Consumer Discipline: A Safeguard to Maintain Sustainable Consumption Patterns

Consumer discipline (i.e., the ability to persist on tasks) is necessary to maintain sustainable consumption patterns and overcome the constraints associated with such self-determined long- term goal pursuits. Little is known, however, about how consumers sustain such patterns over time, despite their importance in people’s lives. Using a qualitative multimethod study of packaging-free product consumption as a Zero Waste sustainable consumption pattern, this research explores the way consumers exercise discipline to accomplish tasks to reach their goal of sustainability in consumption. Beyond a “psychological” ability, discipline implies a “practical” ability, which corresponds to a series of interrelated activities: frame, plan, organize, execute, and measure. By extending the micro-individual focus to a macro-social focus, this research shows the role of external factors (i.e., others, the market, and the situation) in hindering or encouraging discipline. This research provides insights for two consumer research streams: sustainable consumption and consumer control and discipline. First, the research highlights the role of an underinvested individual ability—namely, discipline—in maintaining sustainable consumption patterns. Second, the research proposes a more practical and interactional approach for consumer discipline.