Analysis of the Consciousness of University Undergraduates for Sustainable Consumption

Abstract

This research seeks to measure the degree of consciousness for sustainable consumption in a wide sample of university students. The interest of this study is to analyze if students’ choice of degree, as well as their progress in university education, influences the development of the dimensions that construct the consciousness for sustainable consumption. The study is completed by means of a questionnaire survey aimed at first and final year students of seven university degrees across four different faculties. A factorial analysis of principal components is performed to analyze the dimensions of sustainability and robust contrasts of mean differences are conducted to observe the differences by degrees and years. The results indicate that the measurement scale of the variable consciousness for sustainable consumption maintains its original structure when applied to a sample of Spanish university students. Although there are significant differences by degree in the development of awareness about sustainable consumption, the authors cannot conclude that the training received at the degree level helps to improve the level of awareness of students in their decisions for responsible behavior in consumption.