Management, Faculty of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
Parker, Ariele
Master of Arts - MA
University of British Columbia
The sustainable product market has experienced steady growth in the past decade in North America. It is estimated that this market could hit USD150 billion in the United States by the end of 2021 (Gelski, 2019). In Canada, 74% of consumers consider sustainability an important factor when making purchases (Ranken, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic initiates a new round of dialogue of sustainable consumption and community resilience. The changing work-life pattern and the disrupted local and global supply chain forced both market agents and consumers to establish new strategies and practices to sustain and survive during the global pandemic. In this thesis, I seek to answer the primary research question: How do marketers and consumers develop resilience through sustainable marketing and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic? This research has been conducted in partnership with a local lifestyle brand based in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. The objectives of this research study include: (i) to identify market needs for sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (ii) to investigate the consumption of sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (iii) to examine the process of sourcing sustainable goods during the pandemic, and (iv) to examine the development of community and organizational resilience during the pandemic. Through a study consisting of interviews and participatory action research, I examine the new roles of marketers and consumers through the conceptualization of sustainability, pro-environmental and pro-social production and consumption that reflect the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production). Our findings show that pro-social and pro-environmental consumers actively considered themselves as the “ambassadors” of sustainable and local products during the pandemic. Many local businesses also created innovative strategies to engage local and regional partners to pursue the sustainable goals during the pandemic. Building on the recent literature on pro-environmental and pro-social movements, my present research introduces the conceptions of organizational sustainability and community sustainability. These concepts reflect both interactions between market agents, consumers and other community and market stakeholders on new product designs from recycling, upcycling, green consumption to zero waste, and sustainable lifestyles.
BACK TO BASICS: THE SUSTAINABLE RESPONSES TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC by Ariele Parker B.Mgmt, The University of British Columbia, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The College of Graduate Studies (Interdisciplinary Studies) (Sustainability) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) April 2022 © Ariele Parker, 2022 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Back to Basics: The Sustainable Responses to COVID-19 submitted by Ariele Parker in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies – Sustainability in The University of British Columbia – Okanagan campus Examining Committee: Dr. Eric Li, Faculty of Management Supervisor Dr. Karis Shearer, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Sarah Wilner, Faculty of Business & Economics Supervisory Committee Member Professor. Bernard Momer, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University Examiner iii Abstract The sustainable product market has experienced steady growth in the past decade in North America. It is estimated that this market could hit USD150 billion in the United States by the end of 2021 (Gelski, 2019). In Canada, 74% of consumers consider sustainability an important factor when making purchases (Ranken, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic initiates a new round of dialogue of sustainable consumption and community resilience. The changing work-life pattern and the disrupted local and global supply chain forced both market agents and consumers to establish new strategies and practices to sustain and survive during the global pandemic. In this thesis, I seek to answer the primary research question: How do marketers and consumers develop resilience through sustainable marketing and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic? This research has been conducted in partnership with a local lifestyle brand based in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. The objectives of this research study include: (i) to identify market needs for sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (ii) to investigate the consumption of sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (iii) to examine the process of sourcing sustainable goods during the pandemic, and (iv) to examine the development of community and organizational resilience during the pandemic. Through a study consisting of interviews and participatory action research, I examine the new roles of marketers and consumers through the conceptualization of sustainability, pro-environmental and pro-social production and consumption that reflect the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible consumption and production). Our findings show that pro-social and pro-environmental consumers actively considered themselves as the “ambassadors” of sustainable and local products during the pandemic. Many local businesses also created innovative strategies to engage local and regional partners to pursue the sustainable goals during the pandemic. Building on the recent literature on pro-environmental and pro-social movements, my present research introduces the conceptions of organizational iv sustainability and community sustainability. These concepts reflect both interactions between market agents, consumers and other community and market stakeholders on new product designs from recycling, upcycling, green consumption to zero waste, and sustainable lifestyles. v Lay Summary This research examines the unique case of COVID-19 and its impact on the perception of environmentally responsible products among people in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada. The research suggests that events that require social isolation make people communicate more on social networks and purchase more products online. As people become educated about the benefits of environmentally responsible products and are influenced by brand ambassadors, they start to support these products and at times some become brand ambassadors themselves. The research suggests that as people purchase environmentally responsible products they receive the additional benefits of being seen as responsible in their social networks through pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. The present study also shows the sustainable marketing and sustainable consumption are contributors to the development of community and organizational resilience during disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. vi Preface This thesis is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, A. Parker. The research reported in Chapters 3 to 4 was covered by UBCO Ethics Certificate H20-01633. vii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................ iii Lay Summary ................................................................................................................................................................v Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................................x Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... xi Dedication ................................................................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background ...........................................................................................................................................................1 1.2 The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Sustainable Development Concerns ...........................................................3 1.3 Sustainable Consumption and Sustainable Marketing .........................................................................................4 1.4 Research Motives ..................................................................................................................................................7 1.5 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................................................8 Chapter 2. Literature Review ……….…………………………………………………………………………….10 2.1 Theoretical Foundations of Sustainability…………………………………………………………………………..…10 2.2 Sustainable Consumption and Marketing in the Fashion Industry ....................................................................12 2.3 Community and Organizational Sustainability and Resilience ..........................................................................18 2.4 Research Gaps and Opportunities ......................................................................................................................19 Chapter 3. Research Methods ....................................................................................................................................21 3.1 Research Design .................................................................................................................................................22 3.1.1 Phenomenological Interviews .....................................................................................................................22 3.1.2 Participatory Action Research ....................................................................................................................23 3.2 Data Collection ..................................................................................................................................................24 3.2.1 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................................................24 3.2.2 Recruitment .................................................................................................................................................25 3.2.3 Consent Process ..........................................................................................................................................27 3.3 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................28 3.3.1. Phenomenological Interviews ....................................................................................................................28 3.3.2. Participatory Action Research ...................................................................................................................29 3.4 Researcher Reflexivity ........................................................................................................................................30 Chapter 4. Findings ....................................................................................................................................................34 4.1 Consumer Interview Data ...................................................................................................................................34 4.1.1 Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods ............................34 4.1.1.1 Sustainable Consumption Practice ...........................................................................................................38 4.1.1.2 End of Life Treatment and Disposal Practices .........................................................................................39 4.1.1.3 Perception of Sustainable Movements, Sustainable Production – Marketing, and Barriers ....................41 viii 4.1.2 Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic ...............................................................42 4.1.2.1 Challenges to Pro-Environmental Behaviours .......................................................................................431 4.1.2.2. Challenges to Pro-Social Behaviours………………………………………………………………………………………42 4.1.2.3 Social Isolation .........................................................................................................................................46 4.1.2.4 Financial Difficulties ................................................................................................................................47 4.1.2.5 Changing Consumption Behavior (consuming less or consuming more) ................................................48 4.1.2.6 Changing Consumption Behaviour (planning purchases) .......................................................................49 4.1.2.7 Supply Chain Challenges .........................................................................................................................49 4.1.3 COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences .............................................50 4.1.3.1 Demand for Local Goods .........................................................................................................................50 4.1.3.2 Demand for Sustainable and Durable Goods ...........................................................................................55 4.1.3.3 Concerns About Online Shopping ...........................................................................................................55 4.2 Experience and Reflection from the Participatory Action Research ..................................................................57 4.2.1 Sustainable Sourcing ...................................................................................................................................57 4.2.2 Sustainable Product Design ........................................................................................................................58 4.2.3 Sustainable Marketing .................................................................................................................................60 4.3 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................................................61 Chapter 5. Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….62 5.1 Community Sustainability and Resilience: Revisiting the Three Pillars of Sustainability ............................64 5.1.1 Social Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic ............................................................................64 5.1.2 Economic Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic ......................................................................66 5.1.3 Environmental Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic ..............................................................67 5.2 Organizational Sustainability and Resilience ...............................................................................................69 5.3 Sustainable Marketing through Social Media and Brand Ambassadorship .................................................70 5.4 Marketing Sustainable Products with Social Media .....................................................................................73 5.5 Opportunities for Increased Pro-Social and Pro-Environmental Behaviours ..............................................74 5.6 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................75 Chapter 6: Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................78 6.1 Limitations and Future Research Directions ................................................................................................80 References ....................................................................................................................................................................82 Appendix A: UBCO Human Ethics Research Certificate of Approval ........................................................................92 Appendix B: Interview Guide .......................................................................................................................................94 ix List of Tables Table 3.1 Summary of Interview Participants……………………………………………… 26-27 Table 4.1 Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods ……………………………………………………………………………………………….35-36 Table 4.2 Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic ……………..43-44 Table 4.3 COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences ….52-53 x List of Abbreviations CAD – Canadian Dollar CNBC – Consumer News and Business Channel COVID-19 - Coronavirus Disease of 2019 ELCA - Environmental life cycle assessment PAR – Participatory Action Research SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals SUPs – Single-Use Plastics UBC – The University of British Columbia UN – United Nations USD – United States Dollar WCED - World Commission on Environment and Development WWF – World Wildlife Fund xi Acknowledgements I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Eric Li. His guidance and support along the journey of completing this thesis has been immeasurable. I have truly learnt so much from Dr. Li as a supervisor, mentor and friend. Dr. Li’s involvement and work in the local community is commendable and I have become inspired to model my academic career off of his. Furthermore, I wish to acknowledge the support and love of my family, my mom, Lisa; my dad, Steve; and my brothers, Chad and Adam. They have provided unending moral support along my academic journey. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the Federal funding body Mitacs. The support received allowed me to work as a researcher in the field and I will be forever thankful for the opportunity. xii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my mother, my long-time cheerleader and forever best friend. Her support through my academic journey has meant more than words can express. She has continuously encouraged me to persevere even when my own personal stamina has wavered. Through the process of researching and writing this thesis I have learnt that academia is not a race but a journey and one that takes great dedication to living a well-balanced and healthful life. My mother exemplifies this lifestyle and has always encouraged me to strive for greatness in all that I do. For that I am and will always be incredibly thankful. 