A study on a configuration model for facilitating sustainable consumption: A case involving the automobile industry in Italy

Abstract An information transition gap exists between cleaner production and sustainable consumption. A previous study shows that adequate product-level sustainability information should be available to consumers. A set of product-level sustainability attributes that capture influencing factors to facilitate sustainable consumption behavior have been proposed. However, the weight of each attribute needs to be determined when these attributes are applied to a specific industry. Therefore, this study aims to further develop a configuration model for the automobile industry by using the knowledge of Italian experts. In this study, semi-structured interviews of experts were conducted, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to collect data for determining the weights of attributes. The data was analyzed by using an AHP software called Super Decisions. This study is the most important step in obtaining accurate weights of attributes in a specific industry from experts. The individual result of each case and their aggregate results regarding the prominence of attributes have been obtained. This configuration model integrated the social and environmental impact of a product for the first time and aims to provide this information to consumers. Furthermore, in the context of a specific industry, the weight of each attribute was provided to further develop an information transition tool to facilitate sustainable consumption. The proposed model is expected to contribute to the studies of developing an information transition approach to promote sustainable consumption and production.

[1]  Louis Lebel,et al.  Enabling Sustainable Production-Consumption Systems , 2008 .

[2]  D. Schmuck,et al.  Consumers' green involvement and the persuasive effects of emotional versus functional ads , 2014 .

[3]  T. Saaty.  Axiomatic foundation of the analytic hierarchy process , 1986 .

[4]  C. Carter,et al.  Environmental purchasing and firm performance: an empirical investigation , 2000 .

[5]  Sara González-García,et al.  Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of a Galician cheese: San Simon da Costa , 2013 .

[6]  Thomas E. Hendrick,et al.  Purchasing’s involvement in environmental issues: a multi‐country perspective , 1998 .

[7]  P. Kenning,et al.  Feed them facts: Value perceptions and consumer use of sustainability-related product information , 2014 .

[8]  Jordan J. Louviere,et al.  Do Social Product Features Have Value to Consumers , 2008 .

[9]  Peter Erskine Wells,et al.  The Automobile Industry & Sustainability , 2007 .

[10]  Brian Veitch,et al.  Life cycle iNdeX (LInX): a new indexing procedure for process and product design and decision-making , 2004 .

[11]  Jing Shao,et al.  Are present sustainability assessment approaches capable of promoting sustainable consumption? A cross-section review on information transferring approaches , 2016 .

[12]  Y. Wang,et al.  What affects green consumer behavior in China? A case study from Qingdao , 2014 .

[13]  Lutz Preuss.  In Dirty Chains? Purchasing and Greener Manufacturing , 2001 .

[14]  Sirpa Kurppa,et al.  Developing benchmarks for consumer-oriented life cycle assessment-based environmental information on products, services and consumption patterns , 2007 .

[15]  David Pitfield,et al.  ELASTIC – A methodological framework for identifying and selecting sustainable transport indicators , 2010 .

[16]  Maria Caridi,et al.  Environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains: An exploratory case based research , 2012 .

[17]  Miguel Ortega-Mier,et al.  A grey-DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) analysis on the barriers between environmentally friendly products and consumers: practitioners' viewpoints on the European automobile industry , 2016 .

[18]  A. Marucheck,et al.  Product safety and security in the global supply chain: Issues, challenges and research opportunities , 2011 .

[19]  Kirti Peniwati,et al.  Aggregating individual judgments and priorities with the analytic hierarchy process , 1998, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[20]  M. Björklund.  Influence from the business environment on environmental purchasing — Drivers and hinders of purchasing green transportation services , 2011 .

[21]  K. Grunert,et al.  Sustainability Labels on Food Products: Consumer Motivation, Understanding and Use , 2014 .

[22]  Marco Taisch,et al.  Influencing factors to facilitate sustainable consumption: from the experts' viewpoints , 2017 .

[23]  Anibal T. de Almeida,et al.  Impact of the electricity mix and use profile in the life-cycle assessment of electric vehicles , 2013 .

[24]  Victor Owusu,et al.  Consumer Willingness to Pay a Premium for Organic Fruit and Vegetable in Ghana , 2013 .

[25]  Patrick De Pelsmacker,et al.  Do Consumers Care about Ethics? Willingness to Pay for Fair‐Trade Coffee , 2005 .

[26]  Seung-Kyu Rhee,et al.  The measurement of corporate environmental performance and its application to the analysis of efficiency in oil industry , 2001 .

[27]  A. Dulsrud,et al.  Will Consumers Save The World? The Framing of Political Consumerism , 2007 .

[28]  Thomas H. Bradley,et al.  Design, demonstrations and sustainability impact assessments for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles , 2009 .

[29]  Seonaidh McDonald,et al.  Sustainable consumption: green consumer behaviour when purchasing products , 2009 .

[30]  E. Rex,et al.  Beyond ecolabels: what green marketing can learn from conventional marketing , 2007 .

[31]  Donald Huisingh,et al.  Procedures and criteria to develop and evaluate household sustainable consumption indicators , 2012 .

[32]  V. M. Rao Tummala,et al.  An application of the AHP in vendor selection of a telecommunications system , 2001 .

[33]  A. K. Dikshit,et al.  Development of composite sustainability performance index for steel industry , 2007 .

[34]  Bruce E. Barrett,et al.  Decision quality using ranked attribute weights , 1996 .

[35]  I. Tomasevic,et al.  Environmental life-cycle assessment of various dairy products , 2014 .

[36]  T. Saaty,et al.  The Analytic Hierarchy Process , 1985 .

[37]  Bodo B. Schlegelmilch,et al.  The link between green purchasing decisions and measures of environmental consciousness , 1996 .

[38]  Yinchu Zeng,et al.  Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay for green- and eco-labeled seafood. , 2012 .