Consumer Culture, Sustainability and Business Practice: How Companies can Promote the Symbolic Value of Sustainability in Consumption Activities?

Abstract

Discussions on sustainability began recently to focus on the consumption patterns of contemporary society as a major causative factors of social and environmental problems. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss some opportunities that companies have to influence these changes consumption patterns towards sustainability, taking as a basis the view discussed in studies of Rindova and Ravasi (2008) who consider firms as producers of culture. To this end, we performed a theoretical essay. The results show that companies can influence the formation of specific cultures with the symbolic construction of sustainable practices, contributing to the formation of a culture of sustainable consumption. This occurs from innovation in their ways of working, considering that evoke meanings that products appear to be influenced by strategic choices of producers, such as the concepts and philosophies of design (Ravasi; Rindova, 2008), which includes the development new technologies and practices (Michaelis, 2003) based on the principles of eco-efficiency (Barber, 2008; Clark, 2008), as well as changes in values and discourses that shape the cultures of business, government, media and civil society (Michaelis, 2003), also aligned with the ethical principles and shared environmental responsibility (Tukkeret al, 2008).