A holistic approach to understanding sustainable consumer behavior and attitudes toward sustainable consumption : case company EcoGarmonia

This Bachelor’s thesis sought to gain insights in sustainable consumption of EcoGarmonia’s current and potential customers through analyzing actual sustainable consumer behavior in the nutrition sector as well as overall attitudes toward sustainable consumption. As the company seeks new opportunities in the market to further promote sustainable consumption on different levels, it is essential for EcoGarmonia to understand their current and potential customers’ behavior and attitudes toward sustainable consumption. Quantitative data collection method was used as the primary research method. Particularly, measurement of sustainable consumer behavior in the nutrition category as well as attitudes toward sustainable consumption were examined through questionnaires distributed among current and potential customers of EcoGarmonia. In this research both sustainable consumer behavior and attitudes toward sustainable consumption were viewed from the perspective of three sustainability dimensions: social, economic and environmental. Particularly, sustainable behavior was measured by using the SCB nutrition scale, which takes into consideration all phases of consumption (accusation, usage and disposal), sustainability dimensions as well as the level of impact of certain activities on sustainability. Furthermore, the 5-point Likert scale was used to form the basis of the questions that measured attitudes toward sustainable consumption. Attitudes were measured by taking into account all three components of attitudes (affective, cognitive and behavioral) as well as the sustainability dimensions. The outcome of the thesis gives insights in sustainable consumption of current and potential customers of EcoGarmonia. Particularly, the data revealed that consumers have more positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability compared to socio-economic sustainability. Additionally, the overall behavior of the consumers can be rated as average as most of the sustainable activities were performed occasionally. However, the respondents exhibited clearly positive behavior in regard to environmentally sustainable behavior on the disposal stage of consumption