“Sustainable Sustainability – How do we do it?”

Abstract: Title – “Sustainable Sustainability, how do we do it? A study in consumer behavior and the path towards a sustainable society” Seminar date – 2015-05-26 Course – FEKN90 Master Thesis in Science and Business Administration, 30 ECTS. Authors – Niklas Dahlberg and Jonathan Jansson Supervisor – Matts Kärreman Key Words – Sustainability, consumer behavior, consumer decision making, demand creation for sustainability initiatives, cognitive dissonance. Purpose – Contribute to understanding why and when consumers adopt sustainable practices, what factors affect their decision and their perception of sustainability. Methodology – Qualitative methods are used following an inductive process. A single case study with semi-structured in-depth interviews has been conducted as well as multiple semi- structured focus groups and semi-structured individual in-depth interviews with consumers. Theory – The theory focuses on sustainability as a concept, consumer behavior theory, decision making theory and cognitive dissonance theory. Additional theory has been added to provide a solid theoretical foundation. Empirical Foundation – The focus groups were conducted at Lund University in Sweden, the case study was made on the sustainability project “Sustainable Hökarängen” in Stockholm and the in-depth interviews with consumers were conducted with participants in the project “Bokompakt” outside of Lund. Conclusions – We have created and revised a theoretical framework, based on previous literature and our empirical findings, that aims to present factors affecting consumer behavior and the decision making process in terms of sustainability. A discrepancy between the trends of the academic world and the perception of sustainability among consumers has also been noted.