Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally ...

values are highly individualistic, consumers who participate in sustainability point to a common value:
responsibility. For many consumers, the recognition of responsibility for societal issues is often
accompanied by feelings of guilt. The presence of guilt reflects both recognition of responsibility and
the necessity for a response. Many consumers echo the following statement, ―I feel guilty because I
don‗t want to be irresponsible. That‗s why I choose not to buy things from places I don‗t agree with.
As long as it‗s in my power, I can no longer tolerate doing the wrong thing.‖
Intent
The presence of responsibility and recognition of personal agency, or Values, paves the way for the
third aspect of a sustainability frame of mind: Intent. This third piece catapults consumers from
merely having a mindset towards sustainability to actually participating behaviorally. Many individuals
may in fact be aware of a variety of societal concerns and may even feel a responsibility to behave a
particular way; it is only when consumers intentionally take action in light of those attitudes
that they cross the boundary from frame of mind to behavior. This process can happen in
strikingly different ways for different consumers. It may be an incremental, cumulative process or a
particular event that acts as a ―tipping point.‖
Behavioral participation in the World
of Sustainability is also highly
variable. Depending on what
triggered a consumers‘ awareness in
the first place and how it connects to
their values, an individual‘s
sustainability behavior may begin
with any number of things—
volunteering at one‗s school, planting
a tree, purchasing Fair Trade
Figure 22 – Frame of Mind
products, and so on. However, it is that
intentional behavior, whatever it may be, that makes one fully apart of the World of Sustainability.
Intent Places You in the World of Sustainability
Intentional behavior demonstrates an awareness or knowledge of sustainability concerns and an
acceptance of personal responsibility that transfers consumers from simply having a sustainability
frame of mind to actual behavioral participation. In order for a consumer to be considered as present
within our World model of Sustainability, they must have demonstrated intentional behavior
motivated by a desire to positively impact society, the economy, or the environment in order
for it to be a reflection of sustainability mindedness. Intentionality was measured quantitatively
in our Sustainability study from 2009, and only 12% of consumers were found to be outside the
World of Sustainability.
40