Investigating determinant factors of consumers’ sustainable consumption in Scandinavia : Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior model in clean and fabric care

Abstract: The study aimed to explore the determinant factors that influence consumers’ sustainable consumption, or more specifically consumers living in Scandinavia. The study seeked to understand what influences Scandinavian people to purchase a sustainable product based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) including the attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. To conduct a better approach, a case company was involved in the working process, with the help of which, the focus became more specific into fabric and clean care appliances such as dish machines, washing machines and dryers. To provide an exhaustive answer to the research questions, three hypotheses were conducted which were built based on the TPB model.  The study used a quantitative approach where an online survey was made. The survey was shared with people living in the Scandinavian countries Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, where 291 answers were collected. To analyze all the answers, SPSS statistics was used where each country was individually analyzed.  The results showed that an individual’s attitude and perceived behavioral control have a significant influence on the behavioural intention to perform sustainable consumption in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark while the subjective norm does not affect the sustainable consumption in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Finland was the only country that had an accepted hypothesis on the subjective norm which means that finish people get influenced by the subjective norms.