How Does Education Influence Consumption Behavior?

Most countries of the world are experiencing a period of great economic depression. Many
factors such as global warming, energy crisis, scarcity, and rising prices cause changes in consumers'
habits and living standards. In particular, the diversity of goods and services, advertisements, brand, the
consumer's income level, rituals, a disposition to save, social position, education level, and similar
factors direct consumers to spend outside their needs. The rapid increase in production and
consequently consumption brings the concept of sustainability to the agenda. In the globalization
process, sustainability is of vital importance in every field in the world. Sustainability is a concept that
includes environmental, economic, and social issues. The primary purpose of sustainable consumer
education is to inform the individual of the available alternatives rather than direct their choices and to
help them choose the most suitable for their purpose. Engaging in responsible consumption activities
requires the efficient use of knowledge, skills, and all kinds of resources possessed by an individual in all
areas of life, especially in education. Undoubtedly, consumer education can ensure that an individual
exhibits a responsible consumption behavior without considering personal needs.

“Every individual is a consumer as long as he lives and tries to have goods and services that he
can consume for his life's continuity” (McGregor, 2005). Being a consumer is an unchangeable feature
peculiar to all individuals without exception. Buying and using goods and services or producing and using
them on their own to meet economic, social, and cultural needs is the essential feature of being a
consumer. Consumers engage in consumption activities to meet their needs in reaching the desired life
level. Consumption activity; is expressed as using goods and services for the satisfaction of needs.
Because of every individual's obligation to consume, consumption affects individuals' decisions and the
community they live in either positively or negatively as human beings develop, their choices as
consumers change rapidly. Therefore, while making consumption decisions, consumers should be aware
of the responsibilities imposed on them by these decisions. At this point, consumer education helps
individuals act rationally and effectively, use their resources correctly, adapt to technology, and raise
conscious consumers. Consumer education is defined in different ways by the individuals who make up
the society: In terms of the consumer; It is training that provides the necessary information about the
selection of goods and services in a complex market environment. In terms of the businessman, it is a
crucial education that sells the produced goods and services. In terms of bureaucrats, it is an education
that enables regulatory laws to benefit consumers and encourages commercial competition.
Bureaucrats believe that they will protect consumers with a healthy competitive environment and the
presence of educated consumers. In terms of educator, it is an education that tries to adopt the
influential role that consumers assume in the market environment that helps develop knowledge and
experience of consumers in the process from childhood to adulthood.

Providing consumer education; to help consumers use their income in the best way possible, to improve
the capacity to make rational decisions by increasing their knowledge of the market and goods and
services in the market. It enables them to understand the economy and develop economic conditions to
ensure better use of family and country resources to prevent inflation by regulating demand and
protecting the state. It is of great importance in terms of reducing its expenditures for its purpose. As
can be seen, consumer education is one of the most effective activities in solving consumer problems
and protecting the consumer. “Consumer education is considered to be a learning process which people
go through which, of course, cannot be readily observed or heard” (Bloom, 1976, p.210). Consumer
information, on the other hand, is clearly something which can be observed or heard. Consumer
education is about the place of the individual as a consumer in society. Consumer education is a
discipline that changes people's behavior and values. Unless the person changes, the laws, and practices
that change outside the person do not matter much. “Because the consumer is a person who has the
power to have the last word despite everything, with the development of the educated consumer type,
it can be ensured that the consumer can show this power healthily and effectively, determine their
priorities better according to their needs, and thus create a responsible consumer mass” (Lee and
Zelenak, 1990). Regardless of the level of development, every country has to generate this responsible
consumer type.

