaning; Original Paper; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Respondents; Subjective experiences; Environmentalists; Qualitative research; Green consumption; Practice theory
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3376-3

We examined the subjective experiences of young environmentalists who engage in green consumption practices from the theoretical lens of Warde's (J Consum Cult 5(2): 131-153, 2005) practice theory. Data were gathered through 21 photo-elicited, in-depth interviews with young environmentalists. Based on our findings, we postulated a theoretical framework to understand green consumption practices among our informants as a process with three interrelated phases: green credibility seeking, green procurement and prosumption, and green whispers. This inductive investigation revealed various symbolic meanings of green consumption (e.g. happiness and empowerment) that are instrumental in effectively engaging in green consumption practice and are widely shared among our informants. Our investigation extends the existing literature on green consumption with an alternative theoretical perspective and provides managers with insights into the motivations and practices of green consumers.