Study Overview
This article presents an empirical analysis of the impact of sustainability information on consumer purchase intentions and how this influence varies by issue (health, environment, and social responsibility), product category, type of consumer, and type of information. We assess over 40,000 online purchase interactions on the website GoodGuide.com and find a significant impact of certain types of sustainability information on purchase intentions, varying across different types of consumers, issues, and product categories.
Study Results
Health ratings in particular showed the strongest effects. Direct users—those who intentionally sought out sustainability information—were most strongly influenced by sustainability information, with an average purchase intention rate increase of 1.15 percentage points for each point increase in overall product score, reported on a zero to ten scale. However, sustainability information had, on average, no impact on nondirect users, demonstrating that simply providing more or better information on sustainability issues will likely have limited impact on changing mainstream consumer behavior unless it is designed to connect into existing decision-making processes.
Journal Publication: O'Rourke, Dara and Abraham Ringer, (2016), The Impact of Sustainability Information on Consumer Decision Making, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20, (4), 882-892
IBSI Funding Acknowledgement: Center for Responsible Business (CRB)
News & media
How to Make Sustainability Less Like Spinach
October 13, 2015
“We have to take the attitudes of mainstream consumers very seriously,” he says. “In the market, we are often overwhelmed by choices and constrained by time. In that setting, people fall back on their default settings – what they already know or what is cheapest. The more we understand their attitudes, the more we can help them follow their own stated values.”