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Exploring Green Consumers' Mind-set towards Green Product Design and Life Cycle Assessment: The Case of Sceptical Brazilian and Portuguese Green Consumers

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Fred Lemke

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Abstract

Businesses are increasingly interested in exploring the key concepts of industrial ecology, particularly within the context of ‘market-oriented sustainability’. However, few studies have researched how green consumers perceive production as having relevant product design and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) dimensions. In this article, we explore green consumers’ mind-set towards such system tools of industrial ecology by conducting eighteen in-depth interviews with Brazilian and Portuguese green consumers. We propose a simplified theoretical framework for achieving market-oriented sustainability based on the multidisciplinarity potential between industrial ecology and marketing. Our analysis suggests that there are still important gaps between what the green consumers demand and what businesses are currently able (or willing) to supply. Our findings support the idea that businesses interested in following industrial ecology within the context of market-oriented sustainability should spend greater effort in understanding the green consumer’s production-related mind-set. In particular, we propose: a) avoiding consumer scepticism and dissatisfaction with ‘greenwashing’ and b) establishing credibility and information transparency. Both seem to act as preconditions to better align the product design and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) processes with green consumer needs within the emerging paradigm of market-oriented sustainability.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Lemke F, Luzio JPP

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Industrial Ecology

Year: 2014

Volume: 18

Issue: 5

Pages: 619-630

Print publication date: 01/10/2014

Online publication date: 10/04/2014

ISSN (print): 1088-1980

ISSN (electronic): 1530-9290

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12123

DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12123

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