Beyond income: correlates of conspicuous and luxury consumption in India

IF 3.6 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy Pub Date : 2022-02-10 DOI:10.1080/15487733.2022.2029041
Soumyajit Bhar, S. Lele, Narasimha D. Rao
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Abstract Concern about the environmental impacts of consumption has drawn research attention to the drivers of conspicuous and luxury (C/L) consumption. Given the prevailing patterns of overconsumption, most studies to date have focused on countries in the global North. However, an emerging high-consuming middle and upper class in nations such as India and Brazil makes it imperative to extend the study of C/L consumption to these contexts. Research that does exist pertaining to India has predominantly focused only on the role of social identity in driving consumption growth among certain groups. Our study proposes a broader conceptual framework, incorporating a variety of possible factors and applying multivariate statistical analysis to household-expenditure data from the India Human Development Survey. We examine how C/L consumption expenditure is correlated not just with the economic ability to consume (income or wealth) but also with potential socio-psychological drivers and moderators. The results show that while the economic ability to consume (income or its proxy) is an enabling factor, mass-media exposure and social network activity appear to influence C/L consumption positively. Education and caste have more mixed relationships with consumption, and interaction effects between these two variables and economic ability to consume are also significant. The results highlight the importance of socio-psychological factors in shaping consumption decisions beyond the enabling role of income and wealth. Improving understanding of this broader set of factors, as well as their interaction effects, is particularly salient for devising better policies for transitioning toward more sustainable consumption patterns in a large developing country such as India.
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收入之外:印度炫耀性和奢侈品消费的相关因素
消费对环境的影响引起了人们对炫耀性和奢侈品消费驱动因素的关注。鉴于过度消费的普遍模式,迄今为止的大多数研究都集中在全球北方国家。然而,在印度和巴西等国家,新兴的高消费中产阶级和上层阶级使得将信用证消费研究扩展到这些背景下势在必行。有关印度的研究主要集中在社会身份在推动某些群体消费增长方面的作用。我们的研究提出了一个更广泛的概念框架,纳入了各种可能的因素,并对来自印度人类发展调查的家庭支出数据进行了多元统计分析。我们研究了信用证消费支出如何不仅与经济消费能力(收入或财富)相关,而且与潜在的社会心理驱动因素和调节因素相关。结果表明,虽然经济消费能力(收入或其代理)是一个促成因素,但大众媒体曝光和社交网络活动似乎对C/L消费产生了积极影响。教育和种姓与消费的关系更为复杂,这两个变量与经济消费能力之间的交互效应也很显著。研究结果强调了社会心理因素在塑造消费决策方面的重要性,而不仅仅是收入和财富的推动作用。增进对这一系列更广泛的因素及其相互作用的了解,对于在象印度这样的发展中大国制订向更可持续的消费模式过渡的更好的政策是特别重要的。
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来源期刊
Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy
Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development
CiteScore
12.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
54
审稿时长
27 weeks
期刊介绍: Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy is a refereed, open-access journal which recognizes that climate change and other socio-environmental challenges require significant transformation of existing systems of consumption and production. Complex and diverse arrays of societal factors and institutions will in coming decades need to reconfigure agro-food systems, implement renewable energy sources, and reinvent housing, modes of mobility, and lifestyles for the current century and beyond. These innovations will need to be formulated in ways that enhance global equity, reduce unequal access to resources, and enable all people on the planet to lead flourishing lives within biophysical constraints. The journal seeks to advance scientific and political perspectives and to cultivate transdisciplinary discussions involving researchers, policy makers, civic entrepreneurs, and others. The ultimate objective is to encourage the design and deployment of both local experiments and system innovations that contribute to a more sustainable future by empowering individuals and organizations and facilitating processes of social learning.
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