An Investigation on Voluntary Simplicity Movement in the Context of Sustainable Consumption Behavior Against the Overconsumption Tendency

The main purpose of individuals in purchasing goods and services is to gain ego satisfaction and prestige, and the consumption style in which they believe that they will live a more comfortable life by consuming more and not content with what they have is explained as overconsumption and conspicuous consumption. This consumption style is accepted as a behavior that is among the barriers to sustainable living, distancing individuals from their selves, and causing social and environmental problems. It is recognized that voluntary simplicity movement develops along with the sustainable consumption tendency in order to prevent the personal and environmental negative effects of increasing consumption amounts as a necessity of the increasingly modernized world and business practices. Voluntary simplicity is also important as a way of life that has the potential to produce solutions to environmental losses, global problems, various economic problems, and consumer dissatisfaction due to overconsumption. The aim of this study is to consider the voluntary simplicity movement as the consumption dimension of sustainability, which is accepted as a solution to the consumption frenzy and adopted by individuals who want to reduce consumption as much as possible and to make changes in consumption habits.