IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i2p341-d196806.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Advent of Practice Theories in Research on Sustainable Consumption: Past, Current and Future Directions of the Field

Author

Listed:
  • Filippo Corsini

    (Istituto di Management, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Rafael Laurenti

    (ITM School of Industrial Engineering and Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Franziska Meinherz

    (Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Station 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Francesco Paolo Appio

    (Research Center, Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire, 92916 Paris La Défense, France)

  • Luca Mora

    (The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ, UK)

Abstract

The application of practice theories in the domain of sustainability research in consumer studies is increasingly advocated based on the premise that this allows to analyse consumption as a social phenomenon. Consequently, the applications of social practice theories to this field are expanding geometrically and to date, little retrospective work on this evolution has been made. We conduct a bibliometric analysis of applications of practice theories in the domain of sustainability research in consumer studies. Our results show a temporal succession of research trends: ‘consumer identity’ dominated the field between 2009 and 2012, ‘business and governance’ between 2012 and 2014, ‘sustainable consumption and production’ between 2013 and 2014, ‘urban living and policy’ between 2014 and 2015 and ‘household energy’ from 2015 until the present. We see a high potential of future applications of practice theories in the fields of the sharing and circular economy, as well as in research on smart cities. We provide new insights into the evolution and future trends of applications of social practice theory to domains that are relevant for research on sustainability and consumer studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Filippo Corsini & Rafael Laurenti & Franziska Meinherz & Francesco Paolo Appio & Luca Mora, 2019. "The Advent of Practice Theories in Research on Sustainable Consumption: Past, Current and Future Directions of the Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:341-:d:196806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/341/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/341/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02276672, HAL.
    2. Tom Hargreaves & Noel Longhurst & Gill Seyfang, 2013. "Up, Down, round and round: Connecting Regimes and Practices in Innovation for Sustainability," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(2), pages 402-420, February.
    3. Sridhar P. Nerur & Abdul A. Rasheed & Vivek Natarajan, 2008. "The intellectual structure of the strategic management field: an author co‐citation analysis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 319-336, March.
    4. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    5. Andy Stirling, 2007. "A General Framework for Analysing Diversity in Science, Technology and Society," SPRU Working Paper Series 156, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Cass, Noel & Faulconbridge, James, 2016. "Commuting practices: New insights into modal shift from theories of social practice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-14.
    7. Elizabeth Shove, 2010. "Beyond the ABC: Climate Change Policy and Theories of Social Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1273-1285, June.
    8. Geels, Frank W., 2010. "Ontologies, socio-technical transitions (to sustainability), and the multi-level perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 495-510, May.
    9. Paavola, Jouni & Adger, W. Neil, 2005. "Institutional ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-368, May.
    10. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman & Ed C. M. Noyons & Reindert K. Buter, 2010. "Automatic term identification for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(3), pages 581-596, March.
    11. Georg Holtz, 2014. "Generating Social Practices," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17.
    12. Sorrell, Steve, 2015. "Reducing energy demand: A review of issues, challenges and approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 74-82.
    13. Sweeney, Jillian C. & Kresling, Johannes & Webb, Dave & Soutar, Geoffrey N. & Mazzarol, Tim, 2013. "Energy saving behaviours: Development of a practice-based model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 371-381.
    14. Hanna Mela & Juha Peltomaa & Marja Salo & Kirsi Mäkinen & Mikael Hildén, 2018. "Framing Smart Meter Feedback in Relation to Practice Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    15. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    16. Elizabeth Shove, 2014. "Putting practice into policy: reconfiguring questions of consumption and climate change," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 415-429, December.
    17. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02312709, HAL.
    18. Mora, Luca & Deakin, Mark & Reid, Alasdair, 2019. "Strategic principles for smart city development: A multiple case study analysis of European best practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 70-97.
    19. Elizabeth V. Hobman & Karen Stenner & Elisha R. Frederiks, 2017. "Exploring Everyday Energy Usage Practices in Australian Households: A Qualitative Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, September.
    20. Filippo Corsini & Francesco Rizzi & Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti & Marco Frey, 2015. "Extended Producer Responsibility and the Evolution of Sustainable Specializations: Evidences From the e‐Waste Sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 466-476, September.
    21. Stewart Barr & Jan Prillwitz, 2014. "A Smarter Choice? Exploring the Behaviour Change Agenda for Environmentally Sustainable Mobility," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(1), pages 1-19, February.
