BIS Research Paper

Stephanie Crump
BIS RESEARCH PAPER
Implementing Sustainability Into American Culture
In 2009, Americans trashed about 161 million tons of material. You can
imagine this clearer by noting that that is about three pounds of garbage per
American, per day. With the population and consumption rate increasing, you would
think it would be a more important issue to us to save our planet. As humans, we
value our culture and traditions and I believe in order to successfully make this
transition into a sustainable future, sustainable living must become a way of life, a
part of our culture. The problem I am focusing on is if we can increase sustainable
living by marketing it as a part of American culture to ultimately increase the
importance of sustainable living across the globe. This being such a complex
problem, it is easier to look at this issue through an interdisciplinary way of
thinking. As I am studying sales and marketing and sustainability, I find it easier to
make correlations between the two related to this issue, but I believe that
psychology, education, and economics also play an important role.
With large companies and the government becoming much more involved in
sustainable issues such as climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss it
could make this vision of a sustainable lifestyle more reachable than expected.
There are, however, many barriers to this concept. Although people and companies
are more accepting of sustainability as a term, few are applying it in the correct way.
Many companies use it as a way to attract customers and use it more as an
“efficiency plan” and most people like to think of themselves as sustainable, but

rarely include it in their every day lives. I think that these barriers are caused by
deep-rooted norms that get in the way of starting a behavior change. People want to
become more sustainable, but these habits override any new value starting to form.
Marketing sustainability to the people to create community, desire, and value in a
population could be the way to making “green living” an actuality.
“Going green” is what comes to mind for most American citizen’s when
thinking about the concept of sustainability when in reality, sustainability is a multi-
disciplinary concept in itself. The three pillars of sustainability, which are the
society, the environment, and the economy, all encompass the term and must
balance out in order to create a perfectly self sufficient and sustainable world. These
three pillars can be visualized as a Sustainability Venn Diagram where the center is
that sweet spot to a balanced way of living. However, I believe this sustainable
dream of a perfect world will not be accomplished due to Adam Smith’s theory of
the invisible hand, which is the fact that the people will usually act in their own
interest, (Schjeldahl, 2014). This is especially true in present day America.
What has been a lingering issue of sustainability is the ever-increasing
population of the world. According to the United States Census Bureau, by 2044 the
world population will have reached 9 billion people (International Data Base, USCB).
This is concerning to most scientists and environmentalists because “if the levels of
consumption that the most affluent people enjoy today were replicated across even
half of the roughly 9 billion people projected to be on the planet in 2050, the impact
on our water supply, air quality, forests, climate, biological diversity, and human
health would be severe,” (Hiltunen, 2013). With most American’s acting and

consuming in their own interest, without the thought that this consumption rate will
have a detrimental effect to our planet and future generations, it is no wonder that
sustainable living is being stressed.
Sustainability can mean many different things to different people. That is
especially true when applying it to a business model or marketing plan. Long-term
thinking, improving the quality of life while taking the environment into account, or
increasing the opportunities for future generations is all examples of how
companies generally use sustainability. Some companies will actually use a guide
called the Sustainability Framework to represent the consideration of sustainability
in a business. The Sustainability Framework encompasses the three pillars of
sustainability and a value chain, which includes supply, operation, distribution, use,
and fate, that reflects which issue is most important and at which point in time. The
framework also takes governance, structure, and culture into account when filtering
through issues. Every issue that is taken into account in reliant on the companies
values, policies, and practices and the business is required to ask many questions to
determine if the issue is “worth it” to their company. (Cabezas, Diwekar, 2012).
The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review
collaborated to study “The Business of Sustainability” which is the reason why or
why not companies are moving towards a greater sustainability initiative. 1,500
corporate executives partook in a global survey and 50 executives were interviewed
about issues such as civil engineering, energy science, and management (Wireless
News, 2009). They concluded that the top issues that influence their company are
“government legislation, concern by customers, and interest by employees.” Closely