For the individual to be a conscious consumer, he/she should be aware of the responsibilities
that he/she has to fulfill both individually and as a group. Most of the consumers accept these
behaviors' accuracy and evaluate them within the framework of the conditions during the application
phase. To gain sustainable consumption behaviors to individuals, governments should include these
issues in their policies, non-governmental organizations movements, and educational institutions
programs since consumer education is an indispensable need not only for the individual but also for the
growing and developing economy. The development of the economy is possible by using the consumer's
economic choice in the market knowledgeably and consciously and directing the producer to meet his
wishes and needs better in a society where rational consumers who learn to arrange their scarce
resources in a way to obtain more goods and services develop, maximum efficiency is obtained from
production. Unnecessary consumption is eliminated, and manufacturers focus on producing the most
valuable goods and services in all sectors. Today, it is seen that consumer education has transformed
into a more complex structure by getting rid of the traditional perspective, such as how to buy a quality
product at a more affordable price or to protect against deceptive practices in the market environment.
The limits of the education to be given to consumers are tried to be drawn based on social responsibility
understanding. In line with this approach, creating consumer awareness is evaluated from five different
angles. Awareness: Consumers should learn to distinguish their needs from their desires and be
informed about the quality, suitability, and prices of goods and services. Impact - reaction: Consumers
want to see that the information they receive after training is reliable in their daily lives. Social
responsibility: Socially responsible consumption is a form of consumption that considers the possible
consequences of their unmotivated decisions and behaviors, with the desire to fulfill their own needs
only, when consumers choose among available resources, make purchasing decisions and act in
consumption behavior. Consumers should be guided to work sensitively and sensitively, considering the
impact of their behavior on other society members.

It provides a broader perspective on the consumer role than has traditionally been given, given
consumers' current situation and future needs. This reveals the potential impact of consumer education
on consumer behavior. Looking at this effect, the active participation of individuals and groups in
consumer education programs, the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed to make decisions
through formal and non-formal education, should act when they are alerted, and responsible consumers
in a wide area have consumer behavior styles. Essential roles for consumers can range from learning to
deal with current conditions to the participation of individuals influencing change.

In today's world, there is a very rapid change process. The problem in this process is having
scarce resources and not knowing how to use these resources. As consumers, individuals have to be
conscious of using the resources to raise and maintain their living standards by meeting their needs.
Thus, it is necessary to gain the knowledge and skills that the consumer needs to meet his needs by
making use of goods and services. These knowledge and skills are not static and are constantly changing.
It is a known fact that education has an essential place in meeting new needs. With the supportive
schooling feature in change, existing values can be preserved and adapted to change more quickly. The
main reasons that require the consumer's education are the production of goods and services provided
by industrial societies and the differentiation of consumption activities. The variety, complexity, and
misleading efforts to increase sales of the goods and services available in the market put the consumer
in a weak position.

Therefore, individuals of all ages and educational levels need consumer education. The essential
factor in protecting the consumer is the consumer's awareness to defend himself. This can only be
achieved by educating the consumer. The educated consumer is the person who considers the
consequences of his decisions in terms of his budget and the economy of the country. Consumer
education means that each consumer can fulfill his duty and be effective as long as it adapts to his own
needs, goals, and social thoughts. Therefore, education programs should be developed at a level where
the consumer can perceive economic and social changes. The primary purpose of consumer education is
to teach the consumer from where and how to obtain the information they need, how to evaluate and
use this information, thus improving the ability to purchase and use goods and services, questioning the
conditions of production and distribution, environmental awareness, as well as production. It includes
being a party to the economic and social choices that determine the nature of consumption.
 Work Cited

Lee, S., Zelenak, M.J. (1990), Consumer Economics: The Consumer in Our Society, Tenth Edition.
Publishing Horizons, Columbus, Ohio.

McGregor, S. (2005), Sustainable Consumer Empowerment, International Journal of Consumer Studies.

Vol.4, No.29;437- 477

Paul N. Bloom (1976),"How Will Consumer Education Affect Consumer Behavior?", in NA - Advances in
Consumer Research Volume 03, eds. Beverlee B. Anderson, Cincinnati, OH: Association for Consumer
Research, Pages: 208-212.