Inhibitors of sustainable consumption: Insights from university academic staff in southern Nigeria

Sustainable consumption behavior is increasingly becoming a topical issue in most developing economies. The growing unfavorable ecological footprint of most developing countries, including Nigeria, is becoming of concern and needs to be managed or reduced through strategic policy prescription and marketing strategy. Thus, insight from factors inhibiting sustainable consumption behavior could be a primary source to trigger reductions. Nevertheless, fostering sustainable consumption behavior in southern Nigeria, where the phenomenon is relatively nascent, requires contemporary insights into the factors that inhibit consumers to adopt sustainable consumption behavior. This research examines factors that discourage consumers' adoption of sustainable consumption behavior in southern Nigeria and uses those factors to develop a theory. A self‐administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 3,495 academic staff in nine universities in southern Nigeria. Structural equation modeling with the aid of SmartPLS 2.0 software was used to analyze the causal model. Statistical support was found mainly for sustainability awareness as the most critical inhibitor. Other inhibitors with lesser significance are government regulation, price perception, and religious and social groups. The marketing management and public policy implications are discussed.