following these top three issues in descending order are “pollution, exhaustion of
non-renewable resources, social pressures, water supply and access issues, global
political security, population growth, and climate change” (Cabezas, Diwekar, 2012).
There are still those companies that confuse the word sustainability with efficiency
or social responsibility. Most employees of these organizations believe that as long
as we are making a profit and laying the track towards a successful and long lasting
business, then that is sustainable business. Fortunately now more and more
companies are switching gears towards a business plan that embodies the three
pillars of sustainability. One example is a term called “Sustainable
Entrepreneurship” that focuses on “new solutions or sustainable innovations that
aim at the mass market and provide value to society” (Weidinger, Fischler,
Schmidpeter, 2014).
This emerging business concept is a great way to intertwine business and
sustainability and possibly create a profit, however, what truly makes a business
successful? To me the answer is the people. Creating that connection to society and
their culture makes a huge difference between todays fad and a company that lasts
generations. Companies like Coca Cola, Nike, or Wal-Mart connect to their customers
to not only solve their customer’s problems and create relationships, but also
capture their audience’s values and beliefs to turn their products into a way of life. If
this marketing procedure is possible, then shouldn’t it be possible to apply the same
concept to sustainable living?
There are many barriers to changing the values and beliefs of American’s to
take on a sustainable lifestyle. I believe that Professor van der Leeuw of Arizona

State University describes it best with his story of his visit to Papua New Guinea
where many of the village’s lives depend on a central fire heat pit where most of
their food is cooked. One village created a tool out of bamboo to grab the plates from
the fire so it would not burn their hands. However, the other village down the road
did not use this tool, instead they used their bare hands to pull out their plates
resulting in burnt fingers. Being that both of the villages interact regularly, Professor
van der Leeuw wondered why the second village does not use the method of the
first village and create a tool to pull the plates from the fire. He claims that it is
because these people have “blind spots” where they do not try to fix the problem if
they do not recognize the problem. A bigger problem that he explains is that the
reason we do not notice these problems is because they become a part of our
culture, values, beliefs, even habits, and tend to not think about them.” Like pulling
dinner out of the fire barehanded, we even come to think of them as ‘natural’, at
least in much of the West and hence to accept them as ‘the best way to do things’ or
at least ‘the least bad way’, without really considering any alternatives,” (van der
Leeuw, 2014).
There are very few companies that market their brand as a connection to a
culture and I believe one brand that does this specifically well is Coca Cola. It seems
on each television channel, a commercial s coming on to tell you to “Share A Coke”
with your friends, neighbors, or someone you haven’t even met yet. It is encouraging
their community to become involved and help others. Most people would like to see
themselves as someone who would share their drink or lend a helping hand,
therefore the brand relates to the people on an emotional level, making them feel

good about themselves and purchasing the product. Applying a marketing plan like
Coca Cola’s to an idea like sustainability can be difficult, but if you target the right
influencers in the beginning, the idea can work it’s way through the community until
eventually it becomes something they feel comfortable doing and encouraging other
to do.
Another company that does a great job of influencing the community and
becoming a part of one’s lifestyle is Nike. Nike produces premium sporting wear and
goods to people all across the globe. Through their marketing they encourage
people to push harder, be better, and “just do it.” Like I said above, once people
purchase their products they feel inspired and better about themselves, resulting in
a love for the company and a long lasting relationship. What has also impressed me
with Nike is their sustainability initiatives. Nike’s brand is all about innovation and
they show that through their constant updated green technology and persistence to
reduce carbon emissions. Mark Parker, Nike’s President and CEO stated "We believe
business has a critical role to play in meeting the challenges of a changing world -
addressing climate change, preserving the earth's constrained resources, enhancing
global economic opportunity - not by reducing growth but by redefining it,”
(Wireless News, 2014). Now that consumers are understand the benefits of
becoming more sustainable and purchasing sustainable products, they are willing to
pay more or go out of their way to find these products. NIELSON conducted a survey
where 55% of global surveyees said they’d pay more for services and products that
are committed to making a positive social and environmental change, which is a
50% increase from 2012.

Marketing sustainability like those companies market their product as a part
of culture may seem difficult, but I think the main focus and starting point to this
should be with our early education system. Many schools are teaching students in a
traditional lecture manner that does make sustainability sound important, but
doesn’t encourage any action. By making sure sustainability is a part of their
lifestyle from an early age at home and in school can ensure that it becomes a
lifestyle that is passed down from generation to generation. What is taught about
sustainability is also important. Background information and tools to how to be
sustainable are key, but what’s also important is for children to see how what their
doing is making a difference. By observing that their one small act of recycling, or
any other sustainable act, is saving the planet can induce an emotional connection
that inspires and spreads.
Sustainability is becoming more and more widespread, but there are still
many Americans who might have a general understanding of what it is, but don’t
understand the problem it’s solving or why it’s so important. By creating a
marketing plan for sustainability to connect, educate, and provide for the American
society, we can implement a change in American values to a more sustainable
lifestyle.
There is a misperception that occurs when sustainability activists are
opposed capitalists when in reality markets use sustainability to create success.
Being that my two concentrations are sales and marketing and sustainability, I plan
to identify the perspectives of each of these concentrations and using Repko’s
integration process, I hope to better understand a way change the views, attitudes

