Our consumer behavior is an important driver of sustainability. Accordingly, numerous proposals on how to measure sustainable consumption behavior have been developed in recent years. In order to systematize the diversity and provide an integrated framework for measuring sustainable consumption behavior, we proposed the sustainable consumption behavior cube (SCB-cube), which distinguishes between consumption phases, consumption areas, sustainability dimensions and impact levels (see figure from Geiger, Fischer & Schrader, 2018). In there, we define sustainable consumption behavior as follows:
Sustainable consumption behavior refers to
individual acts of satisfying needs in different areas of life by acquiring, using and disposing goods and services that do not compromise the ecological and socio-economic conditions of all people (currently living or in the future) to satisfy their own needs.
We used the SCB-cube model to develop 2 scales for sustainable consumption behavior in the areas of food and fashion. These scales were developed and tested in the BiNKA project (education for sustainable consumption through mindfulness training).
The technical report of the project contains all scales used in the project, including the SCB-scales for the areas of food and fashion (see pages 51-52 for food and pages 53-54 for fashion).
Please note that the scales were developed in German.
An English version of the scales has been published as supplementary material to the results paper on the effects of the mindfulness-based intervention of the BiNKA project (Geiger, Fischer, Schrader & Grossman, 2020)
An adapted and validated version of the SCB-scale for young consumers (YCSCB scale) is available here.
References
Fischer, D., Böhme, T., & Geiger, S. M. (2017). Measuring Young Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Behavior: Development and Validation of the YCSCB Scale. Young Consumers, 18(3), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-03-2017-00671
Geiger, S., Fischer, D., & Schrader, U. (2017). Technischer Bericht zum quantitativen Studiendesign von BiNKA: Design, Sample, Definitionen und Operationalisierungen der erhobenen Variablen. http://achtsamkeit-und-konsum.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017_Geiger_TechnischerReport.pdf
Geiger, S. M., Fischer, D., & Schrader, U. (2018). Measuring What Matters in Sustainable Consumption: An Integrative Framework for the Selection of Relevant Behaviors. Sustainable Development, 26(1), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1688
Geiger, S. M., Fischer, D., Schrader, U., & Grossman, P. (2020). Meditating for the Planet: Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Sustainable Consumption Behaviors. Environment and Behavior, 52(9), 1012–1042. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916519880897
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