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INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Journals

Author: James Ellis

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CLIMATE CHANGE: CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING, RESPONSE, AND INTERVENTIONS
Issue Editors: Karen Page Winterich, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Bryan Bollinger
Ìý´¥ÌýJournal of the Association for Consumer Research | Volume 8, Issue 3

Climate change refers to the long-term change in average weather patterns as human emissions of greenhouse gases have increased over the last century, with resulting declines in the health of our environment. These changes have significant impact on such varied outcomes as food production, population movement, and human mental and physical health, among others. The importance of mitigating climate change is recognized in  of the United Nation’s 17 integrated Sustainable Development Goals to achieve a more sustainable future for all.

Though climate change seems to make headlines each day, there is still limited understanding of climate change among consumers. Climate change information is becoming more available in the marketplace, particularly online, but consumer response to this information and its relationship with the goods and services they consume is not well understood. Past consumer research has explored the relative efficacy of different types of persuasive messages designed to increase pro-environmental consumption more generally, but relatively little research has explored interventions specifically focused on mitigating climate change.

This special issue invites articles that explore consumer understanding of, response to, and interventions for mitigating climate change.  The topics of potential interest include but are not restricted to:

Understanding. Current consumption behaviors substantially impact the amount of human emissions. Yet, to what extent do consumers understand climate change, the causes, and consequences?

• Consumer connection of resource conservation to personal consumption.
• Interpretation of carbon emissions information.
• Factors influencing acceptance of or resistance to climate change information (e.g., political ideology, trust in science).
• Perceptions of responsibility (e.g., consumer vs. corporations) for climate change mitigation.
• Awareness of climate change consequences (e.g., food security, environmental refugees).
• Knowledge of effective climate change mitigation strategies and behaviors (e.g., food consumption, energy conservation).
• Differences in understanding across consumers, particularly those in non-Western countries who may be most impacted by climate change.

Response. What factors determine consumers’ affective and cognitive responses to information about climate change (or its effects; e.g., increasing severe weather and natural disasters) and how do these responses influence consumption behavior?

• Affective reactions, coping strategies, and downstream consequences following exposure to climate change information.
• The role of salient mindsets, such as mortality salience or threat state, in response to climate change information.
• When severe weather and natural disasters are perceived as occurring as a result of climate change, how is consumer behavior with respect to planning and responding altered?
• Shifts in buying patterns, such as for those in geographic areas of greater threat (e.g., coastal regions).
• Changes in important life decisions (e.g., family planning) as a result of concern about climate change.

Interventions. What type of interventions are most effective at influencing consumer behaviors that can mitigate climate change, including interventions from firms and policymakers that are focused at the individual behavior level?

• Effectiveness of product labeling to reduce consumption of products with large environmental footprints.
• Role of supply chain transparency on consumer demand.
• Use of platforms and technology to increase resource allocation efficiency and extend product lifespans.
• Relative impact of economic, social, and climate-specific messaging for behavior change.
• Impacts of policy changes (e.g., carbon taxes and labelling, ESG reporting requirements, etc.).
• Tactics to reduce energy consumption.
• Factors (e.g., political ideology, geographic location) influencing effectiveness of interventions.

Articles using all types of methodologies, including field studies, field experiments, and econometric analyses, are welcome. We encourage submissions from researchers in marketing and related fields (e.g., public policy, environmental science, psychology) as long as the research is consumer-centric.

Details
Submitted manuscripts should not exceed 8,000 words. Submissions will receive double-blind peer review consistent with all top journals in the field of consumer research. Author guidelines can be found online at the . If you have specific questions or would like the editors’ reaction to a proposed submission, please contact one of the editors at kpw2@psu.edu,Ìýreczek.3@osu.edu, or bb99@stern.nyu.edu.

Editorial Timeline
Initial Manuscript Submission: February 1 – April 1, 2022
Deadline for Submission of Final Manuscript: March 15, 2023
Publication Date: July 1, 2023

Editor bios and submission instructions can be found here: