Description
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Stockholm School of Economics Master Thesis in Marketing and Strategy
JUNK to FUNK DIY approach on sustainability
Chanhyo Jeong
Summary This paper aims to uncover how relevant personal and contextual factors may inhibit or facilitate sustainable DIY activities in South Korea. DIY in Korea is very active in recycling discarded material, and that was one of the success factors of those clubs. Linking sustainability with personality, DIY became as a mean of social transformation. Some argue that in some aspect, the DIY movement stands somewhere between a new form of consumption and a subversive political act. However, the research result revealed that the political motivation plays very minor role of the DIY movement. Internet’s strong consumer decision support has possibilities of increasing consumer citizen empowerment. Also, the result shows sustainable consumption behavior does not always come from sustainable motivation. Calling for ethics or causes to encourage sustainable consumption might be only good for small minority. Instead, emphasizing “fun” and “self expression” can be much more efficient in changing consumption behavior.
Supervisor: Susanne Sweet Examiner: Deo Sharma Author: Chanhyo Jeong Discussant: Erik Mossberg Presentation: 10:15, Room C606, 31/1/2007
Acknowledgement
I sincerely believe having Prof. Sweet as a supervisor was my pure luck. I thank for all the insightful international phone calls from Sweden. Also I would like to show my gratitude to all the survey participants and interviewees who took time to answer my questions. Finally I thank my husband Klaus, good friends Claudia, BT and Hodolski for their personal support.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Key concepts and abbreviations • DIY Do it yourself : Oxford dictionary (2005) defines DIY as the activity of making, repairing or decorating things yourself, instead of paying somebody to do it. It also associated with the culture scenes such as independent music, publishing and film. 1 • Rebound effect : Rebound Effect = Potential resource savings - Actual resource savings • Sustainable Consumption : patterns of consumption that satisfy basic needs, offer humans the freedom to realize themselves, and are replicable across the whole globe without compromising the Earth's carrying capacity. (Hertwich 2003c) Also see appendix 1 • • • • • • • • ICT Information and Communications Technology LOHAS Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development UCC User Created Contents UNEP United Nations Environment Programme The NOA Model The Needs-Opportunity-Ability Model WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development WWF World Wildlife Fund
1
see also the list of DIY artists ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DIY_artists
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction............................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Background ..................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Purpose.................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Delimitation .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Expected contributions.......................................................................................... 6 1.5 Problem areas........................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Disposition ............................................................................................................ 7 2. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 7 2. 1 Research design ................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Pre study......................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Survey design............................................................................................... 10 2. 2 Data collection and sample characteristics ........................................................ 10 2. 3 research limitation.............................................................................................. 12 3. Previous research ...................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Who are they? ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2 How do they decide?........................................................................................... 14 3.3 What macro force helps the decision? ................................................................ 15 4. Theoretical framework.......................................................................................... 16 4. 1 sustainable consumption and rebound effect ..................................................... 17 4. 2 mechanism of sustainable consumption............................................................. 18 4.2.1. The economic framework of consumer decision making ........................... 18 4.2.2. Socially contingent consumption................................................................ 18 4.2.3. Systems of the Provision Model of Consumption ...................................... 19 4.2.4. The Needs-Opportunities-Abilities model of consumer behaviour ............ 19 5. Empirical findings and Analysis........................................................................... 20 5.1 Rebound effect of the DIY movement................................................................ 20 5. 2 mechanism of the DIY movement ..................................................................... 22 5.2.1 The economic framework ............................................................................ 22 5.2.2 The socially contingent consumption .......................................................... 22 5.2.3 System of the provision model of consumption .......................................... 22 5.2.4 The Needs-Opportunities-Abilities analysis ................................................ 23 • Needs............................................................................................................. 26 • Opportunities................................................................................................. 29 • Abilities......................................................................................................... 32 • Motivation and Behaviour control ................................................................ 34 5.3 Summary of analysis........................................................................................... 35 6. Conclusions........................................................................................................... 36 7. Criticism................................................................................................................ 37 8. Further study suggestion ....................................................................................... 38 9. Reference: ............................................................................................................. 39 Appendix 1 Sustainable Consumption...................................................................... 42 Appendix 2 Business opportunities .......................................................................... 44 Appendix 3 Questionnaire questions ........................................................................ 45 Appendix 4 Pictures.................................................................................................. 48
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
1. Introduction