and behaviors of American’s regarding sustainability and to mold it into a way of
life.
I will start by looking at my two concentrations separately and distinguishing
how they play into my argument. From a sales and marketing perspective, there can
be two different ways of looking at things. From one side, many companies refuse to
implement sustainability into their business due to costs made in the present, but
from another standpoint, many companies are on board with sustainability because
of the popularity of “going green” and the long-term effects of doing so, such as Coca
Cola and Nike mentioned above. When looking at sustainability as a singular
discipline, I will look into how sustainability plays into culture now, not only with
businesses, but also with individuals. When looking into each discipline I am going
to be asking “how” and “why” questions deepen my thinking and possibly inspire
biased answers. By getting a mix of biased and unbiased perspectives I can truly
understand the issue.
In order to obtain insights through theories I plan to use scholarly journals
found online, particularly on Arizona State University’s library database. One of the
most important steps Repko explains is to evaluate insights of the disciplines. (pg.
5758) Once I gather my articles I plan to follow these complimentary steps by
collecting the data, methods, and phenomena that are used as evidence for the
insights.
For my sales and marketing discipline I would like to focus on case studies
with major companies that have used sustainability in their business model to their
advantage like Nike or Coca Cola. Creating a sustainable marketing plan helps the

company look towards the future, while providing jobs, making a profit, helping the
environment, and bettering the future of the company. When people notice these big
brands connecting society with sustainability, it creating a positive connotation and
increases awareness. However, there are still markets out there that argue
sustainability is just another word for “efficiency” and think that if they do
incorporate sustainability, it would just be a social responsibility instead of an
actual value, which is the behavior that I am looking to change.
One sustainability theory that I will be focusing on is going to be the 4 Capital
Model, which encompasses sustainability as a whole with a balance of society, the
environment, and the economy. The model contains 4 parts including natural
capitol, human capitol, financial capitol, and manufactured capitol. An aspect of
sustainability I would like to refer to is the Sustainability Venn Diagram that
explains this balance between the three pillars; society, environment, and economy.
Some insight might be to include culture as it’s own pillar to truly involve
sustainability in America’s values and beliefs.
The next step in Repko’s reading explains that I need to create insights and
find common ground between my two disciplines and integrate them to better
understand my problem of changing the values of American’s to incorporate
sustainability into their lifestyle, professionally and recreationally (pg. 6254). There
are three conditions that must be used in order to successfully integrate two
disciplines. Through sales and marketing, American’s can market to the people
through successful products and services the benefits of living a sustainable
lifestyle. People notice recognize these successful brands and people are usually

drawn to companies that do better for the world, in this case, through sustainability.
In my other discipline, education is the number one factor in spreading the idea of
sustainable living. There is another theory called The Invisible Hand that claims that
people will act in their own interest. By switching this belief to acting in the best
interest of society as a whole, possibly through a specific marketing plan used for
American’s as a target audience, it could benefit not only America, but also the
world’s society, economy, and environment. I plan on using these conditions to
identify integration then use the broad model to ask the right questions (pg. 6231).
The last step is to find common ground between my two concentrations
pertaining to my problem. After doing some research, I think that the main common
ground is the psychology of the people. In sales and marketing, the main aspect is to
create a desire for a product by working with and possibly altering the way a
consumer thinks. With sustainability, the invisible hand is a selfish barrier and
psychological aspect that needs to change in order to start and maintain a change to
a sustainable behavior.
To get a better understanding of the way people understand, feel, and apply
sustainability is through multiple disciplinary research methods. In this class, we
learned about qualitative, quantitative, historical or archival research, and
ethnography. Qualitative methods are usually in the form of an interview. For the
issue I am looking at, I think that focusing on interviewing a specific community or
city would give me a better idea on how the beliefs, values, and norms of that
community alter to the sustainability of that population. In an interview, one is
trying to create knowledge though understanding the interviewee’s experiences and

feelings (See Appendix 1: Proposed Interview Guide 1). I can do this by
incorporating specific types of questions such as substantive and procedural
questions. With substantive questions I can analyze their answers according to my
research. These types of questions would be great in understanding the psychology
behind their sustainable decisions. Procedural questions would be a little scarcer
than substantive, but would be necessary to keep the interview moving along. After
the interview I will analyze my information through the process of categorization. In
the first step of categorization I must establish categories of analysis which are
usually behavior that help me solve my issue and the second step is to code or
analyze the data by creating evidence through their words and phrases. Most people
like to believe or act like they are more sustainable than they are so I believe that
this step will help me understand the true value of my problem. Once my first round
of interviews are finished, I then hope to interview a second round from a different
city, possible one like Portland, Oregon that is known for being sustainable and
compare the thought process and lifestyles of each community (See Appendix 1:
Proposed Interview Guide 2). I think that comparing each group will give me a
better understanding of if marketing sustainability to create community,
encouraging it as a part of a lifestyle, and observing if people are more accepting of
it if it is a part of community will alter the beliefs, values, and norms of others.
The second research method is a Quantitative method. This method requires
a large and diverse group of people chosen through random sampling in order for
the information to be more reflective of the people, more significant, and that can be
better generalized. Using my hypothesis that people will include sustainability into

their lifestyle when they feel an emotional connection to sustainability issues can be
used to create variables and questions pertaining to those variables. There are two
types of variables, independent and dependent. For example, people experiencing
an emotional connection to a sustainability issue would be independent. Whether or
not they make sustainability a part of their daily routine would be dependent upon
whether they felt that connection. My questions will revolve around these variables
so that once the people are through with the surveys I can quantify the data and
start my analysis through bivariate and multivariate analysis. These types of
analysis will allow me to use my interdisciplinary skills to further my understanding
of how and why people act the way they do regarding sustainability (See Appendix
3: Proposed Survey).
I believe that one of the most important aspects of grasping a problem and
solving it is to know the background history of how the problem started and what
efforts have already been made to solve it. One article I enjoyed is “ Do Global
Attitudes and Behaviors Support Sustainable Development” by Anthony A.
Leiserowitz, Robert W. Kates, And Thomas M. Parris. This article supports my
hypothesis that in order for us to switch from a materialistic lifestyle to a
sustainable one, the values, beliefs, and norms of the population must change. They
also claim that not only must these traits alter, but we must also transform from an
anthropocentric worldview to an ecological worldview and must change our vision
of “the good life” or as we have called it in this class, “The American Dream.” A
second article explains what sustainable development is and offers some ideas on
how we can accomplish it. A third article looks at the history behind behavior

change and influencing attitudes which includes experiments or case studies of
consumer motivation and psychological warfare.
Another method that could be used to further my research is ethnography. If
I observed and researched a specific place, like Mesa, Arizona, my hometown, on
their sustainable efforts and how they live their daily lives, I could understand what
needs to be done to connect with them on a personal level and slowing influence
sustainability into their lifestyles. By getting to known their values, like if they heat
their pools during the winter because they enjoy the luxury of swimming when
they’d like over water conservation in the desert, I can understand what’s important
and how to market to that specific need in a more sustainable matter.
By implementing sustainable lifestyle values, beliefs, and norms into the lives
of children today, we can ensure that the future is a bright and healthy one not only
for the future generations, but also for out planet.
REFERENCES
Cabezas, H., Diwekar, U. Sustainability: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives. SAIF Zone,
Sharjah, UAE: Bentham Science Publishers. (2012). ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21
November 2014.
Companies lean towards sustainable practices favored by consumers. (2014). The
Food Institute Report, 87(25), 3. Retrieved from
http://bi.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/global/article/GALE%7CA382
087189/0751ee2a7e7142a501336c5db5e89e5c?u=asuniv
Farley, H., Smith, Z. Sustainability : If It's Everything, Is It Nothing?. Routledge.
(2014). Retrieved from http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=510561
Hlitunen, E. Foresight and Innovation: How Companies are Coping with the Future.
Palgrave Macmillan. Nov. 9, 2013. Pg. 51.