1 Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The recent COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments and communities to revisit their understandings of sustainability and resilience. While many of the businesses in the retail, food services, tourism, and hospitality sectors have been experiencing a drastic drop in sales during the pandemic due to travel bans, remote working, and social distancing policies, online shopping and delivery sectors (e.g., Amazon, Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes) have been dealing with a dramatic increase in sales and orders (The Canadian Press, 2020). The online shopping giant, Amazon, reported its first CAD100 billion quarter following the holiday and pandemic shopping surge (Palmer, 2021). Similarly, the United Parcel Service (UPS) reported a 21 percent increase in sales (to USD24.9 billion) in the last quarter of 2020 (Chokshi, 2021). A recent survey conducted by Comscore showed that 31% of consumers who participated in the study ordered food delivery more often during the pandemic. All these statistics illustrate a dramatic change in shopping behaviour during the pandemic (Comscore, 2021). Many claim that the global pandemic brought some positive environmental impacts to the planet such as the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of less outdoor travel, leading to an increase in outdoor air quality (Silva et al., 2020). The changes in consumption behaviours and lifestyle also exposed many environmental and social concerns such as the dramatic increase in the usage of disposable Styrofoam containers, utensils, and plastic bags. The demand for packaging using single-use plastics (SUP) had increased by over 40% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants have had to resort to using SUP takeout containers as dine-in 2 options have been limited, leading manufacturers to scramble to produce enough SUP containers and putting a lower priority on sustainability (Cobe, 2021). While the increase of single-use plastic is mainly due to sanitation and health concerns related to the COVID-19 virus, the campaign director of GreenPeace, John Hovecar, pointed out that “(t)he plastic industry seized on the pandemic as an opportunity to try to convince people that single-use plastic is necessary to keep us safe, and that reusables are dirty and dangerous” (Newburger & Lucas, 2020, para. 11). He also argued that neither of these claims has been supported by science (Newburger & Lucas, 2020). Both CNBC and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported that the pandemic has reversed the progress that many cities globally have made in banning SUPs (de Wit et al., 2019; Newburger & Lucas, 2020). Following the shift from manufacturers’ prioritizing the planet’s sustainability to people’s health and survival, there has been growing concern amongst researchers that more needs to be done for the planet's survival (United Nations, 2020). The global pandemic has given opportunity to all stakeholders, ranging from the general public to policy makers, from producers to consumers, to revisit sustainable production and consumption priorities at a global scale. It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has directly and indirectly connected to some of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as responsible consumption and production (Goal #12), climate action (Goal #13), partnerships for the goals (Goal #17). During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains are disrupted globally and this impacts consumer choices because fewer products and options are available. Demand for local and sustainable goods is increasing. It is assumed that the demand is increasing based on several factors: first, the buy local movement and consumers’ concern over ensuring the survival of local businesses; second, the disruption of the supply chain, which has impacted the accessibility and 3 affordability of goods (Hall, 2020; Hill-Tout & Hartwig, 2020; Retail4growth, 2020). At the same time, consumers are conscious about their choices in this challenging time. As consumers become accustomed to fewer options, they often look to others for guidance and advice before finalizing their purchasing decisions. Advice can come from professionals, peers, social media influencers or brand ambassadors. Beyond consumers, organizations also play an important role in shaping the market logics and consumer ideologies. The aim of this research was to explore how market agents and consumers reconceptualize sustainable consumption and production during the COVID-19 pandemic. I seek to address this research question: How do marketers and consumers develop resilience through sustainable marketing and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic? To answer the above question, I adopted a two-component research design to examine how consumers perceive sustainable consumption (component 1) and how local businesses develop sustainable responses to address challenges and opportunities induced by the COVID-19 pandemic (component 2). 1.2 The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Sustainable Development Concerns Since the World Health Organization announced the coronavirus as the global pandemic in March 2020, the new public health warnings forced countries, organizations, and individuals alike to change their travel regulations, safety protocols, and everyday lives dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic also forced stakeholders to revisit issues such as climate changes, human rights, sustainability, technology, innovation, and socio-economic change. 4 While the United Nations (UN) is actively and aggressively institutionalizing sustainable development through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1, there is an opportunity to employ a “top-down and bottom-up” approach to better understand the gaps between the SDGs and the development of the new market (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). A “top-down” approach generally refers to the adoption of regulations that stem from government policy that dictates legislation that must be followed by both companies and consumers. A “bottom-up” approach, alternatively, relies upon consumers that can be both driven by purchases or by “citizen science” 2 research (Vohland et al., 2021). By using this framework, I aim to systematically unpack how both organizations and consumers develop strategies to enhance more pro-environmental and pro-social behaviours during the global pandemic. 1.3 Sustainable Consumption and Sustainable Marketing The ongoing economic and industrial development of the past century has created a number of challenges to our environment including environmental degradation and endangering various ecosystems (e.g. waterways, forests, and soil). By being either driven by or responsive to the social and economic pressures of living as a capitalist and consumerist society, citizens in developed countries are producing and consuming more than ever before. Overproduction and overconsumption have become common phenomena in developed economies. For example, an estimated one third of all food produced (equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes worth around USD1 trillion) has been wasted at different stages of the production and consumption processes (United 1 “The SDGs recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.” (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). 2 “Citizen science” is defined as “the active engagement of the general public in scientific research tasks” (Vohland et al., 2021, p. 1). 5 Nations, n.d.). For this reason, the United Nations have identified “responsible consumption and production” as one of its stated sustainable development goals (Goal #12) (United Nations, n.d.). Sustainable goods, in general, refer to commercialized goods that do not use finite resources in their production. As technology advances, sustainable goods are made from recycled or more durable materials. In some cases, the goods have an end-of-life plan that enables them to be composted or disposed of in ways that do not cause long-term harm to the planet. Compared to products that are made from finite resources that have a linear lifespan, the process of addressing sustainability through the product life cycle is often referred to as the “circular life cycle” (Chapman, 2017, p. 1). By marketing sustainable goods with a circular life cycle, organizations produce less waste that ends up in landfills and waterways. Even though the green movements (e.g., Earth Day) were spearhead by activists consumers decades ago, the sustainable product market has experienced steady growth in North America in the past decade. Researchers have estimated that it could hit USD150 billion in the United States by the end of 2021 (Gelski, 2019). As part of this ever-growing sustainable market, millennials, the children or grandchildren of baby boomers, who spearheaded the new green initiatives such as the “Net Zero”3 movement (IPCC, 2018), have become a new and key market segment for sustainable products. They are not just passive consumers but also the “ambassadors” for sustainable products and sustainability movements. These tech-savvy and green-conscious millennials often promote pro-environmental initiatives from recycling, upcycling, green consumption to zero-waste and sustainable lifestyles. 3 The “Net Zero” movement is being demanded by the climate movement triggered by environmental activist, Greta Thunberg in 2018. The goal of the movement is to reduce the net Green House Gases emission to zero in order to stabilize global temperatures (IPCC, 2018). 6 Sustainability has become a popular term used both within the discipline of marketing as well as other disciplines such as engineering, urban studies, and environmental studies. Often, sustainability has a “contradictory nature” within marketing because, at its core, marketing is generally an action used to promote the consumption of goods and services. This unbridled consumption is unsustainable in nature as most goods and services are generated by finite and non-renewable resources (Kemper & Ballantine, 2019, p. 277). Historically, the adoption of sustainable products by consumers has been slow (Gallup, 2018). To speed up adoption, government regulations (top-down) or social media (bottom-up) strategies were used to motivate consumers. Prior studies on sustainable consumption and production have found that government regulations can motivate both companies and consumers to produce and use more sustainable goods. For example, Canada passed a ban on single-use plastics (Bill 82) that was agreed upon pre-COVID and was set to be in effect in 2021. However, implementation appears to have been put on pause as the Government of Canada website still only shows the date of its first reading on March 18, 2019 (Government of Canada, 2020). The process to pass a bill in Canada requires six steps with the first reading being the first of six steps. Bill 82 exemplifies an approach to changing how retailers package their goods for consumers. Alternatively, consumers can drive the demand for sustainable goods, which motivates producers to improve their practices. Other studies also show that human agents such as social media influencers and brand ambassadors can help companies motivating consumers to change their consumption habits (e.g., Rezvani et al., 2018). Like the traditional forms of celebrity endorsement, these social influencers and ambassadors are generally “paid to endorse or promote a particular company's products or services” (Oxford University Press, n.d.).” 7 It appears that social media has become a key communication platform for sustainable goods. Kotler (2020), for instance, pointed out that “(w)e ... use social media to urge our families and friends to choose good and healthy foods and buy more sensible clothing and other goods” (p. 15). Social media, in this sense, has become a tool for individuals to promote green and environmentally-friendly goods and initiatives to their family and friends. Beyond providing lifestyle advice, social media also provides entertainment and a sense of comfort and normalcy during uncertain times such as a global pandemic. 1.4 Research Motives To date, most of the literature on sustainable marketing and consumption focuses on describing products and their attributes. Yet, it often lacks the in-depth review of the long-term impact of marketing and consumption on our environments and communities. In addition, little scholarship examines how disruptive climatic events impact small-and-medium-sized regions like the Okanagan valley. In the past two decades, the Okanagan valley region has suffered various disruptive events such as the massive wildfires in 2003 and major floods in 2017 and 2018. Like the rest of the world, the “four seasons playground4” is currently undergoing the COVID-19 pandemic. Such disruptive environmental events have a negative ripple effect across both social and economic aspects of the area. Because of this, the business community, and specifically organizations related to tourism that market the “four seasons playground,” must find innovative strategies to sustain the economy. The Okanagan region’s natural environment has become its main tourist attraction and its largest business driver (Dickson, 2017). Disruptive environmental events have a seemingly larger impact on the Okanagan because this region leans on its natural 4 Due to the scenic environment and the abundance of winter and summer leisure activities such as wine tourism, water sports, ski and winter sports, the Okanagan valley is touted as a “four reasons playground” for many locals and tourism representatives. 8 landscape and “four seasons” interest and accessibility for economic income. Since the area relies so heavily on its natural environment, promoting environmental sustainability that preserves this natural landscape is of utmost importance to the region’s economic viability. In this thesis, I seek to answer the following primary research question: How do marketers and consumers develop resilience through sustainable marketing and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic? To do so, I partnered with a local apparel brand in Kelowna, to implement a two-stage research study between May 2020 and August 2021. This study seeks to examine the consumers’ responses to the global pandemic, firms’ marketing benefits of sustainable goods as well as review marketing traction and interest in these goods during the pandemic. In summary, this study aims to shed light on the intersection between sustainability, design, and the buy-local movement through a case analysis of a local business. 1.5 Research Objectives This thesis’s main research objectives include: (i) to identify market needs for sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (ii) to investigate the consumption of sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (iii) to examine the process of sourcing sustainable goods during the pandemic, and (iv) to examine the development of community and organizational resilience during the pandemic. To complete these research objectives, I adopted a two-stage research design to better understand how local businesses promote sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first stage of the study, I conducted and analyzed interviews focusing on sustainable consumption with a group of local consumers in the Okanagan region. The second stage of my research involved a participatory action research component. This research offers insights to small-and-medium-sized retailers within Canada on how to build resilience and better develop consumer communities during disruptive events like the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses how it is of utmost interest to 9 move towards the marketing and consumption of sustainable goods to assist in avoiding further disruptive events in the future. 10 Chapter 2. Literature Review 2.1 Theoretical Foundations of Sustainability To understand how sustainability was introduced into the mainstream in the 1980s, it is important to first look at the broad roots from which the concept emerged. In their work on the history of sustainability, Purvis, Mao, and Robinson (2017) indicated that the earliest documented references to sustainability occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries when European pioneers looked at implementing “sustainable yield[s]” across Europe to assist with “dwindling forestry” crops (p. 682). They pointed out that after the industrial revolution, political economists began questioning the sustainability of economic growth (Purvis et al., 2017). During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a boom in the production of goods and services resulting in many members in the western societies starting to question the sustainability of this growth because people’s basic economic needs had been met. Since the early 1960s, there have been several books published on sustainability that established a foundation for greater dialogue, a rise in environmental movements, an increased widespread media coverage of environmental disasters (e.g. British Petroleum’s oil spill in 2010), and a heightened awareness of environmental destruction, and climate emergence. As part of this environmental movement, books and conferences about sustainability were written and organized to educate the public. For example, in 1972, the United Nations conference on human environment marked the first global summit attempting to “reconcile economic development with environmental integrity (Kumar et al., 2013).” The Brundtland Commission Report, was a publication released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) that introduced the concept of sustainable development and described how it could be achieved (Jarvie, 2016). The development of the Brundtland Commission Report in 1987 introduced the term ‘Sustainability’ 11 to the general public (Kumar et al., 2013). The Brundtland Commission was created to help direct the nations of the world towards the goal of sustainable development. Kumar et al. define sustainable development as, “Development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (2013, p. 602). These authors point out that the Brundtland Commission report suggested that sustainability was grounded in what is called a “triple bottom line approach”, that is, “people, planet, and profit” (Kumar et al., 2013, p. 602). Furthermore, the Brundtland Commission report references the three pillars of sustainability as being important to sustainable development. These pillars (economic viability, environmental protection and social equity) are intended to help people and the planet live in harmony. As this scholarship demonstrates, sustainability is a concept that is ever-evolving as societies try to balance both economic and environmental needs. The three pillars of sustainability, as introduced by the Brundtland Commission, is one of many conceptualisations of sustainability. Recent literature on sustainability has started considering culture as the fourth pillar as culture is an enabler and driver of economic and social dimensions. In their edited volume Cultural Sustainability Perspectives from the Humanities and Social Sciences, Meireis and Rippl (2019) describe culture in both a wide and narrow context. They refer culture in a wider sense as “the human activity of symbolizing … any way of communicating and coming to terms with the world by means of language, images, concepts and so forth, spanning a range from the most elaborate composition to the ordinary interactions of everyday life” (p. 5). In a narrower sense, ‘culture’ means “the act of expressly producing, reproducing or modifying cultural symbols in performance, artistic, scientific or scholarly production” (p. 5). By adding culture as a fourth pillar, the conceptualization of sustainability becomes thorough and comprehensive. 12 2.2 Sustainable Consumption and Marketing in the Fashion Industry Sustainable consumption can be defined as the prudent use of goods, which shows moderation and responsibility towards future generations (Gierszewska & Seretny, 2019). Previous studies on sustainable products focused on the design philosophies, market trends, government policies and incentives, as well as consumer preferences and cultural changes. In 1987, the United Nations described sustainability as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations, n.d., para. 2). In the field of marketing, Armstrong and Kotler (2012) define the concept of sustainable marketing as “socially and environmentally responsible marketing that meets the present needs of the consumers and business[es] while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (p. 508). Their definition highlights the importance of protecting the environment and the future generations of consumers. This creates a paradoxical situation because the sustainable marketing of products and services needs to change the way we think about marketing. It is of utmost importance that businesses closely evaluate the products they are marketing and determine if there are ways to make the products more sustainable. In light of this definition, the fashion industry was urged to develop a more environmentally-friendly approach to design, manufacture, and market their fashionable items. Scholars have become particularly interested in this topic and have demonstrated that sustainable consumption can be achieved through the acquisition of pre-owned products to reflect consumers’ personal values (e.g., environmentalism and anti-consumption) (Laitala & Klepp, 2009). 13 The fashion industry has largely perpetuated fast consumerism. At its core, the fashion industry is based on ever-evolving trends, meaning that clothing is constantly being produced, purchased, and consumed. The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after oil and gas. This is largely ascribable to the massive growth of fast fashion suppliers who have developed a throw-away fashion attitude (Morgan & Birtwistle, 2009). As Gierszewska and Seretny (2019) argue in their work on changing consumer behaviour and business attitudes, fast fashion perpetuates consumerism because, at its core, it supports ever evolving trends, thereby producing immense amounts of clothing very quickly. This often leads to low quality apparel that has the intended purpose of being worn only a few times then thrown away (Razzaq et al., 2018). To address such concern, the fashion industry, including the fast fashion producers, has started launching sustainable versions of their offering (e.g., H&M’s Conscious line). Many fashion brands claim to follow the responsible or desirable business principles such as the use of recycled and organic raw materials. The meaning of sustainable fashion, however, is polysemous. Brands have become more sophisticated in using the term “sustainability’ in their marketing (Lee and Sung, 2016). Belz and Peattie (2009) suggested that sustainable fashion incorporates “environmental (e.g. less harming production techniques, such as upcycling or recycling), social (e.g. safe working conditions and working environment), and economic elements (e.g. financial viability of the business model)” (p. 83). Carey and Cervellon (2014) described sustainable fashion as “part of the slow fashion movement, developed over the past decades, and used interchangeably with eco-, green-, and ethical-fashion” (p. 1). Sustainable fashion, in theory, involves the production, consumption, and disposition of clothes in such a distinct way that can have minimal impact on the society, economy, and environment as a whole. In the past two decades, concepts such as slow fashion, 14 green fashion, and sustainable fashion were introduced to consumers. Unlike fast fashion, slow fashion focuses on producing, selling, and consuming high-quality items less frequently. As scholars have demonstrated, a core value of slow fashion is the production of goods that are focused on fair labour practices and careful attention to the quality of textiles so that goods have a longer lifespan (Jung & Jin, 2014). Although the cost of slow fashion pieces is generally higher than that of fast fashion items, these goods last substantially longer and are therefore more of an investment in their durability (Jung & Jin, 2014). Lowering our consumption of higher quality goods will result in less waste and the development of more sustainable consumption (Jung & Jin, 2014). As a movement, slow fashion is slowly gaining traction. As they become more aware of the waste they produce, consumers are looking at options to invest in higher quality goods that result in a more pro-social and pro-environmental mindset. However, despite its many advantages, a barrier to purchasing slow fashion pieces can be the initial upfront investment. Purchasing slow fashion pieces can be too expensive and therefore inaccessible for many. With the growth in technology, many apps such as Poshmark and Facebook Marketplace have made the purchase of pre-owned goods more accessible for the general public. In summary, slow fashion provides consumers an alternative purchase option that is an intentional step towards improving their sustainable consumption practices. Fashion brands around the world are beginning to implement sustainability strategies and large companies, such as Zara, Nike, and H&M, regularly issue publicly-available reports describing their sustainability activities (Kozlowski et al. 2019). As sectors all across the fashion industry from sportswear, footwear, to luxury labels and lingerie, started developing sustainable products and services which consider environmental, economic, and social issues throughout their product life cycles and value chains (Kozlowski et al. 2019, p. 1), new criticism on 15 confusing and misleading statements to market clothing as sustainable were reported. This combination can make it challenging to encourage retailers to move towards sustainable operations unless they are encountering disruptions in the supply chain, demands from consumers they cannot meet through existing product offerings or top down changes to government policy that monitor factory emissions and waste. Beyond the economic gain of choosing slow fashion, there are many emotional benefits to individual consumers. Scholars studying emotions tied to sustainable purchase behaviours suggest that consumers purchasing slow-fashion goods experience positive emotions. In their study, consumer behaviour scholars Rowe et al. (2019) look at the role of pride and guilt in shaping sustainable purchase intentions. They found through their study that “recalling feelings of pride associated with a past sustainability-related behavior increases sustainable purchase intention, as compared with a neutral recall” (Rowe et al., p. 276). In short, someone who “anticipates” feelings of “pride” or “guilt” will be motivated to purchase a sustainable good. Similarly, a separate group of researchers identified three major motivations for sustainable consumption. First, they suggest that anything that benefits the consumer will be perceived as a strong motivation for a sustainable purchase intention. Essentially, if the positives exceed the negatives, consumers will be motivated to make a sustainable purchase (Rezvani et al., 2018). Secondly, based on societal norms, if consumers believe that the decision is expected by society to fulfill pro-social norms, the likelihood of a sustainable purchase increases. Thirdly, they suggest that, if the purchase improves one's environmentalist and altruistic feelings, they are more likely to make a sustainable purchase (Rezvani et al., 2018). In summary, anticipating feelings of pleasure and excitement from the purchase of sustainable products can increase the probability of a green purchase. Sustainable consumption is a slow process that leads to the 16 acquisition of higher quality goods that make individuals feel more positive about their purchase intentions. In summary, sustainable marketing is a conflicting topic because at its core marketing is encouraging the consumption of a product or a service and often these resources are finite and unsustainable. This leads to an interesting predicament as eventually, if the marketing is effective, the goods being marketed will run out. As scholars of consumerism have demonstrated, historically, marketing has focused on the consumption of goods and services that utilize non-renewable resources (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2021). By determining if the resources are renewable or finite, businesses can then move forward in asking important questions about sustainability. As Sheth and Parvatiyar (2021) state, “Marketing, through its market-driven consumption-oriented practices, may have knowingly or unknowingly promoted these unsustainable production-consumption practices. Therefore, it needs to change its orientation from merely being responsive to consumer and market needs into a more responsible approach that drives markets for sustainable products and services and builds sustainable societies” (2021, p. 150). Once this has been established the business must make the important decision to remain with their existing supplier or change suppliers altogether (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2021). In other words, in order to survive and thrive, it is critical that businesses look at how they market goods and how these goods are produced to determine if they are viable long-term solutions or if they must re-evaluate supply chains and suppliers to become more sustainable. As natural resources on our planet continue to dwindle, businesses that are at the forefront of evaluating their supply chains for long term sustainability will be better set up for success. Communicating sustainability messages to customers are crucial. Borin and Metcalf (2010) have identified the five core principles of sustainability that should be communicated to 17 them to ensure the adoption of sustainable products: respecting life and natural processes, living within limits, valuing the local, accounting for full costs, and sharing power. These imply realizing dependency on natural resources, understanding that such resources are finite and limited, valuing the resources produced by the local economy, understanding the full costs of production, and sharing the responsibility with other stakeholders, including those inside the company. Sustainable marketing has received a lot of criticism in the past for not being truthful in its environmental claims. The popular term “greenwashing” has been used to describe environmental claims that are highly marketed but not based on scientific evidence. Increasing customer trust is imperative for businesses to be successful in transforming the way consumer products are created and sold. According to Atkinson and Rosenthal (2014), “when consumers do not trust the content of the marketing claims or suspect an advertising message of deception or ‘greenwashing,’ they are much less likely to purchase the product or adopt a favorable attitude toward it” (p. 34). To increase trust, research has suggested that labels and seals of approval help validate “green” claims. In 1975, for instance, it was found that “third-party seals …were ranked highest on dimensions of expertise and impartiality and second only to friends on perceived trustworthiness” (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014, p. 35). Over the last two decades, various certifications and assessment tools for measuring sustainability in products and brands have been developed. Heiskanen (2000) suggests that the “Environmental life cycle assessment ([E]LCA) has become a popular approach to the ‘environmental evaluation’ and management of products” (p. 239). ELCA is used to assess environmental impacts from raw materials extraction through to disposal. ELCA can be used to assist in improving the full production chain. By acknowledging consumer distrust, tools and certifications have been created that better track the full product life 18 cycle which means that marketing efforts can better signify the types of products that are most sustainable. As we continue to look towards reducing our use of finite resources, these types of tools and certifications will become invaluable to avoiding “greenwashing” and increasing consumer trust in sustainable marketing. 2.3 Community and Organizational Sustainability and Resilience Community sustainability is a foundational element in creating a sense of place and purpose for people. According to the industrialist John Egan, sustainable communities are those that “meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and other users and contribute to a high quality of life and provide opportunity and choice. They achieve this in ways that make effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment, promote social cohesion and inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity.” (Government of the United Kingdom, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2004, p. 7). Lew et al. (2016) refer the conceptions of community sustainability and resilience as “share[ing] similar goals and some common approaches, such as a focus on climate change and seeking a balance between humans and nature” (p. 19). Similarly, Aldrich and Meyer (2015) defines community resilience as “the collective ability of a neighborhood or geographically defined area to deal with stressors and efficiently resume the rhythms of daily life through cooperation following [disruptive events]” (p. 255). Organizational sustainability, similar to community sustainability, emphasizes benefits to all relevant stakeholders. Horak et al. (2018), for instance, referred the term organizational sustainability as the adoption of “sustainability initiatives can provide [organizations] with several forms of benefits, including a positive image, enhanced trust from stakeholders, efficiency in resource management, a competitive advantage, superior returns on investments 19 and profitability” (p. 528). For employees, sustainability can assist with creating a sense of well-being, work culture and satisfaction within their organization. 2.4 Research Gaps and Opportunities The COVID-19 pandemic has caused multiple shutdowns and various regulations to be implemented that limit activities consumers can do outside of the home. As a result, both work and personal communications have transitioned to the digital sphere. By necessity, this has sped up the transition of face-to-face communication to digital communication for every age group of consumers (Nguyen et al., 2020). For instance, research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of social media by 35% (Nguyen et al., 2020, p. 2). With consumers now spending more time within the digital realm, advertisers have largely transitioned their marketing budgets to focus on funding social media advertisements. During COVID-19, most small businesses in the U.S. advertised on social media (55%) and many considered increasing their advertisements on social media (45%) (The Manifest, 2021). Social media plays a large role in determining pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours of consumers, which impacts small businesses at a local level. The increase in social media usage has led many consumers to spend more time researching brands and analyzing their prosocial and pro-environmental attributes. According to a recent study, “almost 80% of consumers say that they are changing their purchase preferences and behaviour based on brands and retailers’ social responsibility, inclusiveness, or environmental impact” (Internet Retailing, n.d., para. 1-3). At the same time, with a lot of traditional brick and mortar retail locations being shut down and travel outside of individual regions being canceled, people’s budgets have generally increased enabling them to spend more money on consumer goods. In short, consumers have increased their disposable income, spent 20 more time online, and engaged with an increased amount of digital advertisements. With this context in mind, I argue that the ability for brands that are focused on sustainability to engage consumers has been a positive opportunity made possible during this pandemic. Furthermore, pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours appear to be leading the buy-local movement. Many consumers are using social media as a platform to promote their local purchases and these local businesses are targeting both messaging and advertising spend to these local consumers. This appears to be a strong example of community resilience and sustainability and an opportunity for further research. Given the current historical situation has reconfigured how they socialize, we need to consider how businesses can more effectively market sustainable goods and behaviours to consumers. 21 Chapter 3. Research Methods In this research, I adopted a two-component research design to examine how consumers perceive sustainable consumption (component 1) and how local businesses develop sustainable responses to the COVID-19 pandemic (component 2). For the first component, I primarily focused on conducting phenomenological interviews with consumers in the Okanagan region. The objective of this research component was to better understand how consumers define sustainable consumption, their views of and commitment to sustainability, and their sustainable (or unsustainable) practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the second component, I partnered with a local lifestyle brand in the City of Kelowna through a participatory action research (PAR) design. This research component focused examining how a local brand adopts strategies such as sustainable sourcing, sustainable product design, and sustainable marketing as responses to the global pandemic. Ultimately, this study sought to examine the marketing benefits of sustainable goods as well as to review marketing traction and interest in sustainable goods during the pandemic. In summary, my study aims to shed light on businesses regarding the perception of and market demands for sustainable goods in a local community, the consumption of sustainable goods and changes in sustainable behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic; the process of sourcing sustainable goods and the processes of transitioning existing goods into more sustainable options during the COVID-19 pandemic. 22 3.1 Research Design 3.1.1 Phenomenological Interviews For the in-depth interviews, I adopted the phenomenological tradition (Thompson et al., 1989) to examine consumers’ perception of sustainable consumption and sustainable goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. I chose this research method because phenomenological interviews are based on one’s experience around a certain set of events. Consumers’ decisions are often emotional and it is difficult to quantify emotion. In-depth interviews, therefore allow us to explore and to better understand these emotions by providing participants an opportunity and the space to holistically describe their feelings and why they made their decisions. Phenomenological interviews also allow me to ask questions that present a fuller picture of participants’ background and understanding of why they are making their decisions based on environmental and emotional factors in their lives. Also, this type of research is useful when reviewing consumers’ existing product knowledge and considering how to further expand consumer education to help them make informed purchasing decisions that are better for the planet. In this present study, the interviews were focused on the pandemic, a phenomenon that has impacted each and every individual across the community and around the globe. This research method works well within the context of my research objectives because it focuses on interviewing individuals one at a time to learn about their experiences in relation to this event. Semi-structured interviews allow participants to answer questions in as much or as little detail as they feel comfortable, which provides rich research data. This research method provides researchers data from each participant that is then coded for themes. In this case, I hoped to gain 23 a sense of individuals’ understanding of sustainable consumption and marketing and to learn how these perceptions and understandings may have changed during the pandemic. 3.1.2 Participatory Action Research To better understand how local businesses responded to the pandemic and how they adjust their product and marketing strategies to achieve a more sustainable objective, I employed a participatory action research approach in the second component of my thesis research. According to MacDonald (2012), participatory action research (PAR) is considered “a form of qualitative research that integrates the methods and techniques of observing, documenting, analyzing, and interpreting characteristics, patterns, attributes, and meanings of human phenomena under study” (p. 34–35). PAR is qualitative in nature as it examines human characteristics (thoughts and feelings) rather than numbers. In other words, it looks at people’s experiences, which aligns with my phenomenological interview method. PAR also provides a framework for research that is very collaborative in nature. An integral component of the research design for my master’s thesis was the research internship at a local apparel and lifestyle brand in the Okanagan region. This 16-month research internship was supported by the Mitacs Accelerate program, allowing me to engage in PAR by working part-time with the partner organization. I usually spent half of my work week with the partner organization. I worked with the team to develop new product strategies and marketing campaigns. At the same time, I focused on capturing how the organization worked to (i) to identify market needs for sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (ii) to investigate the consumption of sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (iii) to examine the process of sourcing sustainable goods during the pandemic, and (iv) to examine the development of community and organizational resilience during the pandemic. Furthermore, PAR provided me with the opportunity to address 24 my inquiries on sustainable marketing and product designs, for example, local organizations’ responses to sustainable marketing and products during disruptive events like the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, I continuously wondered if, given the opportunity to create products that are more sustainable in nature (sourced locally and/or made from recycled materials), how would organizations choose these products if they did not cost far more than their less sustainable counterparts? By using PAR, I was able to review how a local brand managed the transition of consumer goods into more sustainable alternatives and observe the results in real time within the partner organization. 