“Well welcome to our world. A world where consumers swear they would never choose a car tyre brand for anything other than safety reasons, then go and buy something they have never heard of because it was cheapest around when they got a puncture. A world where they try a healthy new product in tests and swear they will buy it, but carry on choosing their sugary regular brand because it tastes better and where they dutifully pack their waste into bags then cart it off to the recycling centre in a colossal four-wheel-drive multi-purpose vehicle, polluting the environment on the way.(Longhurst 2006)”
1.1
Background
Since the Brundtland Report in 1987 brought the concept of sustainable development into the international policy area, the alarming growth in consumption volume called for a global strategy which will be referred to as “sustainable consumption” (Mayo 2006) So if you want to save the planet from dangerous carbon dioxide, don’t hug the trees; instead consider weaving a rug out of old sweaters. This may sound too silly to be a solution for our generation’s ultimate challenge, but this is exactly the message Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne, founders of “readymade” magazine try to give us; DIY is the sustainable alternative for the Generation X and Y. Instead of Greenpeace’s rainbow warrior approach, they urge you to hold a scissor and a glue stick and make junk to funk. Described by The New York Times as an "indie-rock Martha Stewart Living" 2 , they are one of those emerging groups who chose DIY as the mean of social transformation 3 . In the interview with Sierra club (2003), Berger used vocabularies such as “fun, sexy, and cool” to describe the sustainable lifestyle they pursue. Well-known names like Danny Seo 4 and Todd Oldham 5 are also contributors of this eco-DIY movement. Their emphasis on recycling is connected to the idea of McDonough and Braungart (2002) “waste equals food”. These advocates for the “DIY movement” explicitly criticize modern consumer culture, suggesting that our needs cannot be fulfilled by just purchasing things, and instead we should take technologies into our own hands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diy accessed 11/12/2006) Advocates of the DIY movement go further and claim that it stands
2
3
www.readymademag.com accessed 11/11/2006 AlterNet (2006)’s article explained that the main difference between DIY in 2000 is that DIY is now consciously chosen by a group of people as a new lifestyle and a tool for achieving political and social change (towards sustainable consumption). It is not just about cheaper home improvement rather about the lifestyle choice with a cause. 4 an environmental activist; He published various books on sustainability and design. 5 a designer; He used to run his own show on MTV.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
somewhere between a new form of consumption and a subversive political act 6 . (AlterNet 2006) By linking sustainability with personality, DIY suddenly became a means of social transformation which can save the earth. Self expression is an extra bonus. The return of DIY relates to the new status of consumers. The modern consumers are no longer bound by “the rational choices” of the 50’s. The emotional consumer of the 70’s transformed into the 90’s spiritual or ethical consumer. (Pringle et al 1999) Now consumers are becoming prosumers. The choice is not limited to the exchange of goods and monetary means (purchasing) any more. Now it is also about choosing the producers they favor (i.e. ethical purchasing). The producers who know about consumers the best are (arguably) consumer themselves. To reach the highest level of customization, consumers decide to fulfill their own needs by producing it themselves. (DIY) This phenomenon is not only limited to North America, it also happens in the Far East. As we will examine soon, Korea has shown a very interesting development in the DIY movement which was not headed by industry but by consumers. One of the online DIY clubs in this research had 250,000 members in October 2006, and in only 2 months, more than 20,000 new members joined the club. This rapid growth shows the great potential of Korean DIY culture. So what made DIY suddenly an attractive option for consumers in Korea? Is the DIY movement a new form of consumption? How do relevant personal and contextual factors inhibit or facilitate DIY movement? Does sustainable consumption behavior come from the motivation of the green movement? By answering these questions, we will have a better understanding of what drives the DIY movement and ultimately, sustainable consumption.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first purpose is to explore the possibility of DIY as a new means of sustainable consumption. Therefore primarily, to recognize what is sustainable consumption is an important task. Second, with a survey conducted among Korean online DIYers, this study is designed not to show scientific data but to uncover relevant personal and contextual factors of DIY activities. Economic, social and political motivation of DIYers is what this paper mainly intents to discuss. The public sector marketers and environmental activists can also use Korea’s experiences and identify innovative local strategies to make household consumption more sustainable.
1.3 Delimitation
6
e.g. Greg Der Ananian's Bazaar Bizarre: Not Your Granny's Crafts!
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
The main interest of this research is to find out the mechanism of actions for the DIY movement in South Korea The range of DIY activities is endless which makes it tricky to define it when semifinished DIY kits are sold on the market. Therefore, in this paper, the term ‘DIY movement’ will be coined to describe an eco-friendly and design conscious DIY activity in the 2000’s. Instead of the old image of hardware store or grandmother’s hobby, DIY movement reflects a rather young and aesthetically pleasant illustration. Motivation is an important factor for the DIY movement as well. The scope of research is limited to online-based DIY activities. Also, the detail of the DIY industry is not of interest. The geographical research scope is limited to South Korea. The reasons are following: First of all, the so called new DIY/Craft movement started in Northern America, and the strategy should get tested in other cultural and societal settings in order to implement it globally. The WSSD Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, Sept. 2002 addressed that “All countries should promote sustainable consumption and production patterns...” However, most of academic researches on sustainable consumption are limited to European/North American cases. The sustainable consumption should be pursued globally and more local cases must be presented to understand where we stand. Second, development of ICT 7 has an impact on the emergence of new form of consumption. Particularly in this case study, DIY consumption culture has been developed relying on the help of ICT. Korea DIY industry is rather new and largely based on small online businesses instead of a conventional giant warehouse franchise types. (Seoul Business News 2006) These structural factors are also important to understand Korea’s DIY movement and Korea’s example could be used as an example that technology can facilitate sustainable behaviour.
1.4 Expected contributions
Previous research with this specific topic is rarely found. Therefore the paper aims to broaden the research stream and identify which personal and contextual factors drive Korean DIYers to sustainable consumption. OECD model of consumer behaviour will be applied to analyze the dynamics of the DIY movement. The contribution also can come from applying the models of consumer decision making to a different local example. In addition, it shall provide good understanding of what ought to be perceived as sustainable consumption.
