Trade-offs in Decision-making for Sustainable Technologies
Funding body: UK Economic and Social Research Council
Amount: £91,237
Duration: 2003-2006
Summary
Individuals seeking to make sustainable choices have to reconcile conflicting issues and make trade-offs between competing options due to the environmental factors surrounding each decision. For example, a fridge is a piece of technology that has a marked impact on the environment. Purchasing a fridge might lead one individual to make trade-offs between using a local retailer (support of local shops with no travel involved but little choice of environmentally efficient appliances) or travelling to an out of town retail park (use of car but more choice and lower prices). This project explored these ethical dilemmas. Analysis of in-depth interviews and focus groups developed into a model showing how ethical consumers translate their ethical values into purchases. The results confirm that ethical consumers do not have different criteria from their grey counterparts e.g. brand and price, but that they do have extra criteria e.g. energy efficiency. The results highlighted that there are no completely ethical consumers or completely ethical purchases. Three types of ethical consumers were identified: translators, exceptors and selectors. Consumers needed more guidance as to which ethical issues are important and more incentives to buy products with positive ethical attributes.