The relationship between the aspects of connectedness and sustainable consumption

Petra Jansen; Sabine Hoja; Martina Rahe

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216944

The relationship between the aspects of connectedness and sustainable consumption

Front Psychol. 2024 Jan 16:14:1216944. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216944. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Petra Jansen¹, Sabine Hoja¹, Martina Rahe²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
² Institute of Psychology, University of Koblenz, Koblenz, Germany.

Abstract

Internal transformative qualities are essential contributing factors to sustainable behavior. Besides awareness, insight, purpose, and agency, connectedness is one of those inner qualities. In this study, we investigated the relationship between connectedness to oneself (self-love), towards the environment (connectedness to nature), towards other human beings (pro-socialness), and sustainable behavior towards clothes and food. One hundred thirty-nine mostly students participated. The results showed that self-love, connectedness to nature, and pro-socialness correlate. Sustainability behavior towards food was predicted by pro-socialness, the choice of diet, and environmental and ethical reasons for nutrition. Sustainable behavior towards clothes was predicted by connectedness to nature. This study hints that the factors of inner transformative qualities and the type of sustainable behavior must be investigated differently. It strengthens the multi-facet dimensions of sustainable behavior.

Keywords: connectedness; connectedness to nature; inner transformation; prosocialness; self-love; sustainable behavior.