Do online environments promote sufficiency or overconsumption?

Sustainable consumption is increasingly shaped by online environments. Everyday exposure to online advertisement and social media content by peers may influence individual consumption decisions. By representative online surveys in the German population, this article by Vivian Frick, Ellen Matthies, John Thøgersen and Tilman Santarius in the Journal of Consumer Behavior examines how perception of online environments influences individual consumption levels of clothing, digital devices and leisure air travel. Our findings confirm a relationship between perceived consumption‐promoting online content and consumption levels. At the same time, sufficiency‐promoting online content is not linked to aspiration or consumption levels.