Lucie K. Ozanne

Sustainable Consumption: Opportunities for Consumer Research and Public Policy

This essay explores sustainable consumption and considers possible roles for marketing and consumer researchers and public policy makers in addressing the many sustainability challenges that pervade the planet. Future research approaches to this interdisciplinary topic must be comprehensive and systematic and would benefit from a variety of different perspectives. There are several opportunities for further research; the authors explore three areas in detail. First, they consider the inconsistency between the attitudes and behaviors of consumers with respect to sustainability. Second, they broaden the agenda to explore the role of individual citizens in society. Third, they propose a macroinstitutional approach to fostering sustainability. For each of these separate, but interrelated, opportunities, the authors examine the area in detail and consider possible research avenues and public policy initiatives.

A conceptual model of US consumer willingness‐to‐pay for environmentally certified wood products

Global industrialization and the subsequent dwindling of many natural resources have become elements for product differentiation in marketing. Environmental certification programs are increasingly being recognized as significant market‐based tools for linking manufacturing and consumer purchases. This research examines the relationships between intrinsic environmental motivations and the willingness‐to‐pay a premium for environmentally certified wood products. A conceptual model is proposed that captures the effects of perceptions, awareness and price on consumer willingness to purchase and pay a premium for environmentally certified forest products. The data suggest that there are positive correlations between the willingness‐to‐pay and the independent variables in the model, environmental consciousness, certification involvement and perceived importance of certification. A cluster of US consumers was identified that has a proclivity to purchase certified wood products and may be a logical target market.

A Child's Right to Play: The Social Construction of Civic Virtues in Toy Libraries

In general, communities throughout the world hold that children have a fundamental right to play. Public policies and laws have long aimed to promote play by providing a range of financial and material resources. Toy libraries are an important resource that can provide children with vital developmental tools for play by allowing families to borrow toys in a process similar to public book libraries. An empirical study of a contemporary group of toy libraries explores how families use toy libraries to construct different social meanings. The toy library is an important way that parents can mediate their childrens relationship with the marketplace. Moreover, different conceptualizations of citizenship are modeled within this institution based on the sharing of collective goods.

Gender, Environmentalism, and Interest in Forest Certification: Mohai's Paradox Revisited

This research corroborates work by Mohai (1992) and others showing a consistent gender difference in environmental concern favoring women. It also helps resolve a paradox that women show more environmental concern than men, but they are less environmentally active. Using data from a survey of U.S. homeowners completed in 1994, we again find women more environmentally concerned than men. However, when green consumerism, rather than membership in environmental organizations, is used as an indicator of environmentalism (the dependent variable), women tend to be more environmentally active than men.

Examining temporary disposition and acquisition in peer-to-peer renting

Abstract This study examines the nature of temporary disposition and acquisition in the context of online peer-to-peer (P2P) renting. Although renting is becoming increasingly popular, little is known about the phenomenon as practised between peers. P2P renting is a form of non-ownership access that enables renters to temporarily access goods, but also provides those that rent the ability to temporarily dispose of their possessions. Theoretically driven thematic analysis identifies that P2P renting is characterised as a self-service exchange with extensive co-creation and a balanced market-mediated exchange involving short-term intermittent transactions driven by a desire for community, inspired by political consumerism. However, fear of negative reciprocity, the high-involvement nature of the transaction, limited access to products and the inflexible nature of P2P rental sites impede the practice. Having a better understanding of current attitudes towards P2P renting may help with the design of future online P2P systems.