1.5 Problem areas
7
ICT ; information and communications technology
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
The paper chose to focus on the “consumption” side of sustainability. Reisch (2001) argued that emphasizing the eco efficiency of the production side does not solve the real problem of over consumption. It is not enough because growth and rebound effect will compensate eco efficiency. Longhurst(2006) claimed “efforts to create autonomous analytic space for sustainable consumption have been repeatedly thwarted by competing pressure to subsume it under the more affable rubric afforded by its sister concept – sustainable production… [E]nhanced consumption efficiency and the growth of nominally ‘‘green’’ consumer preferences both tend to give rise to perverse rebound effects.” Heiskanen et al. (1998) even raise the suspicion that focusing an efficient production or gradual improvement might be some sort of green wash. Brooks (2000) also states that energy efficiency programs are the ultimate free lunch for politicians, making environmental threat as a political opportunity without taking unpopular measures. The DIY movement emphasizes the empowerment to consumers not depending on changes of business or government sectors.
1.6 Disposition
The thesis will follow these outlines. In the next chapter, the methodology of this study will be explained prior to the theory section. This chapter will elucidate the choice of methodology and its limitations. By presenting the sample profiles, readers can have background knowledge about DIYers before reading the empirical analysis. In chapter 3, three different topics of sustainable consumption research will be introduced. These topics are not interrelated directly however these are three important theoretical parts to understand DIY from the perspective of sustainable consumption. Chapter 4 will present a theoretical analysis tool, this will applied to chapter 5, empirical findings and analysis. Instead of having separate chapters for each, chapter 5 will present the segmented data and its implications in the same section. After the conclusion in the chapter 6, the possible critique of this research paper will be discussed. Finally, in chapter 8, I will offer further study suggestions
2. Methodology
Assessing sustainability requires good understanding of diverse data from disciplines other than business studies, such as input–output analysis, lifecycle assessment, materialflow accounting, environmental-space calculations, ecological-footprint analysis, and food-miles/kilometers computations. (Cohen 2006) However those sophisticated methods 8 are not always effective as it seems. In measuring some of the social/personal issues of sustainable consumption, for instance the ethical side of DIY movement cannot be expressed on a functional unit basis. (Hertwich et al. 2003b).Therefore, the methodology of this paper is qualitative, focusing on DIYer’s perception and attitude on
In order to be truly consequential, computable general equilibrium models that are extended with environmental data are needed. But so far such model exist only for CO2-emissions and high aggregation levels.(Hofstetter 2003)
8
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
environment and DIY activities and it will examine if there was any viable behavioral change in the DIYer’s resource allocation.
2. 1 Research design
The research subject was far from fully investigated making it hard to understand the phenomenon in an academic way. Therefore research was conducted in three ways: interview, survey and direct observation. First, as a pre study, four experts in DIY are contacted by email and telephone in order to comprehend the industry and online communities. This approach attempts to understand the personal motivation of promoting the DIY movement. Then the questionnaire asked different issues about online DIY activities. This focuses not only on personal, but also on contextual factors of the DIY movement. Last, by participation in both international and local online communities for two years, a lengthy web discussion on the subject enriched the information and enabled me to understand the culture of the DIY movement. 2.1.1 Pre study As the launch years of each online club indicate, DIY was not a popular activity for Koreans, however, in the last few years, the interest in the DIY movement increased rapidly. To understand this change, it could be very useful to communicate with the people behind the Korean DIY boom. Therefore a pre study through in-depth interview 9 was conducted in September 2006 before formulating the survey questionnaires. The interview was not directed by an interviewer; the list of topics varied according to the interviewee’s expertise. (Aaker et al. 1986) Except interviewee 3, all of them have an occupation in art and fashion. The details of the interviewees are following Table 2.1.1 The details of the interviewees
name sex age job Online address blog Online business Publish DIY Book? Do you DIY with Politics? yes Community building Art Exhibition, Volunteering, education offline meeting Habitat movement Craft bazaar
1)Jung Hyun Choi 2)Jean Young Park 3)Kyong Hi Choi
M
45
junk artist cartoonist 10 Fashion designer(only use recycled material) Math teacher
banzzogi.net *since 2003 club.cyworld.com/stylishjean *since 2004 club.naver.com/shezliving *since 2005
no
Yes
yes
F
31
yes
Yes
yes
no
F
39
yes
no
no
no
9
The interview attempts were not successful in some cases because moderators of each DIY club were too busy because of a book publishing deal or some of them started their own shows on cable channels. Korean media also perceived the sudden popularity of DIY. For his latest exhibition, www.bukchonmuseum.com
10
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
4)Kyong Jae Lee
F
27
Fashion designer
ecodress.net *since 2004
yes
Yes (custom made dress)
no
yes
Sustainable wedding campaign
Interviewee (1) runs an online DIY community, a DIY shopping mall and 10 other offline DIY schools. Each member pays fees and can choose to be a shareholder of the company. The main members are couples with children and interaction happens generally in offline DIY clubs rather than online. He used to draw cartoons about gender equality and international/domestic politics for the left-wing newspaper “Hankyorye” before he came to participate in the DIY movement. Along with that, his junk art exhibition in the last summer was often assessed as one of the biggest successes in the Korean art scene in 2006. Interviewee (2) designs clothes and home furnishing items using only recycled materials. Her club does not require paid membership and attracts active participation from single females in their mid 20’s. The main activity of the club is the exchange of DIY ideas, appreciation of and advice on each other’s works. Environmental reasons are not the main issue even though they have a certain impact. She stated that the older generation does not appreciate her work as much as the younger generation does. 11 Also, the majority of her club’s active members 12 seem to be female. 