Going Vegan: The Role(s) of ICT in Vegan Practice Transformation

Dennis Lawo, Margarita Esau, Philip Engelbutzeder and Gunnar Stevens
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Dennis Lawo: Information Systems, University of Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Germany
Margarita Esau: Information Systems, University of Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Germany
Philip Engelbutzeder: Information Systems, University of Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Germany
Gunnar Stevens: Information Systems, University of Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-22

Abstract: With the debate on climate change, topics of diet change and the reduction of animal products have become increasingly important in both public and academic discourses. However, sustainable ICT studies have so far focused on individual aspects, in particular investigating the criticized persuasive design approach. We argue for a broader perspective on the role(s) of ICT, one that helps in identifying opportunities to support consumer practice transformation, beyond motivational aspects. Based on retrospective interviews with 16 vegans, we argue to understand practice transformation as co-evolution of practices and ICT artefacts, as this perspective helps to understand how tensions arising from complex entanglements of practices, socio-material contexts, and communities can be resolved. Rather than a motivational process, we observe various roles of ICT artefacts co-evolving with practices: Ranging from initial irritation, to access to information about vegan practices, to the learning of vegan food literacy, to the negotiation of a vegan identity, and vegan norms at the intersection of the ‘odd’ and the ‘norm’.

Keywords: vegan; practice theory; co-evolution; ICT; consumer informatics; sustainability; design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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