The sustainable attitude-behavior gap dynamic when shopping at the supermarket: A systematic literature review and framework for future research

This article systematically reviews the current literature around the sustainable attitude-behavior gap faced by shoppers who seek to shop sustainably at the supermarket. We analyze why household shoppers in general say they understand the science but do not follow through by placing sustainable products in the supermarket trolley. Using the domain-based systematic literature review method, the study reveals that the majority of scholarship to date has focused on the role of the individual consumer, but even the most sustainably motivated shopper can encounter difficulty shopping sustainably. Issues such as trust of the supermarket, availability, placement, accessibility, and price, which are outside the control of the household shopper, play a role in whether the shopper can successfully meet their sustainable objective. We propose an alternative scholarship lens by constructing a framework of sustainable grocery behaviour that recognizes sustainable grocery shopping is not the domain of one actor, the everyday household shopper, but it is a complex dynamic macro system of differing participants ranging from retailers, suppliers, manufacturers, government, and NGO's to the household shopper. Adopting a systems view will be important to examine the entire supply chain complete with feedback loops to understand the intervention points available and needed to create the most advantageous sustainable grocery shopping environment that satisfies the demands of the sustainably conscious consumer, the retailer, the manufacturer, and that of the planet.