13 Interviewee (3) is the only one who does not have any background in art and craft. She is one of Korea’s “wifelogger 14 ” stars, well known for her home decorating tips on her blog. She features her know-how on various media. Her DIY club already has over 50,000 members, attracting mostly housewives. Social cause is not the main driver of the club however members are sometimes engaged with volunteering works such as habitat movement 15 . Cost saving is the biggest motivation for DIY activities for her. Interviewee (4) designs a bio-gradable dress made of cornstarch fabric. Even though she does not run a club with members, she uses her blog to communicate with the customers who want to have a sustainable wedding. Her main concern is reducing landfill and resource consumption caused by clothing industry. Therefore she emphasized ‘sustainable design’ which can change the process the final material ends up in the product life span. In her case, her marketing efforts focus more on ‘sustainability’ rather than on function of her product. Interviewees 1 and 4 are environmentalists. Interviewee 1 has in addition to his online carpentry school 10 offline carpentry schools, which help to raise different issues such as politics and sustainability. He tries to develop “koreanized” DIY, which fits for small
The reason can be explained in the chapter 5 with the reference to ‘culture’. Participate in web discussion, post their works, exchange information etc. 13 Even though she did not have any official statistics regarding gender proportion of DIY clubs, since the members only can use their real names in order to participate, there is a certain degree of reliability with this statement. 14 A marketing jargon for a wife and blogger 15 In this case, building home for homeless
12 11
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
living spaces 16 and uses DIY activities to build community identity. Interviewee 4 organizes a sustainable wedding campaign, designs a bio-gradable wedding dress out of cornstarch fabric. She also runs an organic vegetable farm. The interviewees agreed that DIY activities can contribute to sustainability while interviewee (3) answered that she does not always reuse or refurbish discarded materials even though she tries to use them whenever possible. Park points out that since the style of blog stars are too often copied by other members. This can make the DIY scene just another fad. Since there were only 4 interviewees, it is not possible to make any conclusion from the pre study result. However, it gave a good outlook on the Korean DIY scene on a personal level. 2.1.2 Survey design The survey questionnaires consisted of 5 parts: motivation, information source, satisfaction, business opportunity and demographic information. Because of geographical and technical barriers, it was not possible to calculate the actual resource consumption level of the respondents. Therefore “the change of expense” was used instead as an indicator of resource consumption. The level of scales of the questions asked is mainly nominal and ordinal and in many cases, the respondent had to choose dichotomous or categorical answers with several cases of multiple response possibilities. The questionnaires used often rather simple answer choices. This design intends to make it practical to analyze the data after cross tabulation. Question 1.6 “Do DIY activities enhance the value of property?” was newly added in the second questionnaire. This question was mailed to the members of the first survey group but not everybody answered it. Nevertheless one can still assume that the data is valid since the answer showed a very clear trend. 2. 2 Data collection and sample characteristics From October to November 2006, the questionnaire survey was conducted twice in order to increase the sample size 17 . After excluding incomplete questionnaires, the sample size was 88. To check the validity of the sample data, the results of first (50 respondents) and second groups (38 respondents) were compared and there was no notable difference. The questionnaire was posted on the web board and the result was sent by an email. Since the research topic was limited to online DIY communities, only internet users are considered as valid respondents. 76% of respondents turned out to be female and the average age of
16 17
He himself lives in 50sqm apartment with a wife and a 17 years old daughter. (1)http://club.naver.com/lemonterrace, (2)http://club.naver.com/shezliving, (3) www.banzzogi,net, (4)http://club.cyworld.com/stylishjean, (5)http://café.daum.net/reformtogther
Chanhyo Jeong
Q. 5.1a Gender
Junk to Funk
# 67 21 88 Percent 76 24 100.0
respondents is 31.7, with standard deviation of 10.9. 59.8% were under 30years old, 23% were 30 to 40, 17.2% were over 40 years old 18 .
female male Total
In their article ‘Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Determinants of Green Purchases by Swiss Consumers’, Tanner et al(2003) used three groups of socio-cultural conditions as indicators of external barriers, and these conditions were borrowed for this paper to understand the demographic characteristics and also external barriers of DIYers. The conditions are slightly modified and their last condition “types of store” was not used for the study. Those features were questioned to collect demographic features of DIYers. 85.2% of respondents have a university education or higher, which is more than the average rate in Korea (48% in Korea have a degree or more) (NCPPHE 2006). Top two occupations were students (44.3%) and homemakers (22.7%). 43.2% of the respondents spend under a half million won (about 500 dollar) per month, and only 8% lived in a single household. Table 2.2 Sample characteristics and external barrier indicator of DIY consumers Socioeconomic characteristics; purchasing power, time constraints
Q.5.1c.Occupation # Business(wo)man 13 homemaker 20 Student 39 art related 5 teacher 5 Etc. 4 Total 86 Missing 2 Total 88 Q.5.6. Monthly spending # %
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Stockholm School of Economics Master Thesis in Marketing and Strategy
JUNK to FUNK DIY approach on sustainability
Chanhyo Jeong
Summary This paper aims to uncover how relevant personal and contextual factors may inhibit or facilitate sustainable DIY activities in South Korea. DIY in Korea is very active in recycling discarded material, and that was one of the success factors of those clubs. Linking sustainability with personality, DIY became as a mean of social transformation. Some argue that in some aspect, the DIY movement stands somewhere between a new form of consumption and a subversive political act. However, the research result revealed that the political motivation plays very minor role of the DIY movement. Internet’s strong consumer decision support has possibilities of increasing consumer citizen empowerment. Also, the result shows sustainable consumption behavior does not always come from sustainable motivation. Calling for ethics or causes to encourage sustainable consumption might be only good for small minority. Instead, emphasizing “fun” and “self expression” can be much more efficient in changing consumption behavior.