3.2 Data Collection 3.2.1 Ethical Considerations It is imperative to ensure participants feel safe and comfortable. According to Gbolahan Bamgbose (2019), “research usually requires a great deal of cooperation and collaborative effort … ethical standards ensure trust and accountability among the participants” (p. 10). My research study has been reviewed by the UBC-O Behavioural Research Ethics Board (H20-01633) (Appendix A). Ethical considerations I followed for my research study included informed consent, voluntary participation and confidentiality. The informed consent process is covered in greater detail in Section 3.2.3. I ensured each participant knew that participation was voluntary and that their results would be kept confidential. At the start of the interview, I reiterated with each participant that the interview would take 30-60 minutes to complete, no answer was the wrong answer, and no preparation was required prior to the interview. The research risk was considered low in this study as the interview topic related to consumer goods and perceptions of different goods. I did, however, pay attention to participants’ COVID-19 experience as it could potentially trigger some participants' emotions. To keep participants’ identity confidential, the 25 first and last initial of each participant's name is used throughout the study. Lastly, I asked if each participant was comfortable with the interview being recorded and reminded them that the results would be kept confidential. 3.2.2 Recruitment To recruit participants, I used a purposive sampling approach. My goal was to recruit 15-20 participants between the ages of 19-70 for the study. My supervisor and I determined that this would be an ideal sample size of the population as we could get a healthy spread of genders, ages, and varying occupations to provide diverse research results. In November 2020, my partner organization provided me with a list of 20 individuals that met the inclusion criteria and agreed to be contacted. Most of the individuals were current customers of the partner organization, had followed the brand for a minimum of one year, and had engaged in sustainable consumption in at least one area of their life (clothing, food, transportation, household management). I contacted every individual on the list and included the consent form. I received responses from over half of the list within two days, and I sent a follow up email to the remainder of the list within one week. Five individuals did not respond to my follow up email thus I sourced the remaining participants from my personal network. A total of 18 individuals participated in my study. Among these 18 research participants (13 female and 5 male), four of them were retirees and one was a graduate student at the point of the interview. The rest of the group was engaged in different occupations and business sectors ranging from sports to insurance to health and wellness. Of these participants, 16 were British Columbia residents and two were visitors from Alberta. Table 3.1 presents the demographic information of the research participants. 26 The recruitment method was chosen purposively based on circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. As each qualitative interview would require one to two hours time commitment with no monetary compensation, and the only method to conduct interviews that was approved by the university’s research ethics board during the pandemic was over the phone or via UBC Zoom. In order to gain the greater access to potential participants, the owner of the partner organization provided a list of individuals for me. By interviewing these individuals along with any willing participants from my personal network, I was able to gain the greatest number of participants within a reasonable time frame. One of the benefits of interviewing individuals that I had already met was that I knew their voices and body language, which made it easier to gain a sense of their full responses without meeting in person. However, it is important to recognize that this recruitment strategy has its limitation. By interviewing individuals that I have met or referred by the partner organization may limit the breath of insights or potentially expose the study to some selective bias. Some of these individuals may have certain responses that are more favorable to the vision and mission of the partner organization. To address this concern during the research process, I communicated clearly the purpose of this study and set a clear boundary between the research project and the partner organization’s daily operation. 27 Table 3.1. Summary of Interview Participants Pseudonym Gender Age Occupation KT F 46-55 Retiree, Former owner of a raw food cafe. CC F 36-45 Owner of a home renovations company. BC M 26-35 Past sports athlete and current BIPOC advocate. JW M 36-45 Marketing director of a sporting apparel company. RB F 36-45 Administrator in the education system. ML F 55+ Retiree CL F 46-55 Retiree JM F 26-35 Owner of a line of sustainable lifestyle products. AD1 F 36-45 Owner of a sustainable catering company. AD2 M 26-35 Automotive insurance agent. HP F 26-35 Master’s student. JA M 36-45 Self-employed in tourism & hospitality. KM M 36-45 Tech industry community manager. LP F 46-55 Semi-retired, part owner in a food manufacturing company. NG F 26-35 Communications consultant. PS F 55+ Retiree SP F 26-35 Community manager at a sustainable accessories company. TA F 36-45 Self-employed, beauty and fragrance industry. 3.2.3 Consent Process My consent process started with interviewee education via email. This education took the form of a structured email template that I created in collaboration with my supervisor. This email template covered the main research question, the approximate length of the interview (30-60 28 minutes), the basic demographic requirements, and how the interview could be conducted (over UBC Zoom or telephone). I sent this email to each individual on the list of participants along with the consent form. About half of the participants signed the consent form prior to beginning the interview and, out of convenience, the other half gave verbal consent at the beginning of the interview and followed up with a signed consent form after the interview. The research risk and participant vulnerability were considered low in this study as the interview topic related to consumer goods and participants’ perceptions of different types of goods. I did, however, pay attention to their COVID-19 experience as social isolation and the drastic change in daily routines could potentially trigger some participants' emotions. This meant that I took extra care and precaution to ensure participants' physical and emotional safety. In conclusion, the consent process for my research was very straightforward aside from the context of the pandemic and additional stressors that could potentially impact the wellbeing of participants. 3.3 Data Analysis 3.3.1. Phenomenological Interviews All the 18 in-depth interviews were conducted between November 2020 and February 2021. The length of the interviews was between 30-60 minutes. All the interviews were conducted through the UBC Zoom platform and telephone, as face-to-face interviews were prohibited by the UBC research office during the COVID-19 pandemic. All the interviews were transcribed by a professional transcription company (Rev.com) under a non-disclosure agreement with UBC. My data analysis strategies followed the iterative coding approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1998 as cited within Vollstedt and Rezat, 2019) and the Gioia methodology (Gioia & Corley, 2012). I used their approaches to separate each interview into three specific sections: 1) consumers’ perception of sustainable goods and brands, 2) challenges consumers experienced during the COVID-19 29 pandemic, and 3) COVID-19’s impact on consumer and marketer behaviours and preferences. Next, to facilitate analysis, I constructed a table and created a column for each participant, then a column for First Order Concepts (representative quotes), and then a column for Second Order Themes (thematic categories that arose throughout the interviews). Following the categorization of each aggregate dimension, I reviewed each participants’ interview transcript one by one and aligned quotes that had interesting key words (First Order Concepts) with relevant Second Order Themes. I continued this process through all three Aggregate Dimensions. Once this was completed, I created a new chart for each of the three Aggregate Dimensions that did not include participants as the first column. Instead it started with Interesting Quotes (First Order Concepts) then a column for Second Order Themes. I then reviewed the first three tables and re-ordered all of the codes based on which themes they matched best. Lastly, I was able to analyze and describe interesting themes that stood out within my data and create some suggested findings based on the interview process. 3.3.2. Participatory Action Research My Participatory Action Research (PAR) focused on examining how the partner organization (i) to identify market needs for sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (ii) to investigate the consumption of sustainable goods in the Okanagan; (iii) to examine the process of sourcing sustainable goods during the pandemic, and (iv) to examine the development of community and organizational resilience during the pandemic. While working at my partner organization, I strived to engage in various sustainable sourcing activities. This practice entailed reviewing existing supply chains and analyzing how sustainable they were and if there were better options available to transition the product lines into. Once I worked through this I examined practices 30 related to sustainable product design as well as sustainable marketing strategies adopted by the partner organization. I also examined the process of developing strategies for communicating positive product attributes based on the work I had done to assist in sustainable sourcing and sustainable product design. These three guiding steps were instrumental in helping maintain a sense of organization and flow within the PAR research with the partner organization. 3.4 Researcher Reflexivity Reflecting upon my role as a researcher has been a worthwhile exercise. Through this process, I have come to understand that who I am impacts the research I have completed. From a social perspective, I am a thirty-year-old heterosexual Caucasian woman who has lived in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada for the last fourteen years. I was born and lived in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and grew up in an English-speaking Christian family of five and am the eldest of three children. Socio-economically, growing up, my family was a middle-class entrepreneurial family. My parents owned a food manufacturing company, which inspired me to start my own company shortly after I graduated from my Bachelor’s program in Business Management with a minor in Sociology. After graduation, I started my own marketing company within the Okanagan region and ran the company for five years prior to starting my Master’s program. I am aware that my social identity impacts my work and research with the partner organization because most of my engagement with the team and customers has been in person. My experience working with and doing research with my partner organization has been multidimensional. As a past entrepreneur, I have gained much perspective about how to effectively complete work tasks as part of a team while doing research in a business environment that is very community oriented. I first met the owner of the partner organization I was a teaching assistant at my current institution. I approached her after she had announced in class 31 that they were looking to hire a brand manager. I mentioned I had significant experience managing brands and that I was aware of a Mitacs grant that could help fund the position as part of a research project for my Master’s. We applied for the grant and were successful in receiving it. As such, I entered the partner organization occupying two roles. My academic role offered research capacity for the partner organization and my practitioner role provided additional benefits during the planning and product design processes. This excited me as I have been interested in pursuing a career that can integrate my research and professional practice since I began my Master’s research. What was truly unique about my experience starting work at the partner organization was that it was during a strict lockdown at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shaped much of the working environment at the partner organization as all decisions regarding customer interactions as well as suppliers were impacted. Also, consumers’ needs, buying patterns, habits, and expectations changed dramatically. At the same time, the team had experienced different levels and types of stress and challenges that associated to the work-life, family-work balance. All these factors contributed to a sense of organizational transition. There were few systems and procedures in place that I was asked to follow when I started as the organization was in a constant state of growth. For this reason, I did quite a bit of work to organize systems and procedures. Amidst, and despite, these challenges, our strategic research-based buying decisions and the strong support of “the buy local movement” led to the company’s sales growing over 300% the quarter that I started over the same quarter the previous year. This success helped fuel excitement for the team to continue learning and growing. Much of my research was quickly implemented which was a very rewarding experience. 32 In summary, I would say that I had a stressful year as a researcher and an intern. Operating and trying to grow a local business is tough, but adding a pandemic and other challenges into the equation made it that much tougher. Even though I had experienced some similar struggles while I was operating my own business before, the current challenges my partner organization faced were entirely different as the business was operating during a pandemic. Additionally, as a PAR based researcher I experienced much cultural tension during my time with the partner organization. Beyond the COVID pandemic, some of the anti-Chinese sentiment, Black Lives Matters and Every Child Matters movements began to gain traction and support during my research period. As my partner organization constantly highlighted the importance of being an community-oriented organization, it was crucial for us to show up for the community during these sensitive times. It was my responsibility to assist the team in reaching out to key stakeholders in the community that could speak to each of these movements with expertise and compassion and to determine how we as a local organization with some influence could help shape messaging that could help educate and support our community. At times it felt almost overwhelming to be working through so many pressing issues with the partner organization during this challenging time. As a Master’s student, I enjoyed my experience with qualitative research. During my time at UBC, I had the opportunity to join another research project using qualitative approach. I learned a lot about how important it was to make the participant feel comfortable. This was based on not only words but also involved paying attention to body language and social cues. However, COVID-19 led to all interviews being shifted to telephone or Zoom. In doing my interviews for this Master’s research, I found that I preferred to do them over the telephone. I felt that it was easier to create a sense of rapport with someone over the telephone as various 33 factors such as physical spaces, body image and body language did not impact the conversation. In the few interviews I conducted over Zoom, I found that facial expressions and body language could distract my focus on the participants’ words and my ability to stay focused on carrying the conversation. While some researchers may find participants' physical spaces, attire and facial expression to be important in their analysis, I did not find it to be important for my Master’s research. It is also important to note that I have either met or seen all of the interview participants before so I was aware of what they looked like, how they generally dressed and their basic mannerisms. In future research projects, I may lean on both of these separate and quite different research experiences to determine if I want to conduct my interviews over Zoom, the telephone, or, if allowed, in-person. I greatly valued the interview process during my Master’s research and believe that reflecting on it has aided both my learning as a researcher and my future abilities to interact well with participants in the best way possible. 34 Chapter 4. Findings This chapter covers two components. The first component presents insights generated from analyzing the interview data. I followed the interpretive tradition to code my data. The second component reflects my learning and experience through participatory action research (PAR) with my industry partner. 4.1 Consumer Interview Data The three categories of interview data include: (i) Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods and Brands, (ii) Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic, and (iii) COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences. These three categories provided a guide for creating themes to code the interview data. 4.1.1 Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods The first category within the interview data is “Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods.” I identified three second-order themes, Sustainable Consumption Practice, End of Life Treatment and Disposal Practices and Perception of Sustainable Movements, Sustainable Production – Marketing, and Barriers associated to this dimension. Table 4.1 highlights some of the key quotes from the second order theme. 35 Table 4.1. Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods 1st Order Concepts 2nd Order Themes Aggregated Dimensions “When I'm buying products, I look to see where it's made, how it's made. Everything is geared towards saving the environment and how we can reuse and recycle to make products these days that are not going into the landfill.” (KT) “I'm still sensitive to price … Being green can be more expensive.” (HP) “Using a reusable or refillable water bottle.” (AD2) “Now I try to minimize the amount of water I use. I minimize the number of trips in my vehicle, my gasoline powered vehicle.” (PS) “I also bring my own bags to the grocery store. But then I'm going to have to buy some plastic products to put in my garbage containers. So how much further ahead are we?” (PS) “I try and back Kickstarters a lot because there's a lot more of the sustainable type products because they're newer and bigger companies aren't necessarily adopting that.” (KM) Sustainable Consumption Practice Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods “Anything that's really kept out of the bin” … “I think the idea (of recycling) is really good. I'm just not really sure if the information I'm getting is correct, if it's kind of helping all the way through or if it's just a way for us to feel better about doing the same thing…” (BC) “I always call it Costco cooking. It's not cooking, it's reheating or it's heating. Then, I can always tell when I'm cooking like that when I don't have time, because my recycling bin is full to the top of packaging.” (RB) “Ethically sourced product and supplies… circular economy… it's going to last 10 times longer, keep things out of the landfill … making it cool to repair your product” … there's a deeper meaning to how people are spending their money and that they want to have an initiative that does good. (JW) “Return the land to a better state than what it’s in.” (AD1) “And also what happens with the product at the end of its life. So if they have recycling programs or if it's biodegradable.” (HP) End of Life Treatment and Disposal Practices 36 Table 4.1. Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Practices and Perception of Sustainable Goods “I guess you see the green bins. I don't think of that as sustainable or really even eco-friendly. Because once it leaves my driveway, the blue bin and the green bin, I'm not really sure that they're doing the right things with them to recycle them, so that they're reused again. I think a lot of that just goes in the garbage.” (LP) “Our kids are getting a really cool generational gap ... they're saying, please don't bring Ziploc bags or saran wrap to school” … purchasing things that are actually going to be long standing instead of being something that gets thrown out. (JW) “I do not consider recycling to be green because I believe that very little of the recycling ...actually gets recycled. And it is a very high consumption of energy in order to recycle. I think it's something that just makes people feel like they're doing something positive for the environment.” (PS) [Slow food and slow fashion], they're passive. They're not in your face yelling and screaming and trying to make a ruckus... The people that are involved they're so passionate about them. So when you call it a movement, it doesn't have to be loud, I guess.” (JA) “Something sustainable would be something that can be used again or something that will grow again, so, hopefully, it won't run out.” (LP) “The first thing that comes to mind is definitely materials … the supply chain plays a big part in making it sustainable.” (HP) “I think when it really has a positive impact on every part of the supply chain, it is truly sustainable. And then as well as the life cycle of the product and once purchased, how the good is used and its durability and the effects that has during its lifetime and then the effects that has it added to the end of life, and then having a graceful end of life.” (SP) “responsibility of manufacturers for durability connected with where products are made and the cost of the products.” (LP) “I think it is really up to the government to regulate those things, to actually make a difference.” (NG) “It's still, typically, business comes first and the planet comes second.” (AD2) “The top producers of things that are harming the environment are corporations. And I Perception of Sustainable Movements, Sustainable Production – Marketing, and Barriers 37 think that there's the myth that the individual, if we just decide not to use plastic straws or, we switch to using Tupperware and stuff like that, that somehow the problems can be solved.” (NG) 38 4.1.1.1 Sustainable Consumption Practice Participant knowledge of consumption practices revealed a variety of recurring themes within the interviews. Common words used throughout participants' responses included “reuse,” “conserve,” “minimize,” and “reduce.” Within this section of the interview, it was not specified that consumers needed to address the questions within the context of the pandemic. Many participants expressed that they often checked the recyclability and the sources of the products before purchasing. One such participant stated: “When I'm buying products, I look to see where it's made, how it's made. Everything is geared towards saving the environment and how we can reuse and recycle to make products these days that are not going into the landfill.” (KT) KT’s comments reflect consumers’ increasing demand for information related to the original sources and manufacturing processes of products and consumer goods. At the same time, her comments illustrate consumers’ concerns about the end-of-life treatment of the products. Consumers like KT are keen to purchase reusable and recyclable goods instead of products with a short life-span such as disposable or one-time use items. Participants also expressed that they care more about the environment and have started making changes in their energy and water consumption practices: “I just conserve energy, and I conserve water” (ML). “Now I try to minimize the amount of water I use. I minimize the number of trips in my vehicle, my gasoline powered vehicle” (PS). However, many participants' responses regarding consumption practices appeared to be cost-driven. Two interviewees indicated that “sustainable brands are pretty much high-end companies” (CC) and “I'm still sensitive to price … Being green can be more expensive.” (HP). These two 39 participants considered the high price when making sustainable purchasing decisions as an important factor for consumers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, if consumers are asked to make sacrifices in their budgetary spending to afford more sustainable goods, based on the above comments from interviewees, it is assumed that making these sacrifices can be a large barrier to making lasting changes in consumption practices. 4.1.1.2 End of Life Treatment and Disposal Practices Recurring themes related to end of (product) life treatment and disposal methods were reported. Many of the participants pointed out there was a lack of confidence and trust in the proper disposal (recycling) of goods due to the lack of clarity and education: “I guess you see the green bins. I don't think of that as sustainable or really even eco-friendly. Because once it leaves my driveway, the blue bin and the green bin, I'm not really sure that they're doing the right things with them to recycle them, so that they're reused again. I think a lot of that just goes in the garbage.” (LP) “I do not consider recycling to be green because I believe that very little of the recycling ...actually gets recycled. And it is a very high consumption of energy in order to recycle. I think it's something that just makes people feel like they're doing something positive for the environment.” (PS) “Anything that's really kept out of the bin” … “I think the idea (of recycling) is really good. I'm just not really sure if the information I'm getting is correct, if it's kind of helping all the way through or if it's just a way for us to feel better about doing the same thing” … (BC) As these quotes demonstrate, there is much concern about what happens to goods once they are put in the recycle bin, suggesting participants have felt that there is a lack of clarity and 40 education in the processing of recycled materials. Some participants also discussed a news story in which Canadian recycled materials in sea cans were shipped to developing countries (e.g., Philippines) that did not have the infrastructure to effectively process these materials. For this reason, these developing countries burned the materials which produced fumes that caused significant health problems for the local residents. Beyond causing health problems, burning garbage also releases substantial carbon into the atmosphere, which is highly damaging to the planet's ozone layer (CBC, 2019). Another consistent theme throughout the interviews was the desire to reduce consumption and increase the purchasing of more durable goods to alleviate the burden and cost of product disposal. Many products for decades have been built with a linear lifespan (i.e., last a short period of time, be disposed of, then repurchased). Some consumers are now more interested in purchasing a product that has a more circular process and having their end-of-life plan be included in the initial creation of and marketing behind the product. For instance, a participant indicated that he was interested in: “Ethically sourced product[s] and supplies ... [are the foundation of a] circular economy … it's going to last 10 times longer ... keep things out of the landfill … making it cool to repair your product … there's a deeper meaning to how people are spending their money and that they want to have an initiative that does good.” (JW) Based on the statement above, it appears there is a need to look at incentives for companies to take back goods at the end of their lifespan and to provide opportunities for benefits to customers to repurchase these goods. As mentioned in the previous section, if consumers are asked to make sacrifices in their budgetary spending to afford more sustainable goods, it can be a large barrier to making lasting changes in consumption practices. However, if 41 given the opportunity to return end of life products to producers who provide an incentive on a new product, based on my research data, it is assumed that consumers are far more likely to purchase sustainable goods and properly dispose of them. 4.1.1.3 Perception of Sustainable Movements, Sustainable Production – Marketing, and Barriers During my interviews, I found participants felt that businesses were responsible for making their processes more sustainable but many of them put their revenue and financial benefits on top of the benefits to the environment and society: “It's still, typically, business comes first and the planet comes second.” (AD2) “The top producers of things that are harming the environment are corporations. And I think that there's the myth that the individual, if we just decide not to use plastic straws or, we switch to using Tupperware and stuff like that, that somehow the problems can be solved.” (NG) The quotes above suggest that consumers are not necessarily fully trusting businesses to make the right choices towards sustainability. Furthermore, interview data suggests that it is “the responsibility of manufacturers for durability connected with where products are made and the cost of the products” (LP). These viewpoints expressed by most participants is that businesses make a larger impact on the environment than individual consumers and that looking at each aspect of the supply chain can provide insight into how organizations are making strides toward becoming more sustainable for both the planet and the people working within the organizations. In reviewing interview data, it appears that consumers consistently are interested in supporting both Canadian-made and locally made products. Many of these consumers appeared to have become more aware of the entire supply chain and are researching the origins of all the materials used to make products. According to the research data, many of them, however, were 42 still very aware of price during the global pandemic. 4.1.2 Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic The second category within the interview data that was created is “Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic.” This category is shown in the below table (Table 4.2) and the second order themes that I identified include: Challenges to Pro-Environmental Behaviours, Challenges to Pro-Social Behaviours, Social Isolation, Financial Difficulties, Changing Consumption Behavior (consuming less or consuming more), Changing Consumption Behaviour (planning purchases), and Supply Chain Challenges. 4.1.2.1 Challenges to Pro-Environmental Behaviours Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments were putting in place regulations to ban single-use plastics (SUPs). With the uncertainty of COVID transmission and a desire to put safety practices in place, based on quotes included earlier in my thesis, many jurisdictions have had to remove or put a pause on plans to ban SUPs as they are the most cost effective and easiest way to ensure sanitation is upheld in food service, medical, and retail settings (Cobe, 2021). In the earlier sections of this thesis, many statistics have been provided to showcase the percent increase in SUPS across various industries. As one interview participant stated quite concisely: “We're just trying to literally get through a pandemic and survive it, I don't know how focused people are going to be on the environment” (NG). This has created a large pro-environmental challenge because consumers have become accustomed to using reusable grocery bags and reducing their SUP consumption. Through my interviews it became clear that many participants had become concerned 43 with the increased use of SUPs. The data revealed the following relevant quotes from participants that describe their concern over the increased use of SUPs: “The [grocery stores] wouldn't let us use our reusable bags.” (KT) “Disposable, everything … again… Disposable masks are the plastic bag of 2020.” (JM). It is clear that in the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the businesses tried to limited the contact between their staff and the customers. Instead of allowing customers to use their own shopping bags or containers, many businesses returned to the single-use plastic bags. For pro-environment customers such as KT and JM, we were moving backward in the sustainability path. Also, the dramatic increase in the use of disposable face masks create series environmental concerns. All the statements above show some of the challenges to pro-environmental practices during COVID-19. This data forced us to rethink how to potentially recycle all the extra SUP waste that has been generated during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4.1.2.2 Challenges to Pro-Social Behaviours It became quite clear within this study that COVID-19 has created a variety of challenges to pro-social behaviours. It is of keen interest to note that participants over the age of 35 with the majority of them being 50-65 have felt that the customer experience within retail settings was lacking. Participant quotes that support this finding include: “People at the front (of stores) were quite militant ...not necessarily friendly” (CL) and “I feel like the worst in people has come out during this” (JM). 44 Table 4.2. Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic 1st Order Concepts 2nd Order Themes Aggregated Dimensions “They wouldn't let us use our reusable bags...“All the masks that we're wearing, they aren't 100% sustainable either.” (KT) “Disposable, everything … again… Disposable masks are the plastic bag of 2020.” (JM) Challenges to Pro-Environmental Behaviours Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic “People at the front (of stores) were quite militant ...not necessarily friendly” (CL) “I feel like the worst in people has come out during this.” (JM) “[Personal services] are far less enjoyable because you feel like a leper… You have to wait outside and it's a long wait... hand sanitizer in front of them.... And then, they walk around with me so that I can't touch anything....” (LP) Challenges to Pro-Social Behaviours We're just riding this roller coaster of uncertainty… tough when you're alone a lot (JW) “The hardest thing has been the social aspect of not being able to gather with friends...especially in the winter months when it's not as nice to meet outside.” (HP) “It's very lonely, I've been able to meet with groups, digitally, but it is just... it's not the same and I cannot wait to have that human connection again.” (KM) “Lack of variety in activities. No concerts …. there's no variety. I have to amuse myself. (PS) Social Isolation “My high school student hasn't been able to work due to COVID. Then, there's no funding for them and they're trying to save for going to university. (RB) I have a very event-based business, so I haven't been able to do my job.” (AD1) “It was hard economically as well. I got the CERB when it first came out.” (NG) Financial Difficulties 45 Table 4.2. Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic “[COVID] has made me realize I can live with less. I need less...it's made me be a little bit more sustainable because I don't consume as much.” (LP) Consuming More “Probably eating too much” (CL) “[COVID] was stressful and shopping for me can kind of be a bit of a stress reliever…” (NG) Changing Consumption Behavior (consuming less or consuming more) Challenges Consumers Experienced During COVID-19 Pandemic “More planned, intentional purchasing” (RB) “I know I shop by looking at the about page of brands before I purchase.” (SP) “I buy more than I generally do, just because I want to not go to the store as much.” (TA) “100 percent more online shopping … much quicker ... than going to a store” (CL) Changing Consumption Behaviour (planning purchases) “We started renovating a condominium in March... Anything that's late, the excuse is "Oh, well, because of COVID...." (LP) “The variety of products is different. It's diminished.” (PS) Supply Chain Challenges 46 Another participant also stated: “[Personal services] are far less enjoyable because you feel like a leper… You have to wait outside and it's a long wait... hand sanitizer in front of them... I'm not a child. And then, they walk around with me so that I can't touch anything. If I don't feel good, when I leave there, then, I tend not to go back.” (LP) This has created pro-social challenges for consumers who felt uncomfortable purchasing goods within the stores and made it clear that they would not be returning to the store because they did not enjoy their customer experience. This has led many consumers to turn to online shopping in order to avoid having uncomfortable social interactions within physical retail settings. 4.1.2.3 Social Isolation To further build on the prior concept, social isolation has become a mainstay within almost all participants’ responses. Whether it is a lack of a variety of activities, a “rollercoaster of uncertainty” (JW) or “not being able to gather with friends outside during the winter” (HP), many participants have described the COVID-19 experience as being very lonely and socially isolating. One participant (RB) mentioned that she realized how much self-care is important during the pandemic. This seems self-care and self-help the common themes amongst all participants who have mentioned that they have focused more on themselves during the pandemic. Furthermore, many of the research participants have vocalized their concerns about the lack of in-person contact that they have had over the last year, mentioning that digital connection is not the same as in-person connection. They have also mentioned that they are becoming fatigued with all the digital interactions (e.g., Zoom fatigue). 47 My interview data also reported some solutions to social isolation. For instance, PB reported that she picked up baking and quilting during the pandemic. Both activities were new to her and she expressed that these were some projects that she could work on while she was stuck at home. This echoed some recent reports on how consumers turned to new practices for stimulation (e.g., learning new skills or picking up new hobbies) (Alfonso III, 2020). We also witnessed the growing number of “pandemic pets” in more affluent societies such as Canada and the United States as a consumers’ response to social isolation and loneliness (Paumgarten, 2021). 4.1.2.4 Financial Difficulties It was surprising that only three of the 18 participants mentioned that they experienced financial difficulties during the pandemic. One participant (RB) mentioned, “my high school students have been unable to work. There is no funding for them and they are trying to save for university.” This was an interesting quote because it made clear that the younger demographic of consumers will have substantially lower disposable income in the upcoming years as they try to overcome a year of no/lower income. The COVID-19 pandemic also created job insecurity for some individuals. For instance, one of the participants, AD1, mentioned that she had been unable to do her job (event-based business) and thus has spent almost no money this past year and has been unable to participate as a consumer within the larger economic landscape. Some other participants mentioned that they had to rely on the government supports during the pandemic. This is potentially of interest to cities and provinces that rely on a variety of tourist activities as their business owners are likely suffering from a lack of disposable income this past year. 48 4.1.2.5 Changing Consumption Behavior (consuming less or consuming more) The financial difficulties also impact the consumption behavior during the global pandemic. For instance, five participants within the study mentioned that they have consumed less during the COVID-19 pandemic: “I did consume less, I believe. I just didn't feel like I needed anything.” (AD2) The global pandemic definitely changed consumers’ needs and wants. The remote working and the travel bans lowered the needs (or wants) for new clothes and accessories. One specific participant (aged 53) mentioned that during COVID she has shopped less because she has nowhere to go. She has instead focused on strengthening family connections, which has made her feel more emotionally happier because she feels more sustainable. However, a few participants mentioned they consume more than usual during the pandemic. For instance, some of them spent more time thinking about their home and spending more money on home decor and renovations. Another participant mentioned that she has probably been “eating too much” (CL) as she spent more time inside and snack when she felt bored. Participant NG told me that shopping is her “stress reliever” during the COVID-19 pandemic. This echoed a study by the Harvard Medical School where the research team found during times of stress, overconsuming food and spending money on consumer products can be a stress reliever (Harvard Health Publishing, 2021). My study also shows that younger consumers (30 year-old or below) felt compelled to shop more while the more mature population (e.g., 45 year-old or more) felt less compelled to do. It suggests that preferences in where to shop (online vs. retail) can be tied to a consumer’s age. For those who feel more comfortable shopping online (in this case the younger consumer), it is potentially easier to shop more online than it is in person, especially with COVID related restrictions on physical retail environments. 