The Sustainability of Pre-Service Teachers’ Consumer Behaviour for the December Holidays

Gregor Torkar

doi:10.26529/cepsj.1110

Gregor Torkar Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1110

Keywords: consumer behaviour, university students, gifts, education, sustainability

Abstract

The consumer behaviour of Slovenian pre-service teachers for the December holidays and their personal views about sustainable consumption were studied. A total of 130 students of the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Education took part in the study. The sample consisted of 11 male and 116 female students, while 3 students did not report their gender. The survey was conducted in January 2020. The results show that 95.4% of the respondents received gifts during their childhood on Saint Nicholas Day, 60.0% at Christmas and 23.1% when celebrating the New Year. Almost 13% of the respondents received gifts three times in December during their childhood. In December 2019, 54.6% of them gave gifts for Saint Nicholas Day, 65.2% at Christmas and 10.8% for the New Year. Christmas has therefore become the most common gift-giving time in December. Students most often give their loved ones sweets, clothes and shoes, and cosmetics. The majority of the respondents spend less than 50% of their monthly income on gifts for the December holidays. In terms of sustainability, the respondents described their consumer behaviour as follows: (1) giving or receiving things they really need, (2) giving or receiving gifts and wrappings made of recyclable material, (3) giving or receiving nonmaterial gifts, (4) reducing the number of gifts, (5) giving for charity, or (6) not giving gifts at all.

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