students (Lee et al. 2016). Muralidharan and Xue (2016) analyzed the same behavior
in India and China, with comparative studies revealing that the millennial’s concern
for green consumption is lower in India than in the USA (Muralidharan et al. 2016).
There are various other associated measurement instruments, ranging from green
consumption behaviors (Tanner and Wölfing Kast 2003; Gilg et al. 2005) or for the
socially responsible or ethical consumption behaviors, including socioeconomic
aspects such as fair working conditions (Pepper et al. 2009; Balderjahn et al.
2013). More empirical research can be traced for the former concept, green consumption, with extensive studies like the one of Paço et al. (2014) for a sample of
1175 university students in four countries (Portugal, Spain, the UK, and Germany).
The results showed that the Straughan and Roberts’ scale of green buyer’s behavior
is viable, stressing the relations between values, attitudes, and behaviors, as
suggested by several authors (Straughan and Roberts 1999; Lee 2009 for HongKong; Kim et al. 2012 for Korea).
Based on the model of a sustainable consumption behavior presented by Geiger
et al. (2018), Fischer et al. (2017) developed a scale for measuring the consumption
behavior of the German young people leaving with their parents in the area of food
and clothing. The validated instrument, through qualitative and quantitative studies,
offers a more pragmatic view of young people’s behavior since it translates into two
important dimensions of their lives and minimizes the biases induced by asking
participants to imagine themselves into hypothetical or too complex situations.
10.3 Data and Method
10.3.1 Data
Assessing a sustainable consumption behavior in an objective manner is a strong
empirical challenge given the multitude of behaviors among which to choose for
creating a relevant proxy. Using as a reference point the integrative framework
proposed by Geiger et al. (2018), namely, the sustainable consumption cube
(SCC), the chosen scales (Fischer et al. 2017) are focused on one of the three
dimensions labeled “consumption area.” This category is split into food, housing,
mobility, and clothing, among which we consider food and clothing as the most
relevant for our target population.
Our Romanian version of the sustainable food consumption (SFC) scale was
comprised of the original 17 items translated (2 control questions and 15 items), and
the sustainable clothing consumption (SCC) included 21 items derived from the
original set of 16 (inclusive also of 2 control questions). Given the translated
meaning in Romanian, we decided to split the item “I wear patched and mended
clothing” into two different items: “I wear patched clothing” and “I wear mended
clothing.” Similarly, we split the item “I choose high quality and long lasting
clothing items” into “I choose high quality clothing items” and “I choose long
lasting clothing items.” We have also added three extra items: “I use to keep, in a
162
R. Ianole-Călin et al.
in India and China, with comparative studies revealing that the millennial’s concern
for green consumption is lower in India than in the USA (Muralidharan et al. 2016).
There are various other associated measurement instruments, ranging from green
consumption behaviors (Tanner and Wölfing Kast 2003; Gilg et al. 2005) or for the
socially responsible or ethical consumption behaviors, including socioeconomic
aspects such as fair working conditions (Pepper et al. 2009; Balderjahn et al.
2013). More empirical research can be traced for the former concept, green consumption, with extensive studies like the one of Paço et al. (2014) for a sample of
1175 university students in four countries (Portugal, Spain, the UK, and Germany).
The results showed that the Straughan and Roberts’ scale of green buyer’s behavior
is viable, stressing the relations between values, attitudes, and behaviors, as
suggested by several authors (Straughan and Roberts 1999; Lee 2009 for HongKong; Kim et al. 2012 for Korea).
Based on the model of a sustainable consumption behavior presented by Geiger
et al. (2018), Fischer et al. (2017) developed a scale for measuring the consumption
behavior of the German young people leaving with their parents in the area of food
and clothing. The validated instrument, through qualitative and quantitative studies,
offers a more pragmatic view of young people’s behavior since it translates into two
important dimensions of their lives and minimizes the biases induced by asking
participants to imagine themselves into hypothetical or too complex situations.
10.3 Data and Method
10.3.1 Data
Assessing a sustainable consumption behavior in an objective manner is a strong
empirical challenge given the multitude of behaviors among which to choose for
creating a relevant proxy. Using as a reference point the integrative framework
proposed by Geiger et al. (2018), namely, the sustainable consumption cube
(SCC), the chosen scales (Fischer et al. 2017) are focused on one of the three
dimensions labeled “consumption area.” This category is split into food, housing,
mobility, and clothing, among which we consider food and clothing as the most
relevant for our target population.
Our Romanian version of the sustainable food consumption (SFC) scale was
comprised of the original 17 items translated (2 control questions and 15 items), and
the sustainable clothing consumption (SCC) included 21 items derived from the
original set of 16 (inclusive also of 2 control questions). Given the translated
meaning in Romanian, we decided to split the item “I wear patched and mended
clothing” into two different items: “I wear patched clothing” and “I wear mended
clothing.” Similarly, we split the item “I choose high quality and long lasting
clothing items” into “I choose high quality clothing items” and “I choose long
lasting clothing items.” We have also added three extra items: “I use to keep, in a
162
R. Ianole-Călin et al.