multidisciplinary nature of sustainability. While sustainability in general is
associated with a long-term economic liability and a good management of the
limited natural resources (Lee et al. 2016), the mainstream discourse is occupied
by sustainable development. There are numerous definitions for it (Glavič and
Lukman 2007; Johnston et al. 2007), mostly pointing to the three dimensions in
interaction – economic, environmental and social – and to sustainable consumption
as part of the framework. More specific descriptors range from eco-efficiency
requirements in production to green markets and a lower level of individual consumption (Mont and Plepys 2008). Closely related, the notion of green consumption
also elicits various similar meanings, with a slight focus on green buying, either fair
trade or organic (Gilg et al. 2005). Within this composite and dense literature, there
is still an important attitude–behavior intention gap concerning the declarative side
of achieving sustainable production and consumption versus the actual changes
implemented to reach this objective (Vermeir and Verbeke 2006). Although consumers are aware of the importance of keeping the environment safe, they don’t
generally consume in a sustainable way (Francis and Davis 2015; Gadenne et al.
2011; Kolkailah et al. 2012; Leary et al. 2014; Liobikienė et al. 2014; Liu et al.
2012), and green consumers represent a small share of the total population (Gleim
et al. 2013).From global to national perspectives, the current agenda in Romania
revolves mostly on sustainable development as a general desiderate, with average
results to show off (Moran et al. 2008), and very little on sustainable consumption.
The lack of focus on individual behaviors opens up the research niche addressed by
this chapter: arguing for the significant impact of individual consumption on
unsustainable development (Thøgersen 2014), as well as acknowledging the intricacies of measurement for what may constitute a sustainable behavior in a certain
area of life (Geiger et al. 2018).
Important streams of literature investigate either adult sustainable consumption
behavior (mostly in relation with income levels) or teenager’s sustainable consumption behavior, a period associated with a decreasing interest for the sustainability and
environmental issues (Olsson and Gericke 2015; Stanes et al. 2015). With respect to
the younger segments, many of the studies focused on revealing important disparities in regard to sustainable consumption behavior (Lee 2016; Perera et al. 2018;
Hume 2010; Hitchings et al. 2013; Francis and Davis 2015; Brici et al. 2013; Xu
2008; Quoquab et al. 2013). Our aim is to strengthen this line of investigation by
examining the behavior of the college student population in Romania. We believe
this to be a more realistic inflection point for feasible intervention given that this is
the stage when most of students obtain a higher degree of autonomy in making daily
choices in terms of both expenses and potential independent incomes (given the high
percentage of Romanian students working part or full time during their studies).To
conduct our investigation regarding the individual behavior in terms of food and
clothing, we choose an already validated instrument, the young consumers’ sustainable consumption behavior (YCSCB) scale (Fischer et al. 2017). The main purpose
of the study is to assess to what extent the results obtained from applying the YCSCB
scale on a Romanian sample of students are comparable to those obtained on the
German sample of teenagers. Secondly, we investigate the association between the
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associated with a long-term economic liability and a good management of the
limited natural resources (Lee et al. 2016), the mainstream discourse is occupied
by sustainable development. There are numerous definitions for it (Glavič and
Lukman 2007; Johnston et al. 2007), mostly pointing to the three dimensions in
interaction – economic, environmental and social – and to sustainable consumption
as part of the framework. More specific descriptors range from eco-efficiency
requirements in production to green markets and a lower level of individual consumption (Mont and Plepys 2008). Closely related, the notion of green consumption
also elicits various similar meanings, with a slight focus on green buying, either fair
trade or organic (Gilg et al. 2005). Within this composite and dense literature, there
is still an important attitude–behavior intention gap concerning the declarative side
of achieving sustainable production and consumption versus the actual changes
implemented to reach this objective (Vermeir and Verbeke 2006). Although consumers are aware of the importance of keeping the environment safe, they don’t
generally consume in a sustainable way (Francis and Davis 2015; Gadenne et al.
2011; Kolkailah et al. 2012; Leary et al. 2014; Liobikienė et al. 2014; Liu et al.
2012), and green consumers represent a small share of the total population (Gleim
et al. 2013).From global to national perspectives, the current agenda in Romania
revolves mostly on sustainable development as a general desiderate, with average
results to show off (Moran et al. 2008), and very little on sustainable consumption.
The lack of focus on individual behaviors opens up the research niche addressed by
this chapter: arguing for the significant impact of individual consumption on
unsustainable development (Thøgersen 2014), as well as acknowledging the intricacies of measurement for what may constitute a sustainable behavior in a certain
area of life (Geiger et al. 2018).
Important streams of literature investigate either adult sustainable consumption
behavior (mostly in relation with income levels) or teenager’s sustainable consumption behavior, a period associated with a decreasing interest for the sustainability and
environmental issues (Olsson and Gericke 2015; Stanes et al. 2015). With respect to
the younger segments, many of the studies focused on revealing important disparities in regard to sustainable consumption behavior (Lee 2016; Perera et al. 2018;
Hume 2010; Hitchings et al. 2013; Francis and Davis 2015; Brici et al. 2013; Xu
2008; Quoquab et al. 2013). Our aim is to strengthen this line of investigation by
examining the behavior of the college student population in Romania. We believe
this to be a more realistic inflection point for feasible intervention given that this is
the stage when most of students obtain a higher degree of autonomy in making daily
choices in terms of both expenses and potential independent incomes (given the high
percentage of Romanian students working part or full time during their studies).To
conduct our investigation regarding the individual behavior in terms of food and
clothing, we choose an already validated instrument, the young consumers’ sustainable consumption behavior (YCSCB) scale (Fischer et al. 2017). The main purpose
of the study is to assess to what extent the results obtained from applying the YCSCB
scale on a Romanian sample of students are comparable to those obtained on the
German sample of teenagers. Secondly, we investigate the association between the
160
R. Ianole-Călin et al.