Consumer-Driven Climate Mitigation: Exploring Barriers and Solutions in Studying Higher Mitigation Potential Behaviors

A systematic review of green consumer behaviors in five prominent consumer research journals revealed that behaviors with greater potential for climate mitigation (e.g., plant-based consumption) have not been broadly studied, indicating promising opportunities for future research. In an exploratory survey, we conceptually replicate this finding using a sample of consumer researchers with a general interest in studying higher-potential behaviors. We consider evidence for potential explanations, such as researchers’ primary focus on construct-to-construct mapping, a tendency to study behaviors that researchers have personal experience with or are easy to implement, a lack of incentives to study higher-potential behaviors, and insufficient knowledge of mitigation potential. To help shift consumer researchers’ focus on higher-potential behaviors, we offer concrete recommendations, such as proactively considering mitigation potential both as authors and reviewers, and utilizing phenomenon-to-construct mapping for enhancing theoretical contributions. In sum, we hope that this research will help interested consumer researchers to provide more relevant answers to the urgent challenge of climate change mitigation.