Abstract:

In this article, a review of sustainable consumption teaching is presented in relation to learning competencies, with solutions that encourage sustainable consumption.

Educating students about consumerism may raise perception of consumption and sustainability, may stimulate environmental perception concerns and may have effect to reduce consumption. For the consumer, the educational task is the deepen understanding of their own behavior in order to improve their lifestyle. Education of the consumer citizens for sustainable consumption is a tool suitable for change of behavior towards a sustainable lifestyle.

Consumers need information and education. They need to develop an understanding of the difference between real and perceived needs. They need the skills to be selective to truly obtain products and services that meet their needs.
Consumer education involves measures to inform about the functioning of the market economy and the manners for consumer behavior regarding goods and services.

Having a good understanding of the characteristics of the goods and services, the consumer is encouraged to seek and to evaluate quality goods and services.

Consumer education involves and the transmission of knowledge regarding consumer behavior through which attitudes are tested and basic skills acquired.
Consumer behavior describes how often shopping, what products they prefer, and how they perceive marketing, sales, and service offerings.

The consumer expects a certain level of satisfaction depending on the price and quality of the received goods and services. Consumer preference determines what products will buy within their budget and will give an indication of their consumer demand.

Consumer preference, defined as the subjective tastes of individual consumers, is measured by their satisfaction with those items after they’ve purchased them. This satisfaction is often referred to as utility. Consumer value is measured in terms of the relative utilities between goods. Consumer value can be determined by how consumer utility compares between different items.

The authors wish to study how consumers perceive the goods and services’ utility and have tried to model them. These models capture essential features of the goods and services that are common to all economic activities and contribute to educate the consumer behavior. Concerning the goods and services’ utility, the aspects of consumers preferences that the authors have tried to model, are the quality, threshold effects of utility, the habits and dependence and the preferences of the third parties.

In this paper the authors will describe these notions mathematically.

Keywords:

Consumer behavior, consumer preferences, goods utility, services utility, sustainable consumption.