Consumers Say Climate Change Needs Government, Business, and Individuals Acting Together

Ask consumers what the climate will look like soon, and what they would prefer instead. A clear pattern emerges. They do not believe individual choices can fix the problem on their own. They want government, business, and consumers to share the job. That is the central finding of a study by five McCoy College of Business faculty members. It appeared in the Journal of Macromarketing.

The authors are Steven W. Rayburn, Chair of the Department of Management, and four members of the Department of Marketing at Texas State University: Sidney T. Anderson, Associate Professor of Marketing; Gail Zank, Professor of Marketing; Anna M. Turri, Chair of the Department of Marketing; and Jeremy J. Sierra, Professor of Marketing.

The study

The research uses a futures studies perspective. Futures studies is a field that asks people to think about three kinds of future. The probable future is what is likely to happen. The preferable future is what they would want. The possible future is what could happen. The approach shifts the conversation from what consumers think about climate change today to where they expect it to go.

The team collected data both digitally and face-to-face. Consumers were asked about their perceptions of climate change and their forecasts for it. The responses were analyzed with grounded theory. In this qualitative method, themes are built up from the data rather than tested against a preset model. Analysis continued until thematic saturation, the point at which new responses stopped adding new themes.

What the researchers found

Two views of the near future came through. One is the probable future consumers expect if current trends hold. The other is the preferred future they would rather see. The gap between them is where the study’s main message sits.

Consumers said that individual action is not enough to change the climate trajectory. Recycling, buying green, and driving less matter, but they cannot carry the whole load. In place of that, participants described a shared responsibility model grounded in a social contract. A social contract is the idea that members of a society accept mutual obligations for the common good. Applied here, it means each level of society owes something to the effort.

The study organizes those obligations at three marketing-related levels. The macro level is government, which sets rules and incentives. The meso level is corporate, where companies decide what to make and how to sell it. The micro level is the consumer, who chooses what to buy and how to live. Participants want all three to act with humanity’s best interest in mind.

The data also convey participants’ sustainable, eco-friendly leanings. The authors draw on those preferences to offer theoretical and practical implications.

What it means for marketers and policymakers

For companies, the finding cuts against campaigns that place the whole weight of sustainability on the customer. Consumers already see the corporate level as a required partner. They notice when a company asks more of them than it asks of itself. Marketing that shows the firm’s own commitments, alongside what it asks customers to do, fits the shared responsibility model consumers describe.

For policymakers, the study suggests consumers expect government to lead on rules and incentives, not only to encourage voluntary action. The macro level is part of the contract.

For marketers in general, the authors position the discipline as a contributor to the climate response. Marketing connects all three levels, and the study argues it is well placed to help.

This summary is based on the paper’s abstract. The full article reports the data, methods, and detailed results.

What it means for managers

• Do not pin the burden on consumers. Participants see personal action as necessary but not sufficient, and they expect companies and governments to act too.
• Shared responsibility is the frame consumers accept. Companies that present sustainability as a joint effort, backed by visible corporate commitments, match how consumers already think.
• Consumers report eco-friendly leanings. Marketers can build on those preferences by making sustainable choices easy and credible at the point of purchase.

Rayburn, S. W., Anderson, S. T., Zank, G. M., Turri, A. M., & Sierra, J. J. (2025). Future thinking climate change: Consumers' sustainability perspectives, predictions, preferences, and paths forward. Journal of Macromarketing, 45(4), 812-830. 10.1177/02761467251335534