Does Internet penetration encourage sustainable consumption? A cross-national analysis

The Internet has disruptively transformed the way human beings interact with the environment. This article investigates the extent to which Internet penetration at the national level influences individual sustainable consumption in a cross-national context. Multilevel regression analyses based on data from 31 countries show that after controlling for individual- and national-level factors, Internet penetration does not significantly influence individual sustainable consumption behaviors, but substantially enhances the transition from pro-environmental attitudes to sustainable behaviors. The findings underscore the complex relationships between Internet penetration and individual environmental behaviors as well as the need to understand sustainable consumption in the broader social context. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.