| The problem. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the Thai national characteristics of individualism, harmony and confrontation avoidance, flexibility and situation-orientation, openness to other cultures, and the belief in Theravada Buddhism doctrine and the two concepts of consumption, sustainable consumption (attitude and practice) and sufficiency consumption (attitude and practice), which may solve the global problem of resource depletion and climate change. This study emphasized that Thai socio-cultural differences from the West may lead to the alternative solution, sufficiency consumption. The concept of consuming less rather than consuming efficiently could be more applicable to the Thai national character according to the socio-cultural and economic backgrounds.;Method. Questionnaires were sent to Thai respondents who earned at least 30,000 baht per month and were 25 years old or older. The correlation statistical technique was utilized to investigate the relationship between the Thai national character and the two frameworks of consumption, sustainable and sufficiency.;Results. The research found national character as theorized does not explain Thais' consumption behavior very well. The relationships were not strong, and many of the hypotheses were not supported. Only two pre-assumption national characters, openness to other cultures and the belief in Theravada Buddhism doctrine, were highly represented in respondents. The others, individualism, harmony and confrontation avoidance, and flexibility and situation-orientation, were found to be less significant. Overall, the respondents had a positive attitude toward both sustainable and sufficiency consumption; however, they practiced sufficiency more than sustainable consumption. Barriers to sustainable consumption included the limited availability of improved waste management in Thailand. A barrier to sufficiency consumption included the "development" concept, the standard of living concept that people want to have a comfortable and convenient life. |