Supervisor: Susanne Sweet Examiner: Deo Sharma Author: Chanhyo Jeong Discussant: Erik Mossberg Presentation: 10:15, Room C606, 31/1/2007
Acknowledgement
I sincerely believe having Prof. Sweet as a supervisor was my pure luck. I thank for all the insightful international phone calls from Sweden. Also I would like to show my gratitude to all the survey participants and interviewees who took time to answer my questions. Finally I thank my husband Klaus, good friends Claudia, BT and Hodolski for their personal support.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Key concepts and abbreviations • DIY Do it yourself : Oxford dictionary (2005) defines DIY as the activity of making, repairing or decorating things yourself, instead of paying somebody to do it. It also associated with the culture scenes such as independent music, publishing and film. 1 • Rebound effect : Rebound Effect = Potential resource savings - Actual resource savings • Sustainable Consumption : patterns of consumption that satisfy basic needs, offer humans the freedom to realize themselves, and are replicable across the whole globe without compromising the Earth's carrying capacity. (Hertwich 2003c) Also see appendix 1 • • • • • • • • ICT Information and Communications Technology LOHAS Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development UCC User Created Contents UNEP United Nations Environment Programme The NOA Model The Needs-Opportunity-Ability Model WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development WWF World Wildlife Fund
1
see also the list of DIY artists ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DIY_artists
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction............................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Background ..................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Purpose.................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Delimitation .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Expected contributions.......................................................................................... 6 1.5 Problem areas........................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Disposition ............................................................................................................ 7 2. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 7 2. 1 Research design ................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Pre study......................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Survey design............................................................................................... 10 2. 2 Data collection and sample characteristics ........................................................ 10 2. 3 research limitation.............................................................................................. 12 3. Previous research ...................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Who are they? ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2 How do they decide?........................................................................................... 14 3.3 What macro force helps the decision? ................................................................ 15 4. Theoretical framework.......................................................................................... 16 4. 1 sustainable consumption and rebound effect ..................................................... 17 4. 2 mechanism of sustainable consumption............................................................. 18 4.2.1. The economic framework of consumer decision making ........................... 18 4.2.2. Socially contingent consumption................................................................ 18 4.2.3. Systems of the Provision Model of Consumption ...................................... 19 4.2.4. The Needs-Opportunities-Abilities model of consumer behaviour ............ 19 5. Empirical findings and Analysis........................................................................... 20 5.1 Rebound effect of the DIY movement................................................................ 20 5. 2 mechanism of the DIY movement ..................................................................... 22 5.2.1 The economic framework ............................................................................ 22 5.2.2 The socially contingent consumption .......................................................... 22 5.2.3 System of the provision model of consumption .......................................... 22 5.2.4 The Needs-Opportunities-Abilities analysis ................................................ 23 • Needs............................................................................................................. 26 • Opportunities................................................................................................. 29 • Abilities......................................................................................................... 32 • Motivation and Behaviour control ................................................................ 34 5.3 Summary of analysis........................................................................................... 35 6. Conclusions........................................................................................................... 36 7. Criticism................................................................................................................ 37 8. Further study suggestion ....................................................................................... 38 9. Reference: ............................................................................................................. 39 Appendix 1 Sustainable Consumption...................................................................... 42 Appendix 2 Business opportunities .......................................................................... 44 Appendix 3 Questionnaire questions ........................................................................ 45 Appendix 4 Pictures.................................................................................................. 48
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
1. Introduction
“Well welcome to our world. A world where consumers swear they would never choose a car tyre brand for anything other than safety reasons, then go and buy something they have never heard of because it was cheapest around when they got a puncture. A world where they try a healthy new product in tests and swear they will buy it, but carry on choosing their sugary regular brand because it tastes better and where they dutifully pack their waste into bags then cart it off to the recycling centre in a colossal four-wheel-drive multi-purpose vehicle, polluting the environment on the way.(Longhurst 2006)”
1.1
Background
Since the Brundtland Report in 1987 brought the concept of sustainable development into the international policy area, the alarming growth in consumption volume called for a global strategy which will be referred to as “sustainable consumption” (Mayo 2006) So if you want to save the planet from dangerous carbon dioxide, don’t hug the trees; instead consider weaving a rug out of old sweaters. This may sound too silly to be a solution for our generation’s ultimate challenge, but this is exactly the message Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne, founders of “readymade” magazine try to give us; DIY is the sustainable alternative for the Generation X and Y. Instead of Greenpeace’s rainbow warrior approach, they urge you to hold a scissor and a glue stick and make junk to funk. Described by The New York Times as an "indie-rock Martha Stewart Living" 2 , they are one of those emerging groups who chose DIY as the mean of social transformation 3 . In the interview with Sierra club (2003), Berger used vocabularies such as “fun, sexy, and cool” to describe the sustainable lifestyle they pursue. Well-known names like Danny Seo 4 and Todd Oldham 5 are also contributors of this eco-DIY movement. Their emphasis on recycling is connected to the idea of McDonough and Braungart (2002) “waste equals food”. These advocates for the “DIY movement” explicitly criticize modern consumer culture, suggesting that our needs cannot be fulfilled by just purchasing things, and instead we should take technologies into our own hands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diy accessed 11/12/2006) Advocates of the DIY movement go further and claim that it stands
2
3
www.readymademag.com accessed 11/11/2006 AlterNet (2006)’s article explained that the main difference between DIY in 2000 is that DIY is now consciously chosen by a group of people as a new lifestyle and a tool for achieving political and social change (towards sustainable consumption). It is not just about cheaper home improvement rather about the lifestyle choice with a cause. 4 an environmental activist; He published various books on sustainability and design. 5 a designer; He used to run his own show on MTV.