49 4.1.2.6 Changing Consumption Behaviour (planning purchases) Five of the 18 participants said that they are very intentional about planning their purchases prior to visiting physical retail stores. One participant, PS, said, “I do a lot more research online. Then I just go to the aisle, pick it up, and pay.” Another individual, a female participant, SP, told me: “I shop by looking at the ‘about’ page of brands before purchase.” Other participants also mentioned they were paying more attention to the recyclability of the branded goods during the pandemic: “I look into brands that I’m purchasing from to see if they are sustainable. If they recycle what they give back.” (KM) These consumers’ responses suggest that consumers may be doing more online research prior to making purchases and not only are they researching price points but also pro-environmental and pro-social attributes. This makes an argument that sustainable brands that effectively market their sustainable attributes make it more likely for them to flourish because consumers have more time to research them prior to making a purchase. 4.1.2.7 Supply Chain Challenges The restriction of travel not only limited the movements of people but also the movements of goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of my participants experienced delays in shipment. For example, LP mentioned that in March 2020, she started renovating a condo but she experienced some serious delays in getting the supplies. This suggests that whether supply chain issues actually exist or whether they are being suggested by front-facing labourers COVID has created cause for delay within the completion of brick and mortar projects. To build on this observation, the delay in completing brick and mortar developments could further lead to the growth of online retailers. Another participant (PS) stated: “The variety of products is different. 50 It's diminished.” This quote suggests that there have been some shortages during COVID on a variety of products. It will be an interesting area to study post-pandemic marketplace to determine what products come back and sales return to normal and what products have been deemed “unnecessary” by consumers and therefore do not have sales returned to pre-COVID numbers. 4.1.3 COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences The third category within the interview data that was created is “COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences.” This category include sub-themes such as: Demand for Local Goods, Demand for Sustainable and Durable Goods, and Concerns About Online Shopping (Table 4.3). 4.1.3.1 Demand for Local Goods The interview results suggest that many consumers tended to find ways to support local businesses during the pandemic. Many discussed that they would purchase gifts from local businesses during key festivals such as Christmas. One participant expressed the surge of demand for local goods: “Local businesses have actually really thrived. There's been that whole push with, buy local…” (NG). In reviewing the research results, my initial understanding of this “push” and where it occurs is social media, news broadcasts, and discounts offered at the store level. My other participants, HP and SP, for instance, mentioned purchasing gift cards. This appears to further explain the “push” with buying local. The specific quote from one participant states: “I [have been] buying gift cards as presents for people because I want [the local businesses] to stay [here].” (HP) and the other stated: 51 “I know people [in my circles] were really vocal about buying gift cards for their hair stylists and all the different services that they normally purchase, but were closed down right at the time to be able to keep them afloat and visit them later. So that was really great to see.” (SP) Another participant showed a deep level of education in their desire to support local: “If I can call for a delivery rather than SkipTheDishes, I will do that ... I know how much of a cut ...those types of services take. I will try and order directly to not just support local, but support local in a more sustainable way.” (KM) KM’s comment suggests that with minimal additional effort, individuals will strive to ensure their dollars are fully benefiting local companies. However, two of my participants expressed the challenges of getting “made in Canada” goods: “When we were purchasing things for our condo, I tried to get Canadian made...It was almost impossible. Even if it's Canadian made, the raw ingredients come from elsewhere and it's just assembled here. We're trying to support buying locally, but it’s difficult.” (LP) “… [W]hen we first came back from Spain in April, my whole thing was, I just don't want to buy anything Chinese. Of course everybody was talking about the Chinese virus, so I was really hoping to try and support Canadian only, but of course that almost seemed impossible. Right down to slippers, they had said Canadian made, but then where is the actual raw material coming from[?].” (CL) Beyond the challenge of getting “made in Canada” goods, the tension between local and global became quite apparent during some of the interviews. A prominent example from CL speaks to a common theme throughout the interviews that there is a tension between local versus 52 global. Whether it’s the “Chinese virus” encouraging participants to shop local or the lengthy shipping times, many research participants spoke of their motivations to support local and their distrust of the global. These comments also encourage further consideration into what truly constitutes local. Does local apply to all goods made within Canada or should the definition be narrower to only goods made regionally? Furthermore, can supporting locals refer to purchasing goods from local brick and mortar retail stores that may have been purchased from other countries? 53 Table 4.3. COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences 1st Order Concepts 2nd Order Themes Aggregated Dimensions “If we're going to get pizza or something, let's get it from a local pizzeria, maybe not a chain...and just know that they're open because of people like us and maybe they can feed their families too.” (BC) “I'd rather buy online and buy Canadian, than shop local and buy a non-Canadian product.” (CL) “I think people have discovered some local spots ...they're not spending the money traveling, so that money is now spent on staycations... And buying gift cards as presents for people because I want [the local businesses] to stay there.” (HP) “If I can call for a delivery rather than SkipTheDishes, I will do that ... I know how much of a cut ...those types of services take. I will try and order directly to not just support local, but support local in a more sustainable way.” (KM) “When we were purchasing things for our condo, I tried to get Canadian made...It was almost impossible. Even if it's Canadian made, the raw ingredients come from elsewhere and it's just assembled here. We're trying to support buying local, but it’s difficult.” (LP) “As much as I can I try to support some of the arts associations that I have enjoyed in the past ... [Also], instead of ordering online, when I need quilting supplies, I will seek them out at one of the local quilting stores instead of ordering it online.” (PS) “People were really vocal ...about buying gift cards for … all the different services that they normally purchase ...to be able to keep them afloat and visit them later.” (SP) “Now I have definitely made more of an effort. Whether that's online, or in-person, a lot of [local businesses] still have online shopping. They're making it easier for us to support them.” (TA) “… [W]hen we first came back from Spain in April, my whole thing was, I just don't want to buy anything Chinese. Of course everybody was talking about the Chinese virus, so I was really hoping to try and support Canadian only, but of Demand for Local Goods COVID-19’s Impact on Consumers’ Behaviours and Preferences 54 Table 4.3. COVID-19’s Impact on Consumer and Marketer Behaviours and Preferences course that almost seemed impossible. Right down to slippers, they had said Canadian made, but then where is the actual raw material coming from[?].” (CL) Demand for Local Goods COVID-19’s Impact on Consumers’ Behaviours and Preferences “Purchasing higher quality, more durable goods. I have some things that are 10 years old that I still wear…” (CC) “Having products that last longer means I need to get less delivered, and anytime that happens, that's a huge thing.” (KM) “To be honest, it made me change grocery stores. I used to do most of my shopping at Superstore and Save on Foods and I actually opted to pay a little bit more and shop at Urban Fare. When I got there, it just seemed a little bit more COVID friendly than Save-On or Superstore.” (RB) “I don't know why exactly, but maybe it's just given me more time to think about sustainability, slash buying local. They kind of, not all the time, but often go together, I think.” (TA) Demand for Sustainable and Durable Goods “I didn’t intentionally try to support locals …. but I think it ended up working out because .… shipments for online purchases were taking too long.” (NG) “[I’m] very aware of all the added shipping we're doing during this time and how that will impact us. I’m getting more frustrated at... Amazon when I get an order of three things that come in three different boxes that aren't even sized correctly for the products that [I] ordered.” (KM) “I still like to go to clothing stores because I'm tactile. I like to touch the fabric and find joy in that. So, I will continue to go to clothing stores because I like to do that, but a whole lot of other stuff, especially electronics, food, definitely online.” (LP) “...You'd be ordering stuff and then it would take a month or two months to get to you, and then I was like, "Oh, what's the point? ... I might as well just go downtown, get it today." (NG) Concerns About Online Shopping 55 This opens the door to debating whether large retail chains are in fact good for the local economy as they often hire employees who reside within the local community thus aiding in reducing unemployment rates. It is clear that the pandemic’s impact on consumer behaviour has shown high demand for local goods. As outlined in the above narratives, there is much that can be further studied regarding how consumers shop local and what local truly means to consumers. 4.1.3.2 Demand for Sustainable and Durable Goods COVID-19 has created an awareness among my participants regarding the sustainability and durability of goods. Many of them have become more cognizant of how long their purchased goods will last: “Having products that last longer means I need to get less delivered, and anytime that happens, that's a huge thing” (KM). Another participant stated that her top sustainability priority is: “Purchasing higher quality, more durable goods. I have some things that are 10 years old that I still wear…” (CC). It is clear that that COVID-19 has enabled consumers to have a greater sense of pro-social and pro-environmental behaviour. It will be interesting to do further research on whether these pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours become lasting habits for consumers once the pandemic is over. 4.1.3.3 Concerns About Online Shopping Online shopping has been a large topic of conversation amongst participants. Many have found it to be a convenient way to continue to purchase the goods and services they require without 56 having to worry about entering establishments with heightened rules and risk of COVID exposure. However, some participants vocalized concerns regarding the lengthy wait times to receive goods ordered online as well as environmental issues related to the excessive and disposable packaging. Many consumers turning to online purchasing created a backlog with Canada Post and other mailing services. This became more apparent during the Christmas season where consumers had tighter timelines in mind for receiving purchased goods. One such consumer stated: “I didn’t intentionally try to support locals …. but I think it ended up working out because .… shipments for online purchases were taking too long.” (NG). Another individual responded, “I still like to go to clothing stores because I'm tactile. I like to touch the fabric and find joy in that. So, I will continue to go to clothing stores because I like to do that, but a whole lot of other stuff, especially electronics, food, definitely online.” (LP) Furthermore, amidst the pandemic, retailers have had to pivot a lot of their operations. For example, as suggested earlier, participants have noticed retailers becoming more savvy in their online purchase experiences. It will be interesting to observe whether online purchasing continues to be as popular once the pandemic is over or whether consumers will go back to wanting an in-person retail experience, such as what LP mentioned regarding the tactility of clothing and enjoying the experience of browsing shops. It is of interest to consider if there will be a hybrid model of online and in-person retail that will come out of the COVID pandemic. 57 4.2 Experience and Reflection from the Participatory Action Research The second set of findings is based on the participatory action research (PAR) with the partner organization. During my time as an intern at the partner organization, I took a close look at sustainable sourcing, sustainable product design and sustainable marketing. The experience of reviewing these areas of focus helped create well-rounded PAR findings that I describe in further detail below. 4.2.1 Sustainable Sourcing As I learned more about the partner organization’s products, I became familiar with their sourcing processes. The most important sourcing request was “Made in Canada.” While Made in Canada was a very good first step, I was interested in pushing the organization further to look beyond the sourcing location of the fabrics used to make their apparel. I started by examining where the partner organization sourced their top-selling apparel. I realized that their top sellers were fleece crewnecks and t-shirts. The partner organization was already working with a manufacturer in Ontario to make the crewnecks. However, a closer look at their manufactured products revealed that they were made with unsustainable fabrics and they used very toxic dyes to colour the fabric. I also examined purchasing data that showed that colourful product purchases were trending downwards and purchasing neutral coloured materials was trending upwards. Once I presented this information to the management team, the owner decided to switch crewnecks to an eco-fleece material made of 60% recycled textiles. We then looked more closely at the t-shirt offerings, which were sourced from Bella Canvas, a Chinese manufacturer. Since we wanted to shorten our supply chain on t-shirts, we found a manufacturer within Canada that would produce t-shirts made of a blend of recycled polyester and organic cotton. The partner organization then switched the main t-shirt offerings to this new manufacturer. Next, we looked at our headwear offerings. Our hats and 58 toques were Made in China. The partner organization had wanted to work with a Canadian manufacturer but been unsuccessful in sourcing one. I spent time researching suppliers and came across a seemingly viable option in Canada. We set up a call with the potential supplier to determine if they could make hats and toques of a similar quality and price point to our existing offerings that were Made in China. We further inquired about materials and if they could use recycled textiles in the making of the hats and toques. The hat supplier agreed to use leftover fabric scraps from other textile suppliers that we provided as long as they met a certain size requirement in order to fit their pattern specifications. While the lead times to create Made in Canada hats were longer, the partner organization was excited to move forward with getting a few of their classic designs created by the new supplier and testing out their durability in comparison with the Made in China counterparts. As I wrapped up my PAR work with the partner organization, they were just getting started with this testing process with the new potential Made in Canada hat supplier. Working with the partner organization to further shorten their supply chain to Made in Canada as well as made from recycled materials for headwear was a very fulfilling process. It took a lot of research and exploratory conversations with existing and potential suppliers that was well worth the time and effort. I look forward to observing the partner organization continue to source products that are as sustainable as possible. 4.2.2 Sustainable Product Design Beyond working on refreshing existing products, I assessed what new products the partner organization could potentially create that were more sustainability focused. A category that the organization was particularly interested in focusing on was drinkware. Many customers had purchased beer and wine branded glassware from the partner organization in the past but the 59 glassware had been sourced from China. In some of our discussions, the team suggested that glass may not be the ideal material to make the new drinkware because it is breakable, which makes it challenging to ship. Furthermore, a lot of glass pollution had been washing up on beaches around Lake Okanagan, so we wanted to look at an alternative material to use in creating the drinkware that would be safer for shipping and safer for the local environment. Ideally, I wanted to find materials that were made from recycled plastics and a supplier local to the Okanagan region. We found a local company in its infancy that had begun making packaging out of recycled plastic water bottles. The most popular packaging that they had created was for a start-up called Bottle None. This start-up was featured on Dragon’s Den and made shampoo bars that were sold in this packaging. This product line became virally popular, thus we felt confident that using a similar strategy for wine and beer glasses would also become quite popular. We contacted the company owner and provided a shape of both glasses we were interested in creating. During the testing process, we encountered various design challenges as the material to make the glasses was brittle if put in the dishwasher and had to be a certain thickness so as to not crack under pressure. Eventually, we perfected the design and decided to use only black material, as white material was highly porous and would stain easily. Thus, we created our first fully recycled product. Furthermore, to provide additional value we had the company laser etch our logo and a statement on the glasses “Please wash these in the lake and recycle at the end of its life.” The first week we had 50 of each of the glasses available. We went onto Instagram stories and talked about the attributes of the glasses and showed a video of the glass being made from recycled pellets then our team walking to the lake, drinking from the glasses, rinsing them in the lake, and putting them back in our backpack. In less than an hour, every glass on the website was sold out and people lined up at the door to purchase more. We quickly called our supplier to see if they 60 would be able to produce more glasses for us. Unfortunately, the process to produce them was rather tedious so the company could only commit to producing 100 per month. To try and increase supply and make the process more efficient, we suggested some additional equipment for the company to consider purchasing and supported the company in securing grants to pay for the equipment. The company was successful in securing more equipment. Eleven months after the initial launch of these glasses, we were ready to create many hundreds of glasses with the company per month based on their ability to produce them more efficiently with the new equipment. With the product offerings selling out within days of them being promoted within the retail shop and on the website, we realized that the Okanagan was “thirsty” for more sustainable offerings. 