A hierarchy of sustainable grocery shopping behaviours: Using Rasch modelling to explore adoption groups

Abstract

Grocery shopping is a major contributor to unsustainable consumption in the developed world. This study constructs a hierarchy of sustainable grocery shopping (SGS), using a broad range of SGS consumption activities that contribute to an individual's aggregate grocery shopping. We confirm the suitability of Rasch modelling to construct the SGS hierarchy and, recognize the definitional equivalence between features of the Rasch model and Rogers' adoption groups. Our results are transformed into theoretically founded, empirically observed SGS adoption segments. SGS adoption groups are analysed with reference to multiple research streams. Our results show that the diffusion of SGS behaviours in a population is in its early stages and most SGS adoption segments undertake a limited number of SGS behaviours. Demographic characteristics do not contribute to explaining SGS membership, but personal values do. Personal values are also related to the observation of spill-over between items of similar behavioural difficulty, rather than within product categories. Only the most advanced SGS adoption groups consider sustainably sourced food as a decision criteria. We show the importance of investigating SGS with a systemic approach.