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
somewhere between a new form of consumption and a subversive political act 6 . (AlterNet 2006) By linking sustainability with personality, DIY suddenly became a means of social transformation which can save the earth. Self expression is an extra bonus. The return of DIY relates to the new status of consumers. The modern consumers are no longer bound by “the rational choices” of the 50’s. The emotional consumer of the 70’s transformed into the 90’s spiritual or ethical consumer. (Pringle et al 1999) Now consumers are becoming prosumers. The choice is not limited to the exchange of goods and monetary means (purchasing) any more. Now it is also about choosing the producers they favor (i.e. ethical purchasing). The producers who know about consumers the best are (arguably) consumer themselves. To reach the highest level of customization, consumers decide to fulfill their own needs by producing it themselves. (DIY) This phenomenon is not only limited to North America, it also happens in the Far East. As we will examine soon, Korea has shown a very interesting development in the DIY movement which was not headed by industry but by consumers. One of the online DIY clubs in this research had 250,000 members in October 2006, and in only 2 months, more than 20,000 new members joined the club. This rapid growth shows the great potential of Korean DIY culture. So what made DIY suddenly an attractive option for consumers in Korea? Is the DIY movement a new form of consumption? How do relevant personal and contextual factors inhibit or facilitate DIY movement? Does sustainable consumption behavior come from the motivation of the green movement? By answering these questions, we will have a better understanding of what drives the DIY movement and ultimately, sustainable consumption.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first purpose is to explore the possibility of DIY as a new means of sustainable consumption. Therefore primarily, to recognize what is sustainable consumption is an important task. Second, with a survey conducted among Korean online DIYers, this study is designed not to show scientific data but to uncover relevant personal and contextual factors of DIY activities. Economic, social and political motivation of DIYers is what this paper mainly intents to discuss. The public sector marketers and environmental activists can also use Korea’s experiences and identify innovative local strategies to make household consumption more sustainable.
1.3 Delimitation
6
e.g. Greg Der Ananian's Bazaar Bizarre: Not Your Granny's Crafts!
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
The main interest of this research is to find out the mechanism of actions for the DIY movement in South Korea The range of DIY activities is endless which makes it tricky to define it when semifinished DIY kits are sold on the market. Therefore, in this paper, the term ‘DIY movement’ will be coined to describe an eco-friendly and design conscious DIY activity in the 2000’s. Instead of the old image of hardware store or grandmother’s hobby, DIY movement reflects a rather young and aesthetically pleasant illustration. Motivation is an important factor for the DIY movement as well. The scope of research is limited to online-based DIY activities. Also, the detail of the DIY industry is not of interest. The geographical research scope is limited to South Korea. The reasons are following: First of all, the so called new DIY/Craft movement started in Northern America, and the strategy should get tested in other cultural and societal settings in order to implement it globally. The WSSD Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, Sept. 2002 addressed that “All countries should promote sustainable consumption and production patterns...” However, most of academic researches on sustainable consumption are limited to European/North American cases. The sustainable consumption should be pursued globally and more local cases must be presented to understand where we stand. Second, development of ICT 7 has an impact on the emergence of new form of consumption. Particularly in this case study, DIY consumption culture has been developed relying on the help of ICT. Korea DIY industry is rather new and largely based on small online businesses instead of a conventional giant warehouse franchise types. (Seoul Business News 2006) These structural factors are also important to understand Korea’s DIY movement and Korea’s example could be used as an example that technology can facilitate sustainable behaviour.
1.4 Expected contributions
Previous research with this specific topic is rarely found. Therefore the paper aims to broaden the research stream and identify which personal and contextual factors drive Korean DIYers to sustainable consumption. OECD model of consumer behaviour will be applied to analyze the dynamics of the DIY movement. The contribution also can come from applying the models of consumer decision making to a different local example. In addition, it shall provide good understanding of what ought to be perceived as sustainable consumption.
