Environmental sustainability is a top priority on the table of national and supranational authorities, and companies have also become increasingly concerned about this critical issue. Conventional consumption practices, along with traditional production processes, represent a major source of today’s environmental problems and, in this backdrop, many companies and authorities have been struggling to encourage people to engage in more sustainable consumption behaviors (e.g., reducing wastes, preferring eco-friendly versions of products, etc.). To this end, knowing what drives consumer behavior and what might encourage them to make eco-friendly choices in everyday life seems particularly critical insofar as this would allow companies and authorities to develop appropriate (social) marketing strategies to get consumers to behave more sustainably.  This course illustrates the major barriers to consumers’ propensity to convert their green attitudes into environmentally sustainable actions (attitude-behavior gap). Furthermore, it explains the major drivers of consumers’ sustainable behaviors. To this end, the course adopts the SHIFT framework (White et al., 2019), which revolves around five major driving forces categorized as: Social influence (S), Habit formation (H), Individual self (I), Feelings and cognition (F), and Tangibility (T). The course will teach students both theory and practice regarding the theme. Theoretically, the course will teach the foundations of psychological barriers to, and the main drivers of sustainable consumption. At a more practical level, the course will teach students how to leverage the SHIFT drivers to overcome barriers and, more operationally, how to set up realistic and actionable marketing communication strategies that effectively and efficiently promote pro-environmental behaviors. Understanding the basic notions behind such behaviors and acquiring the competence to design effective strategies that foster environmental sustainability is essential for those who would like to work for modern brands, companies, and institutions that adopt a green marketing orientation in order to contribute to a better world. The course adopts an enquiry-based learning approach. Students will be given the opportunity to co-create new knowledge, in addition to acquiring existing concepts, by reading technical reports and academic papers. They will be asked to act like a scientist by expanding existing theories, searching for and/or developing practical examples, critically thinking about possible solutions to realistic or real problems.

After this course, students will be able to: Knowledge and understanding Know the importance of environmental protection to current and future generations as well as to companies; the main environmental sustainability principles; Discuss the main theories behind environmentally sustainable consumption behaviors, and the main barriers and drivers of such behaviors. Applying knowledge and understanding Examine theories and models discussed in class in order to apply them to real problems; Compare real situations and marketing strategies by identifying strengths and weaknesses; Collect information and choose appropriate models to develop solutions to practical problems; Design actionable strategies that promote environmentally sustainable behaviors. Making judgements Solve practical problems by working, either autonomously or in groups, on specific assignments; Critically appraise, adapt, and re-arrange existing theories to develop implementable creative solutions to challenging situations. Communication skills Develop the necessary writing and oral communication skills; Summarize prior research findings on the central topic of the course; Defend their point of view and convince the audience of the validity of their arguments. Learning skills Categorize information sources on the central topic of the course; Criticize prior research findings on the topic; Appraise whether and why some theories or models can be more appropriate than others to tackle real problems; Develop new research questions and hypotheses regarding sustainable consumption.

The course will cover the following topics: Sustainability and sustainable consumption. Tensions in sustainable consumption: The self-other trade-off; the issue of long time horizon; the challenge of collective action; the need to replace automatic with controlled processes; the problem of abstractness. Drivers of sustainable consumption: Social influence; habit formation; the role of individual self; feelings and cognition; the role of tangibility.

Attending students must study the following academic papers and/or book chapters for the final oral exam: Chandy R.K. et al. (2021). Better marketing for a better world. Journal of Marketing, 85(3),1-9. Salas-Zapata W.A., & Ortiz-Muños S. M. (2019). Analysis of meanings of the concept of sustainability. Sustainable Development, 27, 153-161. White K. & Habib R. (2018). SHIFT: A Review and Framework for Encouraging Ecologically Sustainable Consumer Behavior. Sitra. White K. & Habib R. (2018). SHIFT: Sustainable consumer behavior change – Workbook. Sitra Studies (retrieved from: sitrashiftworkbookv04-www.pdf) White K. et al. (2019). How to SHIFT consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 22-49 (with Web Appendices). In addition to the assigned papers and/or chapters for attending students, non-attending students must study the following articles: Brough A.R. et al. (2016). Is eco-friendly unmanly? The green-feminine stereotype and its effect on sustainable consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 43 (4), 567-582  De Freitas Netto S.V. et al. (2020). Concepts and forms of greenwashing: A systematic review. Environmental Sciences Europe, 32(19), 1-19. Edinger-Schons L.M. et al. (2018). Are two reasons better than one? The role of appeal type in consumer responses to sustainable products. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28, 644-664. Elmor L. et al. (2025). Environmental sustainability considerations (or lack thereof) in consumer decision making. International Journal of Research in Marketing, forthcoming. Griskevicius V. et al. (2010). Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 98, 392-404. Kim S. et al. (2023). Awe and guilt: Desirability and feasibility appeals in social media green campaigns. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 22, 314-328. Lusch M.G., & Kumar M. (2017). “Yes, but this other one looks better/works better”: How do consumers respond to trade-offs between sustainability and other valued attributes? Journal of Business Ethics, 140, 567-584. Ouelette J.A. & Wood W. (1998). Habit and intention in everyday life: The multiple processes by which past behavior predicts future behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 124(1), 54-75 Van Lange P.A.M. & Joreiman J.A. (2008). How we can promote behavior that serves all of us in the future. Social Issues and Policy Review, 2 (1), 127-157. White K. et al. (2014). The motivating role of dissociative out-groups in encouraging positive consumer behaviors. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(4), 433-447. Winterich K.P. et al. (2019). Knowing what it makes: How product transformation salience increases recycling. Journal of Marketing, 83, 21-37. Winterich K.P. et al. (2024). How lack of knowledge on emissions and psychological biases deter consumers from taking effective action to mitigate climate change. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52, 1475-1494. Zaval L. et al. (2015). How will I be remembered? Conserving the environment for the sake of one’s legacy. Psychological Science, 26, 231-236. (Attending students might be asked to read these papers along with other readings provided by the instructor as part of in-class assignments.)

Lectures Case-study discussion Group work Practical exercises Flipped classroom Project work In-class presentation

Attending students’ assessment is based on the following activities: In-class activities (whether individual or in groups). These include quizzes, short essays, in-class presentations, project work. This continuous assessment will account for 70% of the overall assessment. Final oral exam on the topics discussed in class and described in the assigned readings. This exam will account for 30% of the overall assessment. Students will receive a distinct evaluation for the in-class activities (as an average grade) and the final exam. They will pass the exam only if each evaluation is equal to 18/30 or higher. If an attending student does not take part in one or more of the continuous assessment activities, the student will be assigned a grade of 0 for that/those activity(ies), which will average the overall grade. Attending students are not allowed to reject part or all of the grade earned through continuous assessment. However, the combination of continuous assessment (70%) and final exam (30%) is valid only in the examination dates scheduled at the end of the semester in which the course is taught. In subsequent examination sessions (retake sessions), in case of absence to both scheduled exam dates of the examination session of the semester in which the course is offered, in the first available retake session students can decide whether to keep the continuous assessment. Starting from the second retake session, all the students will be assessed based on a final exam accounting for 100% of the overall final grade. Non-attending students (solely based on non-attendant status from the Graduate School) shall take the final oral exam. This exam will cover the topics discussed in class and described in the assigned readings, plus the readings specifically assigned to them to compensate for the missed knowledge acquisition over the semester. This exam will account for 100% of the overall assessment.

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