Rethinking sustainability

When social conformity and identity transform students’ consumption

Abstract

In the face of intensifying environmental degradation and unsustainable consumption trends, fostering sustainable consumption behaviour among university students has become a strategic imperative for global sustainability agendas. Although environmental education is widely endorsed as a key driver of pro-environmental behaviour, its real-world impact often remains limited when psychosocial dynamics are overlooked. This study investigates how conformity, social environment, and self-concept function as moderating factors that enhance the impacts of environmental education on sustainable consumption behaviour. Employing a large-scale quantitative design, data were collected from students across 122 public universities in Indonesia using structured questionnaires. The model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling with Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) through WarpPLS. The findings reveal that these psychosocial factors significantly strengthen the link between environmental education and sustainable consumption, suggesting that social identity and peer context are critical enablers of behavioural change. The study offers a novel contribution to the sustainable consumption literature by integrating educational, social, and psychological constructs within a cohesive theoretical framework. It also provides actionable insights for higher education institutions and policymakers to design transformative educational interventions that cultivate social influence, internalized norms, and environmentally responsible identities among students.