    22. Diane M. Martin & John W. Schouten, 2014. "Consumption-Driven Market Emergence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(5), pages 855-870.
    23. Koirala, Binod Prasad & Koliou, Elta & Friege, Jonas & Hakvoort, Rudi A. & Herder, Paulien M., 2016. "Energetic communities for community energy: A review of key issues and trends shaping integrated community energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 722-744.
    24. Loet Leydesdorff & Félix Moya-Anegón & Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote, 2015. "Journal maps, interactive overlays, and the measurement of interdisciplinarity on the basis of Scopus data (1996–2012)," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(5), pages 1001-1016, May.
    25. Strengers, Yolande, 2012. "Peak electricity demand and social practice theories: Reframing the role of change agents in the energy sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 226-234.
    26. Corsini, Filippo & Certomà, Chiara & Dyer, Mark & Frey, Marco, 2019. "Participatory energy: Research, imaginaries and practices on people' contribute to energy systems in the smart city," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 322-332.
    27. Filippo Corsini & Francesco Rizzi & Marco Frey, 2016. "Analysing smartness in European cities: a factor analysis based on resource efficiency, transportation and ICT," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(3), pages 235-254.
    28. Luca Mora & Roberto Bolici & Mark Deakin, 2017. "The First Two Decades of Smart-City Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 3-27, January.
    29. Alan L. Porter & Alex S. Cohen & J. David Roessner & Marty Perreault, 2007. "Measuring researcher interdisciplinarity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 72(1), pages 117-147, July.
    30. Henry Small, 1973. "Co‐citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 24(4), pages 265-269, July.
    31. Nees Jan van Eck & Ludo Waltman & Rommert Dekker & Jan van den Berg, 2010. "A comparison of two techniques for bibliometric mapping: Multidimensional scaling and VOS," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(12), pages 2405-2416, December.
    32. Sonnberger, Marco & Gross, Matthias, 2018. "Rebound Effects in Practice: An Invitation to Consider Rebound From a Practice Theory Perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 14-21.
    33. Watson, Matt, 2012. "How theories of practice can inform transition to a decarbonised transport system," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 488-496.
    34. Francesco Paolo Appio & Antonella Martini & Silvia Massa & Stefania Testa, 2016. "Unveiling the intellectual origins of Social Media-based innovation: insights from a bibliometric approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(1), pages 355-388, July.
    35. van Eck, N.J.P. & Waltman, L., 2007. "Bibliometric Mapping of the Computational Intelligence Field," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-027-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    36. Mary J. Culnan, 1986. "The Intellectual Development of Management Information Systems, 1972--1982: A Co-Citation Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 156-172, February.
    37. Appio, Francesco Paolo & Lima, Marcos & Paroutis, Sotirios, 2019. "Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation ecosystems, technological advancements, and societal challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-14.
    38. Markus Gmür, 2003. "Co-citation analysis and the search for invisible colleges: A methodological evaluation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 57(1), pages 27-57, January.
    39. Appio, Francesco Paolo & Lima, Marcos & Paroutis, Sotirios, 2019. "Understanding Smart Cities: Innovation ecosystems, technological advancements, and societal challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-14.
    40. Horne, Christine & Kennedy, Emily Huddart, 2017. "The power of social norms for reducing and shifting electricity use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 43-52.
    41. Yolande Strengers & Cecily Maller, 2017. "Adapting to ‘extreme’ weather: mobile practice memories of keeping warm and cool as a climate change adaptation strategy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(6), pages 1432-1450, June.
    42. Sanne, Christer, 2002. "Willing consumers--or locked-in? Policies for a sustainable consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 273-287, August.
    43. Waltman, Ludo & van Eck, Nees Jan & Noyons, Ed C.M., 2010. "A unified approach to mapping and clustering of bibliometric networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 629-635.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meinherz, Franziska & Binder, Claudia R., 2020. "The dynamics of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting: An empirical analysis based on practice theories," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Gallego-Losada, María-Jesús & Montero-Navarro, Antonio & García-Abajo, Elisa & Gallego-Losada, Rocío, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion. Visualizing the academic literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Larisa Ivascu & David Frank Ahimaz & Benedict Valentine Arulanandam & Gelu-Ovidiu Tirian, 2021. "The Perception and Degree of Adoption by Urbanites towards Urban Farming," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Certomà, Chiara & Corsini, Filippo & Frey, Marco, 2020. "Hyperconnected, receptive and do-it-yourself city. An investigation into the European “imaginary” of crowdsourcing for urban governance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Filippo Corsini & Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti & Marco Frey, 2020. "Consumer’s Circular Behaviors in Relation to the Purchase, Extension of Life, and End of Life Management of Electrical and Electronic Products: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Laura Fabregat-Aibar & M. Glòria Barberà-Mariné & Antonio Terceño & Laia Pié, 2019. "A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis of Socially Responsible Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Amsale K. Temesgen, 2020. "Building an Island of Sustainability in a Sea of Unsustainability? A Study of Two Ecovillages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-27, December.