4.2.3 Sustainable Marketing When it comes to their marketing efforts, I believe that the partner organization is in the best possible position because they first focus on the content of the product before addressing its marketing design. What this means is that prior to focusing on new marketing efforts, the partner organization has worked tirelessly to ensure that the products and “content” they have ready to market are truly as sustainable as possible. This includes, where it’s made, what it's made from, and how to care for the item to ensure longevity. Marketing helps people understand what attributes of the product are exciting and warrant the individual to consider purchasing it. Starting with the product itself, I looked at the tags on each garment. First, I recommended that the addition of the words “Made in Canada” be added to all the woven tags in the garments. Furthermore, I recommended that the product’s CA number be added into garments along with care instructions. Most garments did not have these tags in them and I felt that they would make a strong addition. 61 Then I suggested we redesign the product hang tags to talk about the partner organization’s pledge to be as sustainable as possible. In researching certifications, I discovered that there are not a lot of certifications that focus on sustainability. Social media is often used with the partner organization to communicate their sustainable initiatives. I will discuss many examples of the partner organization’s use of social media in this thesis’s discussion section. 4.3 Conclusion The findings cover extensive details of both interviews and PAR. Within the interviews, many consumers expressed their concern for the environment through varied results. Some consumers expressed concern over the global supply chain and a desire to conserve products in an effort to ensure they did not run out if the global supply chain was disrupted, while other consumers expressed serious dismay over the lack of sustainability in health and safety protocols related to SUP’s and COVID-19. The majority of consumers expressed a desire to support local throughout the pandemic. This reference to “local” can be further broken down to businesses located in a specific regional “locale,” businesses that use locally sourced ingredients, and a combination of the former and the latter. Some interview participants also expressed interest in supporting “Canadian Made” in addition to supporting “local” thus expanding the desire to support “local” as a regional locale to that of a national level. Many of the research findings related to interview data expressed participants' desire throughout COVID-19 to become more educated in sustainability and a desire to see businesses take greater responsibility to make their entire operations more sustainable. The PAR findings support the interview data’s strong connection to buy local. The partner organization experienced substantial growth throughout COVID-19 and much of this growth was related to their loyal customer base and their ongoing shifts to become more sustainable as a 62 business. By focusing on increasing sustainability in their sourcing, product design and marketing, the organization was able to effectively communicate these updates to a local customer base that was becoming more educated in sustainability alongside the partner organization’s shifts to produce more sustainable products. The findings suggest that the partner organization made wise business decisions during the pandemic that enabled them to grow and to continue to connect with their customer base to enhance their product offerings and marketing messaging to facilitate additional sales. The findings of both sets of research data show similar findings that support my argument that, if given the opportunity to purchase products that are more sustainable in nature (sourced locally and / or made from recycled materials) and if they do not cost far more than their less sustainable counterparts, consumers will choose these products. 63 Chapter 5: Discussion It is clear for many of us that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the global business environment substantially. It has disrupted global supply chains, as well as increased the prices on finished products and raw materials. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented countries from capitalizing on their competencies by disrupting logistics and other international links. The disruption in logistics and the stay-at-home orders from governments all over the world not only changed global business patterns, but also shifted people’s attention to local issues, such as sustainability and the “buy local” movement (Bilodeau et al., 2021; Borin and Metcalf, 201). My findings show that consumers have started to pay more attention to local businesses and that they have understood that if they did not support local businesses, the businesses may be forced to close down permanently, and these fears are substantiated by much research (e.g., Lopez-Calva & Melendez, 2020). At the same time, my findings echoed other studies on consumers’ awareness of sustainability (e.g., Hanss and Bohmm, 2012; Ferguson et al., 2017; Hojnik et al., 2019). Given noticeable changes in the marketplace and news media analysis, the research participants started to analyze the climate change consequences of unsustainable production and many started to talk about what they learnt on social media. In the course of said analysis, when people found out that a company is sustainable across the full life cycle, they started to support it through their purchases as well as by sharing on social media, and this is what happened in the case of my partner organization. The interview data uncovered that consumers even purchased gift cards to help local businesses combat demand uncertainty. For the partner organization, constant emphasis on the topic of sustainability from the company’s side has helped to maintain attention to the brand. 64 The following sections show how the findings lead to new insights on community sustainability and resilience. 5.1 Community Sustainability and Resilience: Revisiting the Three Pillars of Sustainability During disruptive events like the COVID-19 pandemic, community sustainability and resilience have become an important topic for market agents, residents, and policy makers. As defined above in Chapter 1, Lew et al. (2016) refer to the conceptions of community sustainability and resilience as “shar[ing] similar goals and some common approaches, such as a focus on climate change and seeking a balance between humans and nature” (p. 19) and Aldrich and Meyer (2015) defines community resilience as “the collective ability of a neighborhood or geographically defined area to deal with stressors and efficiently resume the rhythms of daily life through cooperation following [disruptive events]” (p. 255). Since the Okanagan is known as a region that has suffered from many extreme environmental events, such as the massive wildfires in 2003, major floods in 2017 and 2018 and, currently, the COVID-19 pandemics, it is not surprising that community sustainability and resilience have always played such an important role in the development of social and economic life of the region. Community sustainability and resilience in the Okanagan Valley, therefore, have long been linked to the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental. 5.1.1 Social Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic As demonstrated through the interviews, it is socially important that consumers feel a sense of belonging, mutual support, and connection with the local marketplace (e.g., participants KT, BC, 65 SP, and KM). During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many participants experienced strong feelings of social isolation and a lack of social cohesion. Many mentioned that they looked for creative ways to follow the regulations and to continue engaging in community activities. This proved difficult for many as guidelines continuously changed in terms of how many people could gather in a dwelling, how many people could sit at a table in restaurants, and how people could travel within their region. While participants tried to gather and stay connected within the community, regulations continued to make it challenging. These stressors were manifested in many instances of day to day activities, such as the necessity to wear masks, use hand sanitizer, single-use plastic packaging, and other social distancing requirements. One way to adapt to the restrictions, as identified by a couple of interview participants, was to seek out local attractions and restaurants to overcome social isolation (e.g., participants BC, JW, JA). Participants had little opportunity to leave the home with restrictions in place so looked for creative ways to engage with their friends and relatives that followed social distancing guidelines. For many, seeking restaurants and local attractions was a great way to both get out of the home to feel social (within social distancing parameters) as well as a great opportunity to support local businesses. Conversely, many participants mentioned how unfriendly people were when they visited retail stores and how they felt as though there was a lack of activities available that brought people together for common enjoyment and purpose. Thus, community resilience played an important role for business development in the region, as well as shaped new ways for locals and tourists to interact with each other. Although the brick-and-mortar stores, as well as the businesses in the industry of hospitality were placed under restrictions to a significant extent, the online presence of customers and businesses has increased significantly, and the increase in disposable income as a result of changes in spending patterns has motivated Okanagan residents and tourists 66 to spend more on local goods and services, in the spirit of bonding and communicating through such new spending habits. 5.1.2 Economic Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic Similarly, it is economically important that each person benefits in the local community so they can cover their expenses and participate in the local market, especially during a pandemic (e.g., participants JA, KM, AD). Many interview participants commented that economic resilience was shown at various times certain products were missing from the grocery store shelves. Durability has become a top focus according to participants. Many commented that they were conserving goods that they purchased carefully so that they would last longer (e.g., participants RB, JW, TA, JM, KT). As many participants stated, they tried to focus on supporting local businesses as much as possible with some participants indicating that they went as far as to research the supply chain and ensure that they were not only supporting the end supplier but making decisions if possible to support local businesses. Furthermore, many local participants indicated that they explored local attractions they had not been to previously to support the local economy. One particular participant (SP) stated that she and her friends took their support of local businesses even further by pre-purchasing gift cards for these businesses to ensure their economic stability. Hult, Khazaie and Khan (2020) have shown that there is a wide variety of salient topics linked to the social psychology of people’s behaviour during pandemics. Among the main areas of concerns identified by these researchers, health and stability are the most important. However, the body of research for COVID-related economic behavioral patterns is relatively new, and the topic of community sustainability may also be highly important, especially in relation to the 67 support given to small businesses. The failure to support the local economy can contribute to larger and undesired spillover effects to the macroeconomy, resulting in protests, violence, and social unrest, caused by economic instability. Lopez-Calva and Melendez (2020) have shown that “small and medium enterprises with little working capital and limited credit lines” (p. 16) often go out of business during times like COVID-19, which creates significant unemployment in the region and reduces aggregate demand, ultimately causing deflation. On the other hand, the idea of supporting each other through economic contribution to local businesses contains significant value that may create a sense of pro-social fulfillment (Capiene et al., 2021). Unlike other disruptive events, COVID-19 truly is unique, since it has changed consumer behaviour more profoundly as compared to prior natural disasters. One of such effects is demonstrated in the changing purchasing patterns, with a special emphasis on spending at local retailers. A possible reason for such increased spending may be that consumers believe that their money can help local businesses stay afloat during this challenging economic season. 5.1.3 Environmental Sustainability During the COVID-19 Pandemic The environment is key in establishing community sustainability and resilience. At a very basic level, a sustainable community needs to have a healthy waste management system. Many interview participants made it clear that they do not feel that the Okanagan has a sufficient waste management program in place to handle the growth of the city and uncontrolled variables such as disruptive events that increase the use of single-use plastics (SUPs). This was evident to one participant (JA) in the overflowing trash cans seen around the city.. It is also important for the community that the environment be considered in all community sustainability discussions as our 68 planet, and specifically the lakes, orchards, and mountains are imperative to many jobs within the local market, which largely relies on tourism (JA, KT, BC). For example, various participants indicated that they hope the government can put in place more strict regulations on how goods being sent to recycling depots are processed. Along with both social and economic resilience, many community members have expressed concern over the environmental strain that the excess use of SUP’s has placed on the local waste management system. Some examples that participants raised were wearing disposable masks continuously, not being able to use reusable bags and their concern over the long-term environmental impacts of these types of regulations. The participants have also reflected their environmental concerns in the desire to change transportation habits such as driving less, so as to reduce environmental harm at least by limiting their carbon footprint. Such changes are possible in cities that have well laid out transit plans and ride sharing programs. The feedback of many participants in the research study made it clear that the Okanagan needs to prioritize improving many aspects of its environmental sustainability. It is of utmost importance that communities maintain social, economic, and environmental sustainability in order for the people living within them to be able to support themselves and one another. While the three pillars of sustainability are core to creating community sustainability, adopting resilience within communities is equally as important, as disruptive events have and may continue to futuristically impact the Okanagan Valley. Communities are also ecosystems: they require the health and maintenance of various parts in order for the whole to be healthy. 69 5.2 Organizational Sustainability and Resilience Organizational sustainability can help facilitate a sense of ongoing wellness for both the business and the employees working within the business. There was a significant link between sustainability and organizations within the interviews and during my PAR at the partner organization. Some participants suggested that sustainability starts with organizations and the products they create, which enables consumers to then make more sustainable choices based on what is available for purchase. As noted above, many consumers mentioned that they try to do some of their own research on organizations to determine the level of sustainability within their supply chains. Within the partner organization, sustainability is linked to sourcing, product design and marketing. It is also linked to their team and how they make business decisions in order to ensure that their team is carrying a sustainable workload and has a good balance between work life and personal life. Organizational sustainability has also been impacted by enforced physical distance during the pandemic. Like the partner organization, many other organizations have learned how to employ a remote workforce which has enabled them to substantially reduce their overhead. It is quite likely that many organizations will look for ways to make their operations more sustainable as the world becomes more focused on aspects of sustainability. COVID-19 acted as an experiment to increase sustainability as it has led to a reduction in workplace emissions with less employees travelling to and from offices and less energy spent on maintaining large office buildings. Organizations have also learned how to reconfigure their supply chains in order to fulfill orders when unforeseen issues have arisen with existing suppliers during COVID-19. We have also become far more aware of mental health and how to care for our organization’s people during COVID-19. This has created knowledge growth within many human resources departments, including within the partner 70 organization as they learned to monitor their team members’ health and wellness during the pandemic. As regulations shifted often, many local businesses in the Okanagan valley had to, like their consumers, develop resiliency in continually pivoting operations and making modifications to how they ran their business in order to follow regulations and ensure the safety of their staff and customers. To some extent my partner organization was one of the lucky organizations in that it experienced substantial growth in their sales during COVID-19. These sales began during the summer of 2020 and continued strong through the holiday seasons. This growth presented a number of challenges for the organization in managing their team during the pandemic. For example, it was challenging for the partner organization to hire additional temporary staff necessitated by the growth, as rules around maintaining a social “bubble” were restrictive and they did not want to open up their core staff to the risk of contact with COVID-19. They also had to limit staff in the building to allow for customers to enter the shop and maintain social distance; accordingly, some team members (myself included) were asked to work remotely at times throughout the pandemic. The constant shifts in staffing resulted in a newly developed organizational resilience. 5.3 Sustainable Marketing through Social Media and Brand Ambassadorship Given the challenges of in-person sales promotion during the COVID-19 pandemic, many local businesses started to look for a place in social media to build relationships with their customers in a more efficient way. Social media helps local businesses such as my partner organization to monitor the general trends in society and specifically about their target audience, find new 71 customers, especially those who are interested in their companies’ businesses, increase brand awareness and image, and reach huge customer bases at low cost. My study shows that brand ambassadorship is another way to create intimate bonds with customers. My findings echoed Smith et al.’s (2018) study on brand ambassadors in which found brand ambassadors mainly self-actualize in their social groups, with the help of more beneficial relationships between them and the organizations they endorse. In many cases, they like the personal control over the content they disseminate, as well as the influence within their social networks. Nasir (2015) used the term “brand evangelists” to describe these types of engaged customers. All these types of gratification are intangible for organizations, but tangible for brand ambassadors. Linked with pro-social and pro-environmental behavior, brand ambassadors can better actualize their influence over social networks and promote the content that is actually useful to rise consumers’ interest in eco-friendly production beyond the geographic location. Introducing brand ambassadorship with the help of employees is not a new strategy but can be an important means to develop organizational resilience. As Piehler et al. (2013), Gelb and Rangarajan (2014), and Morokane (2016), speculated about the potential benefits and the possibility of turning employees into brand ambassadors. In particular, Piehler et al. (2013) noted that, to become brand ambassadors, the employees must have perceived brand knowledge, perceived brand importance, and perceived brand role relevance. This discussion is mirrored by Morokane (2016), as he identified that, to function as an ambassador, employees must experience perceived external prestige and internal engagement with the help of internal marketing. 