Mind (for) the water: An indirect relationship between mindfulness and water conservation behavior

Abstract

A growing number of studies have linked mindfulness with the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviors. We aim to contribute to this emergent research by putting forward a model in which the relationship between mindfulness and a specific pro-environmental behavior, water conservation, is indirect. In this pursuit, we draw on the hierarchical model for the influence of psychological characteristics on individuals' behaviors. We propose that the relationship between mindfulness and water conservation is mediated by environmental beliefs, namely water utilitarian beliefs, and consumer abilities, specifically water-related perceived consumer effectiveness.To collect the data, we relied on a pretested self-report questionnaire that was distributed in a Portuguese municipality. We retained the responses from 876 individuals, for a net response rate of 54.8%. The research model was tested with structural equation modeling. The results indicate that mindfulness is negatively related to water utilitarian beliefs, that these are negatively related to perceived consumer effectiveness, which, in turn, is positively associated with water conservation behavior. In addition to these direct relationships, the results show that mindfulness is indirectly related to water conservation behavior and to perceived consumer effectiveness, and that water utilitarian beliefs are indirectly related to water conservation behavior. These novel results are used to derive managerial implications. | INTRODUCTIONRapid population growth, increasing economic activity, and the resource-intensive lifestyle of consumers are placing ever-greater pressure on environmental resources and ecological functions (Kalamas et al., 2014). Not surprisingly, extensive research scrutinizing the drivers of pro-environmental behaviors has emerged, with emphasis being placed on those of a social and psychological nature (e.g., Barbaro & Pickett, 2016;Nguyen et al., 2016;Udall et al., 2020).Recently, research has begun to consider whether mindfulness could drive the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviors (Panno et al., 2018). Ray et al. (2020, p. 866) also noted this as a growing research area, "though modest in its current state." Relatedly, Fischer et al. (2017) concluded that the relationship between mindfulness and sustainable consumption is a "rapidly emerging area." Some of the existing studies have directly related mindfulness to pro-environmental behaviors (

#SocialMediaWellness: Exploring a research agenda and conceptualization for healthy social media consumption

“…Recent consumer research has focused dominantly on how marketers can promote mindfulness (Czarnecka et al, 2020) and how mindfulness impacts more sustainable consumption behaviors (Pereira et al, 2022). We see that consumers seeking social media wellness employ co-created mindfulness practices and further advocate for mindfulness consumption practices.…”

“…Furthermore, this research extends our knowledge of the theories of mindfulness and mindful consumption (Apaolaza et al, 2019; Baym et al, 2020; Jones et al, 2022; Poon & Jiang, 2020; Vanden Abeele et al, 2022) by integrating consumers' active approaches to managing their relationship with digital technologies and social media consumption when forming the emerging construct of social media wellness. Recent consumer research has focused dominantly on how marketers can promote mindfulness (Czarnecka et al, 2020) and how mindfulness impacts more sustainable consumption behaviors (Pereira et al, 2022). We see that consumers seeking social media wellness employ co‐created mindfulness practices and further advocate for mindfulness consumption practices.…”

La reconnexion du consommateur : investigation à travers la pratique de l’alimentation en pleine conscience

“…La littérature s'est ainsi penchée sur l'état de mindfulness, défini comme une attention volontairement focalisée sur le moment présent (Brown et Ryan, 2003). Si cela permet aux consommateurs de mieux comprendre et maîtriser leur consommation (Pereira et al, 2022), ce sont aussi des moments rares du fait des nombreux facteurs de la vie quotidienne qui éloignent les individus de la conscientisation du moment présent (Suelmann et al 2018). Pour combler un manque de recherche sur ce sujet, l'objectif de cette étude est de mieux comprendre l'expérience de sens à travers la conscience de sa consommation et la façon dont cette expérience s'intègre dans les pratiques de consommation quotidiennes.…”

“…Pour étudier cette question, nous prenons comme terrain empirique la pratique de l'alimentation en pleine conscience (Warren et al, 2017). Cette pratique fait partie de la mouvance de nouvelles pratiques alimentaires et constitue l'activité de manger en se focalisant sur ses propres sensations intérieures sans jugement, permettant ainsi d'être plus à l'écoute des signaux internes du corps tels que la faim ou la satiété (Monroe, 2015) et de mieux cerner ses motivations réelles de consommation et son influence sur le monde (Pereira et al, 2022). Bien qu'étant une pratique encore limitée, 17% des consommateurs européens ont déclaré vouloir davantage se diriger vers une alimentation en conscience depuis la fin de la pandémie (Grunert et al, 2021).…”

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“…Mindfulness is a psychological construct with a significant role in promoting sustainability in architecture, which is gaining interest in a variety of disciplines [10,[18][19][20] due to its potential to human environmentally friendly behavior [16,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Several studies report a positive interrelation between mindfulness and sustainable behavior, environmental behavior [28][29][30][31], mindful consumption [32], sustainable consumption [5,11], environmental consumption, also water and energy sustainable consumption [33][34][35][36].…”