ARC: Connections: ELMAR: Posting areas: society: content

Related ARContent: Journal of Consumer Policy

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Call for Papers for a JCP Special Issue on

“From Knowledge to Action – New Paths towards Sustainable Consumption”

Editor: John Thøgersen (Aarhus University)
Guest Editor: Ulf Schrader (Technische Universität Berlin)

There is a common understanding that a change in consumer behaviour is crucial to reach sustainable development. Research has shown ways through which it might be possible to fulfil consumers’ needs without harming the ecological, social and economic wellbeing of people today or in the future. However, the prevailing consumption patterns in modern socie-ties are still far from being sustainable. There is a huge gap between the available knowl-edge about sustainable consumption and real action towards it. This situation has motivated a range of research programmes, in Europe and elsewhere, exploring ways to bridge this “Knowledge-to-Action gap.” Many research projects and networks, financed by these pro-grammes, are beginning to show results, which is why the Journal of Consumer Policy now launches a call for papers for a special issue on this important topic.

There are many possible angles on and approaches to bridging this “Knowledge-to-Action gap.” Hence, papers on a broad range of questions would be relevant for this special issue, including, but not limited to the following:

• Which instruments are effective in promoting the sustainable use of energy and other limited resources in private homes?
• How can educational institutions contribute to sustainable consumption among youths and young adults?
• To which extent, and how, can life events, such as the birth of a child or moving to a new city, be utilized as “windows of opportunity” for a change towards sustainable consump-tion patterns?
• How can private users be integrated into sustainability innovation processes?

We also welcome contributions from the field of consumer law, including, but not limited to, the following issues:

• The interaction between the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection and the Treaty of Lisbon with regard to sustainable consumption.
• Law on sustainable consumption in various policy fields.
• The relation between economic freedom and consumer/environmental protection.

All researchers working with questions and approaches in this broad area are encouraged to submit high quality papers for consideration for the special issue. We especially welcome contributions from researchers outside Western Europe. All submissions are subject to the Journal of Consumer Policy’s blind-review process

The papers for this special issue have to be submitted no later than March 31st, 2011.

Further details regarding submission are available at the journal website:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/100283/

About the Journal

The interdisciplinary Journal of Consumer Policy (Springer Publ.) is a (double blind) peer re-viewed journal publishing theoretical and empirical works that use a wide variety of meth-odological approaches that advance the studies of consumer behaviour, explore the inter-ests of consumers and consequences of actions of consumers as well as consumers’ policy issues. It publishes four issues per year since more than three decades (Vol. 31).

JCP encompasses a broad range of issues concerned with consumer affairs. It looks at the consumer’s dependence on existing social and economic structures, helps to define the con-sumer’s interest, and discusses the ways in which consumer welfare can be fostered – or restrained – through actions and policies of consumers, industry, organizations, government, educational institutions, and the mass media. It publishes theoretical and empirical research on consumer and producer conduct, emphasizing the implications for consumers and in-creasing communication between the parties in the marketplace.

Articles cover consumer issues in law, economics, and behavioural sciences. Current areas of topical interest include the impact of new information technologies, the economics of in-formation, the consequences of regulation or deregulation of markets, problems related to an increasing internationalization of trade and marketing practices, consumers in less afflu-ent societies, the efficacy of economic cooperation, consumers and the environment, prob-lems with products and services provided by the public sector, the setting of priorities by consumer organizations and agencies, gender issues, product safety and product liability, and the interaction between consumption and associated forms of behaviour such as work and leisure.

http://www.springer.com/journal/10603

 

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