Understanding Mindful Consumption: A Consumer Perspective

In an over-consuming world mindful consumption is of paramount importance to explore. This study extends the theory of mindful consumption drawing on Social-Cognitive Theory (SCT) to explore the consumer experience of mindful consumption, including how it is facilitated, and how restrictions on consumption impact participation in it. The context of the COVID-19 lockdowns in New Zealand provided a unique opportunity to explore these research questions. An interpretive qualitative approach was undertaken, guided by critical realism. Twenty participants aged between 20 and 64, who lived in New Zealand throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, participated in in-depth interviews. The findings showed mindful consumption is comprised of caring thoughts at the individual, local, and global level, and these were expressed through behavioural temperance of buying less, buying better, and not buying – which differed from existing theory. Mindful consumption was found to be facilitated by internal and external factors of perceived time, perceived benefits, cost, variety and performance, and social norms. Finally, participation in mindful consumption is impacted by pre-existing levels of mindful thoughts and behaviours, perceived self-efficacy, and attention and awareness given to the experience which were activated facilitators during COVID-19 lockdowns. Restrictions on consumption were found to be effective for consumers who did not already demonstrate temperance in their consumption behaviour. These findings are useful to governments and social marketers who seek to encourage individuals to reduce and be mindful in their consumption and are particularly important given the ongoing strain on the environment and the Earth’s ability to keep up with overconsumption.