Factors behind the Consumer Acceptance of Sustainable Business Models in Pandemic Times

Maria Csutora, Gabor Harangozo and Cecilia Szigeti
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Maria Csutora: Sustainability Indicators Research Centre, Corvinus University of Budapest, 8 Fovam ter, 1093 Budapest, Hungary
Cecilia Szigeti: Centre of Excellence for Sustainability Impacts in Business and Society, Faculty of Finance and Accountancy, Budapest Business School, 10–12 Buzogany u., 1149 Budapest, Hungary

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: A huge set of sustainable business models have emerged during recent decades to promote decarbonization, but the drivers of their consumer adoption remain somewhat unclear. This paper examines these drivers based on a sample of 622 university students during the second wave of COVID-19 at the end of 2020. Our research links business models to the theory of planned behavior and discusses their adoption from a consumer perspective. Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified five major and nine minor components of SBM adoption. Findings suggest that functional benefits, general attitudes, and habits may play a more important role in these factors than sustainability values during the second wave of pandemic. Still, sustainability values have neither lost nor gained momentum during hard times. Thrift, localization, and digitalization have become more dominant. We find that some SBM models are very strongly embedded in consumer culture, so the spread of SBM models does not necessarily lead to a reduction in environmental impacts.

Keywords: sustainable business models; consumer acceptance; theory of planned behavior; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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