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Shoppers aren't as motivated by sustainability as they claim, researcher finds

Consumers who consider themselves to be "sustainable practitioners" may not be as well-intentioned towards the environment as they claim, new research shows.

A study found that about 70% of people in the U.K. and China take part in "collaborative consumption," which includes buying used items rather than new ones, and sharing goods and services such as bicycles through hire schemes.

But research by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Yonsei University, in South Korea, shows that people's real motivations lie in saving money rather than being sustainable, despite their claims to the latter.

The research team call this a "value-action gap" between what consumers say are their top motivations for buying goods collaboratively, in contrast to their real reasons.

The study—a survey of more than 600 people aged 18–74 in the U.K. and China—was undertaken to shed more light on the rationale of collaborative consumption.

Dr. Jiaqi Bai, a researcher at NTU's School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, who carried out the research as part of her recently completed Ph.D., said, "Our results are revealing as they show a high level of awareness of sustainability among consumers, and an inspiration for living a sustainable lifestyle among all the respondents, with 70.3% of them claiming to be an 'active' or 'slightly active' sustainable practitioner.

"But, interestingly, most of the respondents admitted that they didn't approach collaborative consumption from the principle of sustainability, particularly those in China. Only 27.57% of British people ranked sustainability as their top choice for using collaborative consumption, while the percentage for Chinese respondents was even lower at 11.06%. The top choice for both was saving money.

"Our purchases can have a detrimental impact on the environment and understanding consumers' real attitudes, and the context of their buying habits, is essential for us to promote the further adoption of collaborative consumption successfully. People just lowering their household energy use and recycling their waste is not enough to save the planet alone—we all need to shop smarter too."

The most popular collaborative consumption activities in the U.K. are ride-sharing (42.5%) and buying second hand (39.7%). The U.K. has more than 3,800 shops that specialize in the sale of used goods and is considered a leading market for this in the world. Websites like eBay and Vinted, and car boot sales, are also examples of collaborative consumption in the U.K.

In China, much of the country's collaborative consumption takes place online on websites like Xianyu, which sells used items. Bike sharing has also experienced a rapid growth in China following the implementation of public bike sharing schemes such as Hellobike, which offers transportation services in the downtown areas of major Chinese cities.

Dr. Daniel Shin, of the College of Human Ecology, Department of Human & Environment Design, Yonsei University, said, "This research shows that many consumers regard themselves as sustainable practitioners and claim to be confident about living a sustainable lifestyle.

"But when it comes to their actual behavior, they viewed the economic benefits and ease of making purchases as the most significant motivations for choosing collaborative consumption, rather than for the sake of sustainability.

"Thus, consumers' attitudes are not correlated with their actual behavior. This confirms that there is a value-action gap which needs to be minimized through encouraging consumers to choose the providing business as part of sustainable lifestyle.

"In doing so, businesses must compete in the market to provide more information supported by evidence to help consumers continue their collaborative consumption; this will in turn help them become a true sustainable practitioner.

"Collaborative consumption can't just be a practice in saving money. It has to be adopted by everyone, regardless of their levels of income, in order to save the planet."