Abstract:

In the last decades, society has been immersed in a fast-growing consumerist environment. To satisfy this vortex of consumerism, the market has made use of a multitude of products wrapped with many plastics, along with the use of a multitude of other polluting materials. But since the 1970s, concern for the environment, pollution and its impact on climate change began to grow. As a result, in September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was approved at the United Nations Assembly, which sets out a transformative vision towards economic, social and environmental sustainability for the 193 UN member states that signed it and is the reference guide for the work of the international community until 2030. The 2030 Agenda includes the 17 SDGs that must be achieved by 2030. This study is based on SDG12 whose objective is to "ensure responsible production and consumption". While from the consumer side, SDG12 addresses the challenges of the awareness of demanding such products and rejecting those that are manufactured with harmful materials.
In this context arises this work which tries to develop an indicator for SDG 12 and its assessment in the Valencian university students. For this purpose, a model with the main factors that can influence to the sustainable consumption of university students is analyzed. The previous literature review suggests that the concern for a sustainable consumption of students depends on social pressure, market conditions and information and/or education received. In addition, these sustainable consumption habits acquired by the population influence governmental actions, which again influence sustainable consumption habits and consumption behavior habits. Therefore, there is a feedback loop, which must be analyzed in detail to know in greater depth how to make the most efficient way to encourage them.
Consequently, the main aim of this research is to propose and validate a theoretical model that can identify the determinants of responsible consumption in university students in the Valencian Community. For this purpose, a survey was developed with items answered on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. These questions were aimed at finding out the consumption habits, as well as students' awareness of the sustainability of their purchases and the influence of the social environment on these decisions. A total of 212 students answered to the survey. After the descriptive analyses of the items, a Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) was used to validate the underlying factors involved in the model proposed.
In relation to the conclusions of the model, it can be said that, in general, it yielded quite consistent results. Therefore, it can be concluded that governmental actions have an impact on market conditions, as well as on the information and education on sustainable consumption habits of the population. Being all these factors the ones that most influence behavior towards sustainability. The results also show that the student community is aware of the environmental impact it has and is trying to shape its consumption habits to approach them in a sustainable way.
Finally, it should be noted that the above conclusions provide significant evidence about the importance of governmental actions in favoring the consumption habits of the population. Therefore, they could serve as a seed for the formulation of institutional recommendations to help policy makers to focus on responsible consumption.

Keywords:

Sustainability, ODS, PLS-SEM, Higher Education.