Hospitality Industry Responses to Climate Change: A Benchmark Study of Taiwanese Tourist Hotels

Hotels are one of the tourism businesses most vulnerable to climate change because of their fixed assets. Results are presented of a baseline study that explores the awareness, attitudes, and behaviours of Taiwanese tourist hotels with respect to climate change and its potential impacts as well as their overall environmental practices. Tourist hotels are defined by the Taiwanese government as hotel establishments of over 80 rooms in rural areas and 50 rooms in city areas. Although the 104 tourist hotels represent only 3.7% of the total number of hotels in Taiwan, they account for over half of international guest nights and had a combined revenue of over TWD

Managing the Tensions at the Intersection of the Triple Bottom Line: A Paradox Theory Approach to Sustainability Management

43 billion in 2010. Questionnaires were distributed via email to all tourist hotels in Taiwan and 45 valid returns were received, representing an effective response rate of 43.3%. The results of research illustrate the level of understanding of climate change within Taiwanese tourist hotels and identify the specific climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies that tourist hotels have initiated. Access to such baseline data provides a potentially significant contribution to evaluating the response of the Taiwanese accommodation sector to environment change as well as providing a basis for further comparative studies and benchmarking.

Consequences of corporate environmental marketing strategies in New Zealand organisations

Corporate sustainability management encompasses multiple dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. Companies are increasingly evaluated within the public sphere, and within their own organizations, according to the degree to which they are perceived to simultaneously promote this nexus of virtues. This article seeks to explore the tensions frequently faced by organizations that strive to manage these dimensions and the role of public policy in that pursuit. A multiple–case study approach is utilized in which the authors selected case organizations according to whether they were attempting to manage the three dimensions of sustainability. The authors utilize paradox theory and a typology provided by previous research to understand the nature of the tensions that emerge in the selected case study organizations. They extend this previous work by examining the role of public policy in providing the situational conditions to make these paradoxical tensions salient, and they examine organizational responses to these conditions. Directions for firms, policy makers, and future researchers are provided on the basis of this studys findings.

How alternative consumer markets can build community resiliency

Purpose – This research aims to present an exploratory study of the consequences of environmental marketing strategies in New Zealand organisations. In general, empirical research on the impact of environmental practices on organisational outcomes is limited and inconclusive, thus a greater understanding of the consequences associated with successful corporate environmental (CE) organisations is needed.Design/methodology/approach – Eight in‐depth interviews were conducted with leading and proactive CE organisations in New Zealand.Findings – General consequences including innovation, strategic alliances, and improved public relations were found in addition to consequences specifically related to product/service, process‐, and project‐dominant environmental marketing strategies. Negative consequences were also identified.Research limitations/implications – Owing to the broad nature of the study, it is not possible to make substantial inferences between different industries or specific organisation types and...

The experience of risk in families: conceptualisations and implications for transformative consumer research

Purpose Time banking is a form of alternative consumer market where members trade services, non-reciprocally creating a local marketplace for services. Time Banks facilitate dyadic exchanges, meeting members’ practical needs and building diverse skills. The purpose of this research was to determine the broad capabilities developed in the Time Bank economy, and to demonstrate how these capabilities were mobilised following a series of earthquakes, contributing to the larger community’s resiliency. Design/methodology/approach Taking an ethnographic approach, data were collected using a variety of methods including interviews, focus groups, participant observation and secondary research. Findings Over time, this alternative consumer market developed a significant communication and social network that members activated to solve diverse practical problems facing the community. Similar to other exchange communities, the Time Bank also fostered a strong sense of community based on reciprocity and egalitarian values. Although the Time Bank was created as a marketplace to exchange local services, during a series of devastating earthquakes, it galvanised adaptive capacities, increasing the resiliency of the local community during disaster relief and reconstruction. Research limitations/implications The data were drawn from one alternative exchange system in New Zealand. Practical implications The study shows how grassroots alternative consumer markets like Time Banks build community capacities alongside the formal economy. During normal times, this system meets consumer needs, but in extraordinary times, this system provides community shock absorbers, thereby enhancing community resiliency. Social implications The Time Bank was particularly adept at leveraging local knowledge to provide social support to those residents who were most vulnerable. Originality/value Data were collected before, during, and after the earthquakes, providing a rare opportunity to explore the process of community resiliency in action. This research extends existing theories of community resiliency explaining the development and activation of capacities by a local alternative consumer market.