Challenging the Good Life: An Institutional Theoretic Investigation of Consumers’ Transformational Process Toward Sustainable Living

Journal of Business Ethics 183 (3):783-804 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In pursuit of sustainable living, ethics researchers as well as consumers themselves have challenged the status quo of consumption as an institution. Fueled by global economic, environmental, and societal concerns, responsible consumption has become an integral part of the sustainability and consumption ethics literature. One movement toward sustainability consists of confining living space into a smaller ecological footprint. Although motivations for such a lifestyle have been examined, little research has investigated the process of how members of the tiny house movement reconfigure learned consumption practices. This study investigates tiny house dwellers’ transformational experiences through the theoretical lens of contemporary institutional change. Qualitative analysis reveals that these challengers of the status quo face significant normative, regulatory, and cognitive hurdles. However, by engaging in sensemaking, validation, and change agency practices, tiny house dwellers have attempted to legitimize a new way of sustainable living that can be in conflict with existing institutions. Implications and future research are discussed in terms of how examining institutional change processes can be a vital part of ethics and sustainability research. Implications are also provided for how marketing organizations can consider modifying their market offerings to capitalize on this segment of society.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

How Good? Ethical Criteria for a ‘Good Life’ for Farm Animals.James W. Yeates - 2017 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 30 (1):23-35.
The Good life and the human good.Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Dycus Miller & Jeffrey Paul (eds.) - 1992 - New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
The Neutrality of Life.Andrew Y. Lee - 2023 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 101 (3):685-703.
Social Equality, Recognition, and Preconditions of Good Life.Arto Laitinen - 2003 - In Michael Fine, Paul Henman & Nicholas Smith (eds.), Social Inequality Today.
Hegel on “the Living Good”.Frederick Neuhouser - 2021 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 33 (3-4):310-331.
C. I. Lewis and the immediacy of intrinsic value.Robert E. Carter - 1975 - Journal of Value Inquiry 9 (3):204-209.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-04-08

Downloads
5 (#1,344,154)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?