IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i5p7657-7676.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empowering Sustainability: Examining the Psychological Benefits of Sustainable Consumption for Self‐Esteem Enhancement

Author

Listed:
  • Harim Yeo
  • Hyesun Hwang

Abstract

Sustainable consumption is increasingly recognized as vital for the environment and future generations. This study shifts the lens to explore the psychological benefits derived from sustainable consumption, reframing sustainable practices not merely as an ethical imperative but as a transformative avenue for personal growth and self‐affirmation. By examining the fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are defined as basic psychological needs in self‐determination theory (SDT's three basic psychological needs), this research explored the mechanisms of consumers' sustainable practices and psychological well‐being. Utilizing structural equation modeling, data from 300 participants revealed that sustainable consumption significantly promotes autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings indicate that autonomy and competence are crucial mediators between sustainable consumption and self‐esteem. The results provide novel insights into how engaging in sustainable practices can enhance self‐esteem, fostering a virtuous cycle of ongoing commitment to sustainability. This research highlights a distinctive pathway to sustaining consumer commitment to sustainable development by prioritizing intrinsic motivations over external incentives.

Suggested Citation

  • Harim Yeo & Hyesun Hwang, 2025. "Empowering Sustainability: Examining the Psychological Benefits of Sustainable Consumption for Self‐Esteem Enhancement," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 7657-7676, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7657-7676
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3538
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3538
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3538?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    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:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7657-7676. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.