1.5 Problem areas
7
ICT ; information and communications technology
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
The paper chose to focus on the “consumption” side of sustainability. Reisch (2001) argued that emphasizing the eco efficiency of the production side does not solve the real problem of over consumption. It is not enough because growth and rebound effect will compensate eco efficiency. Longhurst(2006) claimed “efforts to create autonomous analytic space for sustainable consumption have been repeatedly thwarted by competing pressure to subsume it under the more affable rubric afforded by its sister concept – sustainable production… [E]nhanced consumption efficiency and the growth of nominally ‘‘green’’ consumer preferences both tend to give rise to perverse rebound effects.” Heiskanen et al. (1998) even raise the suspicion that focusing an efficient production or gradual improvement might be some sort of green wash. Brooks (2000) also states that energy efficiency programs are the ultimate free lunch for politicians, making environmental threat as a political opportunity without taking unpopular measures. The DIY movement emphasizes the empowerment to consumers not depending on changes of business or government sectors.
1.6 Disposition
The thesis will follow these outlines. In the next chapter, the methodology of this study will be explained prior to the theory section. This chapter will elucidate the choice of methodology and its limitations. By presenting the sample profiles, readers can have background knowledge about DIYers before reading the empirical analysis. In chapter 3, three different topics of sustainable consumption research will be introduced. These topics are not interrelated directly however these are three important theoretical parts to understand DIY from the perspective of sustainable consumption. Chapter 4 will present a theoretical analysis tool, this will applied to chapter 5, empirical findings and analysis. Instead of having separate chapters for each, chapter 5 will present the segmented data and its implications in the same section. After the conclusion in the chapter 6, the possible critique of this research paper will be discussed. Finally, in chapter 8, I will offer further study suggestions
2. Methodology
Assessing sustainability requires good understanding of diverse data from disciplines other than business studies, such as input–output analysis, lifecycle assessment, materialflow accounting, environmental-space calculations, ecological-footprint analysis, and food-miles/kilometers computations. (Cohen 2006) However those sophisticated methods 8 are not always effective as it seems. In measuring some of the social/personal issues of sustainable consumption, for instance the ethical side of DIY movement cannot be expressed on a functional unit basis. (Hertwich et al. 2003b).Therefore, the methodology of this paper is qualitative, focusing on DIYer’s perception and attitude on
In order to be truly consequential, computable general equilibrium models that are extended with environmental data are needed. But so far such model exist only for CO2-emissions and high aggregation levels.(Hofstetter 2003)
8
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
environment and DIY activities and it will examine if there was any viable behavioral change in the DIYer’s resource allocation.
2. 1 Research design
The research subject was far from fully investigated making it hard to understand the phenomenon in an academic way. Therefore research was conducted in three ways: interview, survey and direct observation. First, as a pre study, four experts in DIY are contacted by email and telephone in order to comprehend the industry and online communities. This approach attempts to understand the personal motivation of promoting the DIY movement. Then the questionnaire asked different issues about online DIY activities. This focuses not only on personal, but also on contextual factors of the DIY movement. Last, by participation in both international and local online communities for two years, a lengthy web discussion on the subject enriched the information and enabled me to understand the culture of the DIY movement. 2.1.1 Pre study As the launch years of each online club indicate, DIY was not a popular activity for Koreans, however, in the last few years, the interest in the DIY movement increased rapidly. To understand this change, it could be very useful to communicate with the people behind the Korean DIY boom. Therefore a pre study through in-depth interview 9 was conducted in September 2006 before formulating the survey questionnaires. The interview was not directed by an interviewer; the list of topics varied according to the interviewee’s expertise. (Aaker et al. 1986) Except interviewee 3, all of them have an occupation in art and fashion. The details of the interviewees are following Table 2.1.1 The details of the interviewees
name sex age job Online address blog Online business Publish DIY Book? Do you DIY with Politics? yes Community building Art Exhibition, Volunteering, education offline meeting Habitat movement Craft bazaar
1)Jung Hyun Choi 2)Jean Young Park 3)Kyong Hi Choi
M
45
junk artist cartoonist 10 Fashion designer(only use recycled material) Math teacher
banzzogi.net *since 2003 club.cyworld.com/stylishjean *since 2004 club.naver.com/shezliving *since 2005
no
Yes
yes
F
31
yes
Yes
yes
no
F
39
yes
no
no
no
9
The interview attempts were not successful in some cases because moderators of each DIY club were too busy because of a book publishing deal or some of them started their own shows on cable channels. Korean media also perceived the sudden popularity of DIY. For his latest exhibition, www.bukchonmuseum.com
10
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
4)Kyong Jae Lee
F
27
Fashion designer
ecodress.net *since 2004
yes
Yes (custom made dress)
no
yes
Sustainable wedding campaign
