A Study of Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Sustainability in Bradford, UK: An Economical and Environmentally Sustainable Opportunity

In this chapter we explore the current understanding of “sustainability” and its impact on residents of a major British City-Bradford by asking general members of community as consumers. During the 1840s Bradford was the wool capital of the world, which characterized the economic prowess of the city through it becoming a solid manufacturing and engineering powerhouse during the Victorian era. This growth can be hugely linked to the Industrial revolution and the development of communication routes during the late eighteenth century. Bradford is a large post-industrial city, the fifth largest metropolitan district in the United Kingdom and the fourth largest in England. Bradford is situated in the north of England and is the second largest conurbation in the sub-region of West Yorkshire covering approximately 400 km² in size and has an approximate population of 512,600 (Invest in Bradford 2012). Sixty-four percent of the population is constituted of working age residents’ between the ages of 16–64, older people aged above 65 contribute 13.4 % of the population and children aged between 0 and 15 constitute 22.6 % of the population. Bradford, a multicultural city and comprises the towns of Shipley, Ilkley, Keighley, Haworth and Bingley. The majority of people live in the urban centres of Bradford, Shipley and Baildon with the rest of the population residing in towns in rural areas. Across the wards in Bradford there is a huge variation in the levels of educational attainment, health and income levels. In order to determine the attitude and behaviour of Bradford consumers towards sustainability the following objectives need to be fulfilled:

With consumers being the focal point of the business world, we will look to understand the meaning and effectiveness of sustainability from the consumer viewpoint. A majority of businesses operate on the key driving force being profit, but with increasing global criticism businesses have been forced to re-assess their operations and so will need to align their strategies, products and processes in accordance to the expectations of the consumer so as to evaluate weather corporate strategies and offerings are in tune with current consumer expectations allowing us to make recommendations for the future. In doing so we will be able to argue that a higher level of education enables a greater understanding and embracing of sustainability and that the level of social class also influences the effectiveness of sustainability. A more pro-active and long-term stance needs to be taken by companies towards sustainability a view that is equally supported by IGD (2011), which will filter through to consumers as good practice in tandem to the influence of consumer preferences, a view that is equally supported (Edwards 2005) whom suggests that current practices of sustainability have only arisen as a result of declining ecosystems, economic disparity and a finite pool of natural resources.

Bell and Morse (1999, p. 10) provided a general definition of sustainability as …maximizing the net benefits of economic development, subject to maintaining the services and quality of natural resources over time. Sustainability determines the going-concern of business operations and existence of society in the future. A real world economic conundrum of infinite wants and finite resources, has led to a greedy globalised world typical of over-consumption as individuals seek to maximise their marginal private benefit with little or no regard to the marginal social costs of consuming negative externality producing goods and services, such as the air pollution created through the use of automobiles. At current rates, behaviour such as polluting water streams and mass de-forestation is resulting in disturbances in the eco-system, and the demand for commodities such as oil lead us to contemplate upon our dependence on this resource, without which at this time the world and business operations would come to a standstill. Thomas Jefferson states “Every generation needs a new revolution.” In connection with the quote made by Thomas Jefferson in Edwards (2005) has stipulated that the current sustainability revolution provides an economically viable solution to healthy ecosystems through creating a better equitable social framework and altering consumption patterns. This ultimately means it is imperative that the commercial world with its sustainability efforts is in tune with the perceptions and demands of the consumer world. In 2010, according to the DECC (2011) UK emissions of the Kyoto protocol basket of six greenhouse gases rose to 582.4 million tonnes, indicating a 2.8 % increase from 566.3 million tonnes in 2009. The major contributors to these emissions are critically consumers from different primary sources and activities such as businesses, transportation and residential houses.

By analysing Fig. 1 we can assume that consumers influence corporate behaviour at each stage of the supply chain, thus businesses need also address ethical issues, such as looking at corporate social responsibility towards all stakeholders especially the environment and general public rather than the shareholders being the primary concern. We can also determine that through there being effective communications and consumers acting as a community, that a sustainability cycle can only be created and maintained if innovation is sought in the value chain of a product or service and if all of the six aspects; suppliers, firms, rewards, communications, publicity and public policies together promote sustainability. The resultant benefits of this would be increased consumer sustainability awareness and positive perceptions and attitudes, however if consumers do not act as a community then they risk to prolong and increase the ever existent ecological risks that are highlighted in red such as; pollution, rising sea levels and melting of polar ice caps, global warning, burning of fossil fuels and natural resources depletion and greenhouse gases and ozone depletion.

This research will allow an increased understanding of consumers’ attitudes, behaviours and actions towards sustainability so that any sustainability initiatives are precisely engineered by companies to maximum effect because the consumer is the focal point of any business venture. Secondly, by having access to the local market population spread across Bradford, it will provide us with in valuable insights and ideas to create even more sustainable business practices. Thirdly the research will allow us to assess whether business practices are in tune with consumer attitudes and behaviours. Fourthly, it will encourage innovation to flourish from the root level through inspiring individuals to think outside the box and fifthly, it will allow us to determine suitable suggestions for the future through identifying the drawbacks of current sustainability initiatives. In retrospect from a company perspective, this research aims to clarify whether sustainability practices are being communicated effectively and acknowledged by consumers as being genuinely beneficial or just used as a marketing tool for window dressing purposes.

From a literature perspective there is currently no concrete research for evaluating consumer attitudes and behaviour towards sustainability, therefore there is no way of determining the effectiveness of current sustainable initiatives employed by companies, thus allowing us to contemplate as to whether enough is being done or not from either a social or commercial front.