MIT Sloan Management Review, Boston Consulting Group: Corporate Execs Believe
Sustainability-related Issues Will Impact Business. Wireless News.
(2009). Retrieved from
http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/doc
view/210281943?accountid=4485
Nike posts sustainability report. Wireless News. 2014.
view/1526043768?accountid=4485.
Schjeldahl D. Sustainability: The "invisible hand" shapes next-generation location
selection. Area Development Site and Facility Planning. 2014;49(1):81-84.
Retrieved from
view/1511966763?accountid=4485.
United States Census Bureau. International Programs. (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/worldpopgraph
.php.
Van Der Leeuw, S.E. Sustainability, Culture, and Personal Responsibility.
Sustainability Science. Springer Japan. (2014). Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/article/10.1007/s11625-014-
0249-5/fulltext.html
Weidinger, C., Fischler, F., Schmidpeter, R. Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Business
Success through Sustainability. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. (2014). Retrieved
21 November 2014, from http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=517256
APPENDIX 1&2:
Research Question 1: In America, is sustainability considered a value or norm?
Interview Questions:
 What are some actions you have taken to become more sustainable?
 When you picture America in 20 years, what do you see?
 Please describe what sustainability means to you.
Research Question 2: Is an emotional connection to a sustainability problem a main
reason why people make it a part of their lifestyle?

 Tell me about a time when you felt an emotional connection to a
global issue?
 What specific incentives would cause you to become more
sustainable?
 Tell me about a time when a company’s commercial (or marketing
efforts) inflicted emotional feelings.
 If you saw a Nike video of athletes working hard to accomplish their
goals, would this inspire you to purchase their products? If yes or no,
why?
Research Question 3: Does the style of education of younger generations influence
the amount of sustainable action taken by families with children?
 It is said that younger students are only being taught in a traditional
lecture sense, rather than educating through experience. What do you
think of this statement and how does it make you feel?
 If you experienced sustainable actions, such as recycling, every day
while growing up, how do you think this would influence your
sustainable actions as an adult?
 How do you feel about providing mandatory sustainability experience
classes in each elementary, middle, and high school?
 Please tell me about any sustainable actions your parents taught you
about while growing up.
APPENDIX 3:
I would appreciate your taking the time to complete the following quick survey.
Your responses are completely confidential and will not be recognized by individual.
Please circle either a, b, c, d, or e to answer question 1-10. Thank you for your time.
1. How often do you recycle?
a. Everyday
b. Few times a week
c. Few times a month
d. Rarely to never
2. Does the sustainable efforts of a company sway your decision to shop there?
a. Yes
b. No
c. I don’t know

3. Which of the following do you feel would influence you to become more
sustainable?
a. Watching other people being sustainable
b. If I was given financial benefits for being more sustainable
c. If I was better educated on how to be more sustainable
d. If I had grown up in a family that supported sustainability
4. Do you believe that there should be mandatory sustainability classes provided to
elementary, middle, and high schools?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe
5. When you think of sustainability, what comes to mind? (Choose all that apply)
a. Improving America’s economy
b. Saving the environment
c. Bettering society
d. Educating our children
e. None of the above
6. If you saw a Nike video of athletes working hard to accomplish their goals, would
this inspire you to purchase their products?
a. Yes
b. No
c. I don’t know
7. Please rate how strongly you agree with the following statement:
The state of America’s environment must improve in order for the happiness and
success of our population to increase.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Disagree
d. Strongly Agree
8. Please rate how strongly you agree with the following statement:

It is important that we educate younger generations about the benefits of including
sustainability into our daily lives.
a. Strongly Agree
b. Agree
c. Disagree
d. Strongly Disagree
9. Education Level:
a. High School Degree/ GED
b. Some College
c. 4 Year Degree and above
d. None of the above
10. I am a:
a. Male
b. Female
c. Prefer to not answer
Thank you.
APPENDIX 4:
Article 1:
Leiserowitz, A., Kates, R., Parris, T. (2005). Do Global Attitudes and Behaviors Support
Sustainable Development? Retrieved from http://www.heldref.org/env.php.
Article 2:
Leiserowitz, A., Kates, R., Parris, T. (2005). Science and Policy for Sustainable
Development. Retrieved from https://myasucourses.asu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-
9696420-dt-content-rid-37589568_1/courses/2014Fall-T-SOS320-
74319/Katesetal2005_SustDevGoalsValuesIndicators%281%29.pdf
Article 3:

Zimbardo, Philip; Ebbesen, Ebbe B. (1970). Influencing Attitudes and Changing
Behavior: A Basic Introduction to Relevant Methodology, Theory, and Applications.
Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED054640.

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