An analysis of the green consumer domain within sustainability research: 1975 to 2014

Sustainability requires that consumers and organisations consider how their activities impact on the natural environment. The initial marketing discussion of 'sustainability' as we now define it was into green consumer behaviour and within the literature in this area has continued to grow. This paper analyses 677 journal articles with a green consumer focus that have appeared in 34 leading marketing, psychology and environmental journals between 1975 and 2014. The most influential articles, authors, and institutions are identified using citation analysis. An examination of the trends in topics focused on in the research, over eight five-year periods, identified behavioural intentions, demographics and marketing strategy as the top three subjects in the domain. Overall, the results show that green consumer research is a multidisciplinary research domain that has been explored across a diverse range of issues and contexts, with researchers dispersed globally, ensuring that sustainability continues to be an area of interest within the consumer domain.