Carbon Footprints & Consumer Purchasing Decisions Online : A Case Study at Klarna Bank AB

Abstract: Sustainable consumption is used to describe consumer behaviors which aim to reduce environmental impact. One way of measuring sustainable consumption is by tracking products’ carbon footprint. Today however, there is limited research on how carbon footprint information is influencing consumers online, and few online tools which allow consumers to track carbon footprints for specific products before the point of purchase. The purpose of the thesis is to design a sustainability tool which contains product level carbon footprint information as well as to test and evaluate how the information affects sustainable consumption. Theory from the fields of Human Computer Interaction and Carbon Footprint research was used in a multi-method qualitative study. Expert interviews and qualitative usability tests were conducted during the thesis as means of collecting empirical data. The study concludes that carbon footprint information should be introduced in the search phase of the consumer journey. The information should then progressively become more detailed as the consumer approaches the point of purchase. The study found that displaying carbon footprint information affects sustainable consumption positively in the tested online environment. However, personal preference and cost constitute a large part of consumers' choices as well. The study extends the research on carbon footprints by including results from an online environment. Future research should be conducted using quantitative methods to validate the results of this study on larger samples. Other product categories should also be tested as a way of investigating if the same consumption patterns emerge across different product categories.