Values, food and bags: A study of consumption decisions in a laboratory supermarket

Astrid Matthey () and Tim Kasser ()
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Astrid Matthey: Max-Planck-Insititute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group
Tim Kasser: Knox College, Department of Psychology

No 2013-007, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: We study the relation between people's personal values and environmentally friendly consumption behavior. We first assessed subjects' personal values using the Aspiration Index. Then subjects participated in a laboratory supermarket offering organic and conventional food products and different kinds of bags. The results suggest that subjects' personal values are poor predictors of their ecologically-relevant consumption behavior. However, we find that subjects who spontaneously reflected upon power values made less ecologically sustainable consumption decisions than did those who reflected on universalism values. We discuss methodological differences as possible reasons for variations between our results and those of earlier studies.

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Values; Conservation (Ecological Behavior) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 Q31 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-01-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cbe, nep-env and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2013-007

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