Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
(N/A)
BERKELEY,CA 94720
Performing Department
Society and Environment
Non Technical Summary
In the United States almost 70 percent of GDP is driven by what the government classifies as ?personal consumption expenditures.? Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on food, housing, apparel, transportation, paper products, electronics, even cosmetics. The specifics of these purchases ? the kinds of cars we drive (and whether we use mass transit), the food we eat (and how much meat that includes), the type of housing we live in, etc. etc. ? are central to not only the state of the US economy, but also to some of our largest environmental and human health challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, sweatshops, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc. To put bluntly, consumer decisions are critical for sustainability outcomes. The goal of this project is to conduct research on consumer decision-making that can draw lessons for education, policy, and the public interest. This project will conduct research on consumer decision-making processes to evaluate root drivers of consumption decisions, how changes in sustainability information can influence behaviors, and how successful information experiments might be employed to advance more sustainable consumption. Ultimately we are interested in drawing lessons from this research to move production and consumption systems towards more sustainable dynamics. This project is unique in that we will move beyond public surveys and small-scale experiments to large-N empirical data on actual consumer decision-making through access to anonymized data from a consumer website (http://GoodGuide.com), which currently has over 600,000 consumers per month using its web and mobile apps, along with experiments we will run through the Berkeley Xlab. The project will analyze how different types of information, delivered at different stages in the consumption process, can influence consumer decision-making. The research will study what information, in what forms, at what point in the purchasing process has the most influence. The research will also assess the impacts of ?feedback? loops that show consumers the impacts of their decisions. In order to conduct this research, our project will develop and adapt new information technologies and test them to evaluate how changes in sustainability information provision and delivery influence consumer behavior. This research will lead to an increased understanding of consumption processes, and to tools to advance sustainable consumption. We will forge interdisciplinary collaborations between environmental scientists, behavioral economists, and computer and information scientists. The project will develop a platform for research as well as specific tools that support engagement and decision making by the public, present information about sustainability impacts of consumer choices via computer interfaces, and test persuasive technologies and decision support tools to increase awareness of sustainable consumption.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
In this research, we will analyze how different types of information, delivered at different stages in the consumption process, influence consumer decision-making. The research will involve studying: What factors shape and constrain peoples consumption choices and action When and why people buy greener/healthier, more socially responsible products Whether (and how) consumers can be encouraged towards more sustainable choices Whether information about a product or companys environmental, social, or health performance can influence a purchasing decision What information (health vs. environmental, etc.) has the most influence When in the purchasing process How does price and quality information interact with (or trump) environmental, social, and health information What are the most effective types of "feedback" loops in consumption information What do the findings from our empirical research imply for future policies to change institutional purchasers, retailers, brands, and supply chains The research seeks to inform academic debates, public policy, and consumer choices through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, and academic and popular publishing. The project will also develop and test tools to deliver information to consumers, and comparatively analyze the effectiveness of information systems across different issue areas. The research will result in a series of academic articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The larger public education goal of the project will be advanced through writing "popular" articles and developing web and cellphone tools for delivering information to the public on the environmental and social impacts of industry. This effort to communicate our findings in multiple forms to wide audiences will lead to broader impacts of the research. We hope to contribute to public understandings the impacts of consumption choices, and to public debates about what brands, retailers, and governments can do to address the root causes of problems in these supply chains.
Project Methods
Consumer decision-making is neither purely rational, nor static. In fact, major changes are underway in how consumers receive and use information, where they get information, what sources they trust, and what they do with information once they have it. Given the complexities of the shopping process, it is desirable to move out of the controlled setting of the laboratory to study consumers "in the wild" as they experience real trade-offs in price, quality, sustainability, and marketing experiences. This project will examine the impact of sustainability information (environmental, social, and health ratings of products and companies) on consumer purchases while they shop online. We will observe consumer activity on live websites. This analysis is novel in that it moves beyond past research that has depended on survey instruments to assess how much consumers care about sustainability and social issues. As Auger & Devinney (2007) have shown, research utilizing "unconstrained survey responses" regarding concerns about an issue do not correlate well with what people actually do while operating in contexts where information is limited, trade-offs exist in price, quality, etc., and no interviewer is judging them on their responses. This project will study the impact of sustainability information on purchase intentions, and how this influence varies by issue (health, environment, social responsibility); product category (food vs. personal care vs. paper products vs. electronics); type of consumer; and type of information. We will conduct empirical analysis on hundreds of thousands of online purchases. We will conduct multivariate statistical analysis on web and mobile consumers over set time periods. Through a series of experiments we will analyze how variations in information and ratings influence purchase decisions. We will run structured (A/B) tests in real-time to measure the influence of information variations. We will conduct this research through GoodGuide.com, its browser plug-in, and its iPad shopping app, as well as through experiments with the Berkeley Xlab. We will use the empirical analysis to draw recommendations for the design of sustainability information systems and broader efforts to encourage more sustainable consumption. The research seeks to inform academic debates, public policy, and consumer choices through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, and academic and popular publishing.