The implications of cultural differences in laundry behaviours for design for sustainable behaviour: A case study between the UK, India and Brazil

Traditional research into sustainable design has typically focused on reducing the environmental impact of products during the manufacture and disposal stages of a products' lifecycle. The last decade, however, has seen an explosion of research into understanding and moderating user behaviour during the use phase of a products' lifecycle; often the most resource-intensive phase. One of the biggest factors that affects behaviour is a users cultural context; however, the effect of cultural context on design for sustainable behaviour has had little exploration in this relatively new research field. In this article the findings from in-depth qualitative research with middle-income households in Brazil, India and the UK are presented with respect to laundry behaviours. Laundry was chosen as the study topic as it is one of the world's most widespread household chores with significant resource implications. The results reveal the vast differences in laundry behaviours between the regions and the implications this has for designers looking to create new products for sustainable behaviour. Finally, changes to current theoretical models of the laundry routine and the design implications of cultural context are discussed using established cultural tools, such as Hofstede's cultural dimensions.