    8. Murtaza Haider & Randall Shannon & George P. Moschis, 2022. "Sustainable Consumption Research and the Role of Marketing: A Review of the Literature (1976–2021)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-36, March.
    9. Dal Mas, F. & Massaro, M. & Ndou, V. & Raguseo, E., 2023. "Blockchain technologies for sustainability in the agrifood sector: A literature review of academic research and business perspectives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ying Huang & Wolfgang Glänzel & Lin Zhang, 2021. "Tracing the development of mapping knowledge domains," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 6201-6224, July.
    2. Ben Zhang & Lei Ma & Zheng Liu, 2020. "Literature Trend Identification of Sustainable Technology Innovation: A Bibliometric Study Based on Co-Citation and Main Path Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Rodolfo Modrigais Strauss Nunes & Susana Carla Farias Pereira, 2022. "Intellectual structure and trends in the humanitarian operations field," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 1099-1157, December.
    4. Ciarli, Tommaso & Ràfols, Ismael, 2019. "The relation between research priorities and societal demands: The case of rice," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 949-967.
    5. Morley, Janine, 2018. "Rethinking energy services: The concept of ‘meta-service’ and implications for demand reduction and servicizing policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 563-569.
    6. Jessica K. Breadsell & Christine Eon & Gregory M. Morrison, 2019. "Understanding Resource Consumption in the Home, Community and Society through Behaviour and Social Practice Theories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Goulden, Murray & Spence, Alexa & Wardman, Jamie & Leygue, Caroline, 2018. "Differentiating ‘the user’ in DSR: Developing demand side response in advanced economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 176-185.
    8. Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado & Juan-José Nájera-Sánchez & Eva-María Mora-Valentín, 2018. "A Research Agenda on Open Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Co-Word Analysis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Rizzi, Francesco & van Eck, Nees Jan & Frey, Marco, 2014. "The production of scientific knowledge on renewable energies: Worldwide trends, dynamics and challenges and implications for management," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 657-671.
    10. Singh, Shiwangi & Dhir, Sanjay & Das, V. Mukunda & Sharma, Anuj, 2020. "Bibliometric overview of the Technological Forecasting and Social Change journal: Analysis from 1970 to 2018," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    11. Francesco Paolo Appio & Fabrizio Cesaroni & Alberto Minin, 2014. "Visualizing the structure and bridges of the intellectual property management and strategy literature: a document co-citation analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(1), pages 623-661, October.
    12. Kirstie J. O’Neill & Adrian K. Clear & Adrian Friday & Mike Hazas, 2019. "‘Fractures’ in food practices: exploring transitions towards sustainable food," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 225-239, June.
    13. Francisco García-Lillo & Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Mercedes Úbeda-García, 2017. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Research on ‘Born Global’ Firms and INVs: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 631-652, August.
    14. Patrick Röhm, 2018. "Exploring the landscape of corporate venture capital: a systematic review of the entrepreneurial and finance literature," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 279-319, August.
    15. Loet Leydesdorff & Duncan Kushnir & Ismael Rafols, 2014. "Interactive overlay maps for US patent (USPTO) data based on International Patent Classification (IPC)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1583-1599, March.
    16. Perri, Cecilia & Giglio, Carlo & Corvello, Vincenzo, 2020. "Smart users for smart technologies: Investigating the intention to adopt smart energy consumption behaviors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Raphaël Maucuer & Alexandre Renaud, 2019. "Business Model Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Origins and Trends," Post-Print hal-01918188, HAL.
    18. Corsini, Filippo & Certomà, Chiara & Dyer, Mark & Frey, Marco, 2019. "Participatory energy: Research, imaginaries and practices on people' contribute to energy systems in the smart city," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 322-332.
    19. Galletta, Simona & Mazzù, Sebastiano & Naciti, Valeria, 2022. "A bibliometric analysis of ESG performance in the banking industry: From the current status to future directions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Mora, Luca & Gerli, Paolo & Ardito, Lorenzo & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2023. "Smart city governance from an innovation management perspective: Theoretical framing, review of current practices, and future research agenda," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainability; sustainable consumption; bibliometric analysis; practice theory; circular economy; sharing economy; smart city;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics
    • Q0 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General
    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:341-:d:196806. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.