Sustainable Consumption Patterns and Consumer Behaviour: An Empirical Study Aligned with SDG 12

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_46How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Sustainable consumption; Consumer behavior; SDG 12; Purchase behavior; Consumer satisfaction; India

Abstract

In recent years, the way that natural resources are consumed has moved away from being strictly a policy issue to one that the average consumer is relating to through their own consumption choices (Goal 12 - Sustainable Development). Consumers are becoming more aware of sustainability as expressed through their conversations with products that they purchase; however, not all consumers are matching their purchasing behaviour with those intentions. The current study identifies sustainable consumption behaviours in the Indian consumer market by analysing the four dimensions of sustainable consumption behaviour: consumer awareness and knowledge about sustainable products and services, consumer attitude towards sustainable products and services, and post-purchase satisfaction. The primary data for the study were from 321 individuals that were surveyed using a structured survey tool, and the data were collected from the consumer markets of different areas of India. Descriptive statistics were used to gain insight into the demographics of the respondents and the overall patterns of responses. Chi-square tests were used to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in the way that demographic variables are associated with consumer awareness or purchasing behaviour. Correlation analyses were used to identify the nature of the relationships that exist among consumer awareness, perception, satisfaction, and intention to recommend sustainable products. The overall findings indicate that the consumer's awareness of sustainable products is moderate to high; however, the actual purchasing behaviour of consumers varied greatly among respondents. Demographic characteristics, including age and gender, were found to be significantly associated with consumer awareness and purchasing behaviour. The findings also indicate a positive relationship between consumers’ perceptions of sustainable products and their levels of satisfaction, as satisfied consumers are more likely to refer sustainable products to others. In summary, the study indicates that the consumer awareness of sustainable products does not ensure that consumers will be able to make a sustainable purchase. Other practical factors such as price, availability, and confidence in the sustainability of a product will continue to play a role when consumers are deciding what to purchase. As this study seeks to answer the question based on the behaviours that are observed in the marketplace.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shivani Mishra
AU  - Inderpreet Kaur Narang
AU  - Aarti Lamba
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
TI  - Sustainable Consumption Patterns and Consumer Behaviour: An Empirical Study Aligned with SDG 12
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Recent Advancement and Modernization in Sustainable Intelligent Technologies & Applications (RAMSITA-2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 576
EP  - 591
SN  - 1951-6851
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_46
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-678-4_46
ID  - Mishra2026
ER  -