The Consumer as (Political) Agent of Change: Possibilities and Boundaries for True Environmental Impact in Clothing Consumption

The aim of this study is to empirically examine two distinct phenomena of sustainable consumer behaviors, which have yet received limited attention in research, i.e., reducing consumption and political consumption. The study’s contribution is twofold: 1) describing the prevalence of consuming less and political consumption and 2) examining the prerequisite for such consumption behavior, perceived consumer responsibility, in a British sample. The data collection took place in December 2017 as part of a fourteen-day diary survey study. Participants were acquired via the participant platform Prolific and received monetary compensation for partaking. The final sample consists of 778 participants with a mean age of M = 36.85 (SD = 10.99, Range = 18-63) and a median monthly net income of a £1000. Female participants are overrepresented with 71%. The survey comprises further items not discussed in the current paper. An overview over the measurements used for the current analysis is provided in Table 1.