towards sustainable society transforming materialistic consumerism

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

Transforming materialistic consumerism

9.6.2011Arto O. Salonen, PhD, Helsinki Metropolia UAS, arto.salonen@gmail.comMauri Åhlberg, Professor, University of Helsinki, mauri.ahlberg@helsinki.fi

Background: Value shift from materialism to post-materialism

 Maslow (1954)

 Physiological needs and safety needs

 Social inclusion and needs of love, needs of esteem and achievements  

 Allardt (1976) 

 Having

 Loving and being 

 Inglehart (1977) 

 Materialism

 Post-materialism 

 Schwartz (1992)

 Security, conservation, self-enhancement

 Universalism, openness to change, self-transcendence 

Research question

Which attitudinal factors correlate with post-materialistic behavior?

Operationalizing of post-materialistic behavior:

(a)Importance of owning (having) is decreased

(b)Services are used instead of owning goods

(c)Renewal of goods is motivated by real needs

Informants: Finnish university students, 18-40 years old, n = 198

Measurement tool: 36 items to be rated with nine-step semantic differential scale

Method: Logistic regression analysis

Material and methods

Environmental sustainability

• Recycling• Taking care of hazardous

waste• Composting• Favoring walking, cycling

and public transport• Saving energy• Using renewable energy

sources • Water saving • Housing temperature max.

21C• Vegetarian diet• Organic food• Local food

Economic sustainability

• Product longevity and durability

• Favoring eco-labeled products

• Quantity and quality of packaging

• Product recyclability• Favoring products and

services of forefront companies

• Vibrant local business• Vibrant small business• Quality of the materials in

commodities• Product repair eligibility• Quantity and quality of

product manufacturing waste

• Energy efficiency in product manufacture and use

Social sustainability

• Communality• Equality and tolerance• Health-promoting lifestyle• Social inclusion• Global poverty reduction • Elimination of public health

risks • Consumer´s social

responsibility• Intergenerational link• Maintaining of civil society• Volunteering• Use of study opportunities

Replacing goods and equipment only when broken

Low value for ownershipUse of services instead of owning goods

ATTITUDES (dependent variables)

POST-MATERIALISTIC BEHAVIOR (independent variable)

Results

Seven factors separated the characteristics differentiating informants1:

1. Health promoting lifestyle, p≤0.0002. Recycling, p≤0.0003. Organic food, p≤0.0004. Water conservation, p≤0.0015. Maintaining of civil society, p≤0.0146. Favoring eco-labeled products, p≤0.0457. Using renewable energy resources2, p≤0.100

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Cox and Snell pseudo R-square was .53 and Nagelkerke pseudo R-square .71 indicating that the fit of the model to the data was moderate.

2. The odds ratio of the 7th variable was 1.96. According to Field (2009, 290) a variable with an odds ratio greater than 1 is supposed to take to the model.

Conclusion: Model of Sustainability Promoting Social Change

EDUCATION Personal factors,

Identity

GOVERNMENTAL GUIDANCE Contextual factors,

Society

Post-materialistic behavior

Importance of owning is decreased, Services are used instead of owning goods and Renewal of goods is motivated by real needs.

FIGURE 1. The model of the sustainability promoting social change: structuration of sustainable attitudes and behavior

Positive attitudes towards

Health promoting lifestyle

Recycling

Organic food

Water conservation

Maintaining of civil society

Eco-labeled products

Renewable energy resources

The correlational nature of the attitudinal and behavior factors leaves open the direction of behavior change.

Attitude might be a driver of behavior

or

Post-materialistic behavior can cause particular attitude

Discussion

We used weak sustainability framework all the dimensions had the same

weight

Vital ecosystem services are the precondition for mankind's survival

strong sustainability framework is essential in forthcoming research

FIGURE 2. The weak sustainability framework on the left and the strong sustainability framework on the right

Society, human rights

Viable ecosystemsRobust economy

Viable ecosystems

Society, human rights

Robust economy

The ultimate and fundamental goal for

a sustainability research is to determine a safe

social and economic operation base for humanity on the planet Earth

Thank you!

Arto O. Salonen, PhD, Helsinki Metropolia UAS, arto.salonen@gmail.comMauri Åhlberg, Professor, University of Helsinki, mauri.ahlberg@helsinki.fi