TOWARDS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THEORETICAL RESEARCH

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse the opportunities for change (scientific assumptions) that determine the transformations of consumer behaviour in the context of sustainable development needs. The article describes the dilemma of consumption and sustainability, since the increasing scale of consumption, as one of the major purposes of the well-being of the society, organisations and the state, is also one of the major risk factors to the environment, equality and health. That is why the article provides an overview of the influence of consumption on ecology, health, social aspects and inequality, also discussing the positions of the consumer, the company and the government, as well as their opportunities to transform the unsustainable consumer behaviour into sustainable consumer behaviour. The authors believe that a framework, based on interdisciplinary understanding and collaborative knowledge, is needed to identify and relate research questions, theories, and conclusions. Therefore, it must be a result of an integrated attitude, because efficient advancement in the field of sustainable and productive consumption may be achieved only by joint effort of producers and consumers and by including the interested groups of the consumption and production system. Such cooperation would promote changes in the consumer and producer behaviour.