Interviewee (1) runs an online DIY community, a DIY shopping mall and 10 other offline DIY schools. Each member pays fees and can choose to be a shareholder of the company. The main members are couples with children and interaction happens generally in offline DIY clubs rather than online. He used to draw cartoons about gender equality and international/domestic politics for the left-wing newspaper “Hankyorye” before he came to participate in the DIY movement. Along with that, his junk art exhibition in the last summer was often assessed as one of the biggest successes in the Korean art scene in 2006. Interviewee (2) designs clothes and home furnishing items using only recycled materials. Her club does not require paid membership and attracts active participation from single females in their mid 20’s. The main activity of the club is the exchange of DIY ideas, appreciation of and advice on each other’s works. Environmental reasons are not the main issue even though they have a certain impact. She stated that the older generation does not appreciate her work as much as the younger generation does. 11 Also, the majority of her club’s active members 12 seem to be female. 13 Interviewee (3) is the only one who does not have any background in art and craft. She is one of Korea’s “wifelogger 14 ” stars, well known for her home decorating tips on her blog. She features her know-how on various media. Her DIY club already has over 50,000 members, attracting mostly housewives. Social cause is not the main driver of the club however members are sometimes engaged with volunteering works such as habitat movement 15 . Cost saving is the biggest motivation for DIY activities for her. Interviewee (4) designs a bio-gradable dress made of cornstarch fabric. Even though she does not run a club with members, she uses her blog to communicate with the customers who want to have a sustainable wedding. Her main concern is reducing landfill and resource consumption caused by clothing industry. Therefore she emphasized ‘sustainable design’ which can change the process the final material ends up in the product life span. In her case, her marketing efforts focus more on ‘sustainability’ rather than on function of her product. Interviewees 1 and 4 are environmentalists. Interviewee 1 has in addition to his online carpentry school 10 offline carpentry schools, which help to raise different issues such as politics and sustainability. He tries to develop “koreanized” DIY, which fits for small
The reason can be explained in the chapter 5 with the reference to ‘culture’. Participate in web discussion, post their works, exchange information etc. 13 Even though she did not have any official statistics regarding gender proportion of DIY clubs, since the members only can use their real names in order to participate, there is a certain degree of reliability with this statement. 14 A marketing jargon for a wife and blogger 15 In this case, building home for homeless
12 11
Chanhyo Jeong
Junk to Funk
living spaces 16 and uses DIY activities to build community identity. Interviewee 4 organizes a sustainable wedding campaign, designs a bio-gradable wedding dress out of cornstarch fabric. She also runs an organic vegetable farm. The interviewees agreed that DIY activities can contribute to sustainability while interviewee (3) answered that she does not always reuse or refurbish discarded materials even though she tries to use them whenever possible. Park points out that since the style of blog stars are too often copied by other members. This can make the DIY scene just another fad. Since there were only 4 interviewees, it is not possible to make any conclusion from the pre study result. However, it gave a good outlook on the Korean DIY scene on a personal level. 2.1.2 Survey design The survey questionnaires consisted of 5 parts: motivation, information source, satisfaction, business opportunity and demographic information. Because of geographical and technical barriers, it was not possible to calculate the actual resource consumption level of the respondents. Therefore “the change of expense” was used instead as an indicator of resource consumption. The level of scales of the questions asked is mainly nominal and ordinal and in many cases, the respondent had to choose dichotomous or categorical answers with several cases of multiple response possibilities. The questionnaires used often rather simple answer choices. This design intends to make it practical to analyze the data after cross tabulation. Question 1.6 “Do DIY activities enhance the value of property?” was newly added in the second questionnaire. This question was mailed to the members of the first survey group but not everybody answered it. Nevertheless one can still assume that the data is valid since the answer showed a very clear trend. 2. 2 Data collection and sample characteristics From October to November 2006, the questionnaire survey was conducted twice in order to increase the sample size 17 . After excluding incomplete questionnaires, the sample size was 88. To check the validity of the sample data, the results of first (50 respondents) and second groups (38 respondents) were compared and there was no notable difference. The questionnaire was posted on the web board and the result was sent by an email. Since the research topic was limited to online DIY communities, only internet users are considered as valid respondents. 76% of respondents turned out to be female and the average age of
16 17
He himself lives in 50sqm apartment with a wife and a 17 years old daughter. (1)http://club.naver.com/lemonterrace, (2)http://club.naver.com/shezliving, (3) www.banzzogi,net, (4)http://club.cyworld.com/stylishjean, (5)http://café.daum.net/reformtogther
Chanhyo Jeong
Q. 5.1a Gender
Junk to Funk
# 67 21 88 Percent 76 24 100.0
respondents is 31.7, with standard deviation of 10.9. 59.8% were under 30years old, 23% were 30 to 40, 17.2% were over 40 years old 18 .
female male Total
In their article ‘Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Determinants of Green Purchases by Swiss Consumers’, Tanner et al(2003) used three groups of socio-cultural conditions as indicators of external barriers, and these conditions were borrowed for this paper to understand the demographic characteristics and also external barriers of DIYers. The conditions are slightly modified and their last condition “types of store” was not used for the study. Those features were questioned to collect demographic features of DIYers. 85.2% of respondents have a university education or higher, which is more than the average rate in Korea (48% in Korea have a degree or more) (NCPPHE 2006). Top two occupations were students (44.3%) and homemakers (22.7%). 43.2% of the respondents spend under a half million won (about 500 dollar) per month, and only 8% lived in a single household. Table 2.2 Sample characteristics and external barrier indicator of DIY consumers Socioeconomic characteristics; purchasing power, time constraints
Q.5.1c.Occupation # Business(wo)man 13 homemaker 20 Student 39 art related 5 teacher 5 Etc. 4 Total 86 Missing 2 Total 88 Q.5.6. Monthly spending # %