72 Overall, employee brand ambassadorship is perceived to be just as important as regular customer ambassadorship in the literature, as Gelb and Rangarajan (2014) pointed out that, while acting as brand ambassadors, employees give a personal touch to the business of the company and safeguard its reputation, in case it might be damaged by a different stakeholder. In the case of smaller organizations, employees acting as brand ambassadors can be as effective or even more effective than regular customers adopting that role, since such businesses have a localized voice, which makes them highly engaged with the target population. Brand ambassadorship can be especially effective for the business when it is applied in the appropriate marketing channel. For example, Instagram is a visually-intensive social network encouraging quick video updates in the form of stories. This makes it clear why its users are happy to become brand ambassadors if they believe they will receive social gratification. That social gratification is in the form of social exchange, as identified by Berger and Nobbs (2013). It can be boosted by the desire to adopt pro-social and pro-environmental behavior online, as identified by Capiene et al. (2021), which, together with the powerful image of the partner organization can become a solid driver for social change. Since environmental safety and sustainability are the topics that create such significant resonance from people around the world (Hanss & Bohmm, 2012, Ferguson et al., 2017, Hojnik et al., 2019), it is no wonder that these people are likely to drive positive social change, as indicated by Volhland et al. (2021). Instagram provides an ideal way to drive positive social change and to earn some social currency, as identified by Berger and Nobbs (2013). It also provides a way to enact pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors, which make it a perfect 73 platform for companies like my partner organization to promote their business. In summary, brand ambassadors can become the promoters of sustainability, given that they have passion and professionalism to adequately and fully present sustainable products, as well as demonstrate the ways in which they can add to pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors. 5.4 Marketing Sustainable Products with Social Media In my PAR with the partner organization, I realized that social media has become an integral part of the movement towards sustainable goods during COVID-19. Social media aids in displaying and sharing pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. With restrictions on places of gathering, many businesses in Canada have become accustomed to the digital space out of necessity. This gave us the opportunity to focus on promoting sustainable goods with a very low-barrier to entry. The social media also provided platforms for small businesses such as my partner organization to reward or recognize customers who display pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. I witnessed the growth of sustainable goods and their consumption during the pandemic, as the usage of social media has become more of a necessity when people are unable to gather in person or visit physical retail shops. With the click of a button, people can share information about the sustainable goods that they plan to consume and quickly receive pro-social and pro-environmental feedback. There is evidence that this rewards them for their consumption efforts, thereby leading to a virtuous cycle involving an increase in the purchase of sustainable goods. Recent research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of social media by 35% globally (Nguyen et al., 2020). In Canada, there was an 8% increase in the use of social media (Statista, 2021). With consumers now spending more time within the digital realm, 74 advertisers have largely transitioned their marketing budgets to focus on funding social media advertisements. This has proved to be effective, as the partner organization experienced a significant increase in their social media engagement. This echoed Mazurek’s (2009) early observation of social media where he pointed out that the new digital platform will create a deeper bond between the customers and companies as a result of a more interactive approach. Social media, therefore, is an important pillar in the display of behaviours. Due to the fast growing and the significant coverage of social media networks, as well as the elevated role that they play in the communications between modern companies and customers, it is important to further leverage this communication channel in marketing sustainable products, especially in the times of pandemics. Social media can help support pro-social and pro-environmental responses by putting the buyers of sustainable production in the spotlight, where the people from their social circles can clearly see the act of purchase and consumption. 5.5 Opportunities for Increased Pro-Social and Pro-Environmental Behaviours The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the purchasing habits of consumer substantially. As identified by Bilodeau et al. (2021), Canadians bought physical goods online almost 50% more often as compared to the times before the onset of pandemic. With the recent introduction of the ability to perform transactions directly through social media such as Facebook and Instagram, social media has become a new consumption platform for many consumers. My findings also showed that social media is used to shape opinions and preferences. For instance, consumers rely on reviews in social bookmarking and review websites, such as Amazon and Angie’s list, to evaluate product offerings. At the same time, they also listen to the opinions of social media influencers (Berne-Manero & Marzo-Navarro, 2020). It appears that consumers tend to trust non- 75 celebrity influencers because they feel that they are closer to these “regular people” emotionally. By posting reviews, becoming product experts, and reflecting on influencers’ opinions publicly, consumers become more and more involved in communicating about their consumption and purchases. This, in turn, makes pro-social and pro-environmental behavior more likely, since public consumption has more drastic social consequences than simple purchases. These behavioral patterns will impact both how brands create, market and sell their products moving forward. The digital space is perfectly positioned to help sustainable brands grow through pro-social and pro-environmental attributes. While the digital marketplace has experienced significant growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, brick and mortar retailers have been seeking ways to re-define themselves. Deloitte (2021) suggested that malls can no longer be “about” shopping, but should integrate the product from local and Made-in-Canada merchants as well as bring together residential, office, wellness and entertainment experiences. This new knowledge can allow local providers to better market their sustainable products within malls and spaces that have been reconfigured to highlight local and experience focused amenities. 5.6 Conclusion Sustainability in the community and how the community has become more resilient during COVID-19 has been a large area of focus within this thesis. I examined the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and found that social sustainability is lacking due to social isolation and a lack of positive staff interactions at retail locations. At the same time, economic sustainability was showcased through 76 many consumers desire to preserve goods, use durable goods and also to support local shops. Environmental sustainability was mainly expressed through participants’ concern over the excessive use of SUPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many participants expressed a desire to support local businesses amidst changing restrictions, which shows resilience in a desire to regain social sustainability regardless of potentially lower customer service. A consideration with the support local movement and a focus on purchasing “made in Canada” versus “made in China” products is that it can cause anti-Chinese sentiment. As one specific participant mentioned in the interviews, supporting local and supporting “made in Canada” can mean that customers actively try to not support Chinese made products. As the pandemic hopefully comes to an end in the upcoming year it will be of great interest for future research to examine if both the buy local and the anti-Chinese sentiment impact buying behaviors. In addition to the three pillars of sustainability, my participatory action research illustrates how organizations develop resilience in their business operations continuously in order to meet with the regulations changed and to remain sustainable. For example, my partner organization actively revisit their sustainable sourcing, sustainable product development, and sustainable marketing strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such activities not only offered the opportunity for the organization to connect the brand to a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle imageries but also created an eco-system with other suppliers, business partners, and customers to further develop community resilience. These organizations were all community minded and resilient in their approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic also forced many small-and-medium-sized retailers re-oriented themselves in the online marketing platform. Within the online realm, brand ambassadors have 77 become increasingly influential. When these ambassadors use pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors it can help to better promote eco-friendly products. With many participants stating that they stayed home and were on social media more, the impact of brand ambassadors has become more significant. It is clear that social media has become a necessity for marketing communication for many enterprises in Canada. Furthermore, my research suggests that with the help of brand ambassadors, eco-friendly products can be well marketed to targeted audiences through the social media platforms. 78 Chapter 6: Conclusion In this thesis, I sought to answer the question: How do marketers and consumers develop resilience through sustainable marketing and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic? Through my research I found out that this has been done multidimensionally. For instance, consumers that participated in the study have demonstrated community resilience and sustainability by concentrating on more durable products and supporting the local economy. They went so far as to research the supply chains of sustainable businesses, as well as support local business who promote sustainability to ensure their survivability during the daunting times of COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, many of the local businesses adapted and replaced their existing products with “Made in Canada” options. These companies shared their production on social media and in many cases, they have enjoyed increased engagements and more loyal customers. For example, the overall number of engagements on the Instagram page of the partner organization has increased substantially since the onset of the pandemic, with posts that display the theme of sustainability performing significantly better. The present study echoes recent studies on sustainable consumption. For instance, research has found that across the globe more people care about the environment and can name numerous sustainability characteristics and demonstrate lively interest in eco-friendly products (Ferguson et al., 2017, Hojnik et al., 2019, Hanss and Bohmm, 2012). This interest is also reflected in social media communications, as per the findings of Nielsen (2020) and Latham (2021). My study shows that consumers were actively engage in conversations about 79 sustainability during the global pandemic, especially women and the younger generation, which includes Millennials and Generation Z. These populations are eager to educate others about sustainability and demonstrate practical value of buying eco-friendly and local products with transparent supply chains, thus giving an upper hand to pro-environmental and pro-social businesses in Canada. Disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic lead to reflection about how communities and businesses can prepare ourselves for future disturbances (Lantham, 2021). We understand that sustainability is multidimensional and has impacts on all aspects of our everyday life. The pandemic was an opportunity for us to educate ourselves more on planning for disruptive events as well as what constitutes sustainability and thinking about our health and considering a localized approach to the economy. The increase in online sales and the decrease in brick-and-mortar sales has been a longstanding trend even before the pandemic (Wallace, 2020). However, the pandemic has significantly amplified the willingness of customers from all over the world to shop online. It is possible to underline that the pandemic has put a heavy emphasis on social media marketing channels, making them suitable for conveying the messages about sustainable products. Even the pre-COVID trends pointed towards the shift to online purchases and more sustainable behaviors, as people became interested in eco-friendly products all over the world. COVID has left global and Canadian consumers more curious about sustainable products and also more inclined to invest in local sustainable stores with transparent supply chains. This allowed people to not only 80 support their local producers, but also demonstrate community resilience, care for the environment, as well as pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors. 6.1 Limitations and Future Research Directions The geography and lack of industry breath has been a limitation within my current study and an area for intentional focus of future study. With my current case study organization being very local to the Okanagan Valley and in one targeted industry (sustainable fashion) it is important to keep in mind that the PAR findings related to the partner organization may be somewhat geographically and industry specific. It will be of utmost interest to expand future research with a larger geographical area and industry reach both in offline and online settings. Furthermore, from the interviews, only five of the participants were male, for future studies its recommended to have a more even spread of male and female participants as well as to recruit participant of different socio-economic backgrounds. A more focused review of how cultural sustainability impacts the local community is another area of interest. Future research can also explore the impact of the pandemic on consumers’ mental health and connection to the outdoors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers were suffering from social isolation and lack of human connection. A study by Flannagan (2021) showed that Canadians spent more time at home during the pandemic. Similarly, Statcan (2021) and Cousins (2021) reported that Canadians started to work at home significantly more often, with 32% of Canadians working exclusively from home most of their schedule in 2021. Nature is generally a calming force. Future research can further explore how the global pandemic impacted 81 consumers’ lifestyle and their (perceived) relationship with the natural environment. Future studies can also explore how the connection to sustainable goods and nature influence consumers’ mental health and well-being. The findings of the present study showed that social media has played a key role in disseminating sustainable marketing messages and building a sustainable consumer community. Future research can further explore how social media, as a communication platform, connects consumers who shared similar sustainability-centered points of view. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become integral to the daily connection and wellbeing for many. The way individuals like, share, and comment on posts not only increases engagement and exchange of information with others but also create a sense of community and connection. At the same time, social media has often been criticized as the contributor to the lack of physical connection among humans, and consumers’ sense of social isolation, depression, anxiety (Banerjee & Rai, 2019). Future research can examine social media consumption habits and how social media can encourage individuals to connect with their local communities to alleviate social isolation during and after this disruptive time. An area of specific interest related to brand ambassadors is the role of employees. During my time with the partner organization both myself and other team members were encouraged to reflect the brand values both at work and within the community. 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Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58278-4_1 92 Vollstedt, M., & Rezat, S. (2019). An introduction to grounded theory with a special focus on axial coding and the coding paradigm. Compendium for early career researchers in mathematics education. Springer Open. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15636-7_4 Wallace, R. (2020). Tallwave. What’s in Store? The Future of Retail in a Post-COVID-19 World. https://tallwave.com/blog/whats-in-store-the-future-of-retail-in-a-post-covid-19-world/ 93 Appendix A: UBCO Human Ethics Research Certificate of Approval 94 Appendix B: Interview Guide Back to Basics: A Sustainable Response to COVID-19 1. Can you briefly describe yourself? 2. In your opinion, how do you define sustainable goods? Please provide a couple examples of sustainable brands/products. 3. Are you aware of any sustainable movements/initiatives such as slow food, slow fashion, recycling, upcycling? Can you share your views on these movements/initiatives? 4. What kinds of consumption activities come to you when you hear the phrases like “being green”, “eco-consumption”, and “sustainable consumption”? 5. Do you consider yourself a “green consumer”? If yes, can you tell us what you have done in order to save the environment? If you don’t consider yourself a “green consumer” how would you define a “green consumer”? 6. What are the major challenges you experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic (emotionally, socially, economically, etc.)? 7. Have you experienced any difficulties to get some consumer goods (food, clothing, personal protective equipment, others) during the COVID-19 pandemic? 8. Did you change your consumption pattern during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., more online shopping, consume less, or consume more sustainable goods)? 9. In your opinion, how does the COVID-19 pandemic impact the local businesses? Are you trying to provide more support to local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic? 10. How has your COVID-19 pandemic experience affected your views on life, community, environment, local/global economy? 95 11. In your opinion, has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your views on concept like sustainability and community building? Demographic Information Female □ Male □ Gender Diverse □ Ethnicity: ______________ Age (range): 19-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 55+ Occupation (category/industry): ____________ Current residence: _____________ (City) ______________ (Country) Tourist □ Okanagan Resident □
Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Li, Eric Ping Hung, 1978-
Back to basics : the sustainable responses to COVID-19 pandemic
Text