From Interface to Impact: Mechanisms and Measurement in Sustainable Digital Consumption

Dear Colleagues,

Digitalization has fundamentally changed the way consumers access, evaluate, and use products and services. Platforms, apps, and algorithmic environments influence not only the convenience and personalization of consumption but also its material reach, rebound effects, and long-term sustainability. While digital tools provide efficiency and transparency, they also increase demand through seamless purchase paths, psychological incentives, and continuous engagement loops. In this context, the implications of digital consumption for sustainability remain conceptually fragmented and empirically underexplored.

Existing research on sustainable consumption (Jackson, 2017; Lorek and Fuchs, 2013; Mont et al., 2021) has developed theories of sufficiency, degrowth, and responsible choice but rarely considers how digital environments co-shape these outcomes. In contrast, the literature on digital sustainability (Hirth et al., 2023; Hintemann and Clausen, 2022) primarily focuses on production efficiency, green IT, or platform energy consumption, leaving consumption under-theorized. There is an urgent need to integrate these fields into a coherent socio-technical perspective that explains how interfaces, data infrastructure, and governance mechanisms drive—or can mitigate—overconsumption.

We invite theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions that will illuminate the mechanisms through which digital systems influence consumer practices, resource flows, and environmental impact. The goal is to build a unified framework that integrates user experience (UX) design, behavioral economics, and sustainability management.

Research Directions

1. Behavioral and User Experience Mechanisms for Reducing Overconsumption. This strand focuses on how digital interfaces and choice architectures can promote sustainable behavior. Topics include user experience patterns that encourage repair, reuse, and conscious purchasing; transparency about product lifecycles and environmental costs; and the psychological design of digital environments that reduce overconsumption without compromising satisfaction.
2. Data-Driven Circular Economy and Digital Infrastructure. Digital tools such as the IoT, AI, and data analytics can increase transparency and traceability throughout the product lifecycle. We encourage research on how data infrastructure supports circular economy goals, enables consumer feedback loops, and aligns individual choices with resource efficiency—as well as critical analyses of unintended consequences, data asymmetries, and scalability barriers.
3. Ethics and Governance of Digital Consumption. This research strand addresses normative and institutional dimensions: algorithmic accountability, manipulative design, privacy by design, and equity in access to sustainable options. Research can propose governance models and policy frameworks that integrate digital rights, consumer protection, and environmental responsibility.
4. Measuring Sustainability in Digital Contexts. Quantifying the net environmental impact of digital consumption remains challenging. Contributions may include behavioral telemetry, digital tracking data, lifecycle assessment (LCA), or input–output modeling to identify rebound effects, substitution effects, and net sustainability gains or losses.
5. Integration and Theory Building. We encourage the publication of conceptual papers that synthesize insights from human–computer interactions, behavioral science, and sustainability research. We particularly welcome models that theorize digital consumption as a socio-technical system—in which interface design, market rules, and data infrastructure co-evolve with sustainability outcomes.

Objectives and Contributions

By combining these perspectives, this Special Issue aims to bridge previously disparate research streams: sustainable consumption theory, digital design research, and data management. The goal is to provide theoretical clarity, provide empirical evidence, and define methodological standards for assessing the effectiveness of sustainable digital consumption.

We welcome submissions from researchers in HCI/UX, behavioral economics, marketing, information systems, environmental sciences, and law. Accepted articles may utilize theoretical, empirical, or mixed-methods approaches, provided they provide conceptual precision and measurable insights into how digitalization is transforming sustainable consumption in markets and populations.

Selected References

Jackson, T. (2017). Prosperity without growth: Foundations for the economy of tomorrow (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Lorek, S., & Fuchs, D. (2013). Strong sustainable consumption governance – Precondition for a degrowth path? Journal of Cleaner Production, 38, 36–43.

Mont, O., Curtis, S. K., & Voytenko Palgan, Y. (2021). Organisational and systemic challenges for scaling up sustainable consumption initiatives: The case of sharing platforms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 123527.

Hirth, L., Mühlenpfordt, J., & Bulkeley, H. (2023). Digitalization and the energy transition: Understanding rebound effects and sustainability trade-offs. Energy Research & Social Science, 101, 103121.

Hintemann, R., & Clausen, J. (2022). Digitalization and sustainability: A systematic literature review of the environmental implications of digital technologies. Sustainability, 14(5), 2907.

The Legitimacy of the Special Issue

This proposed Special Issue represents a significant contribution to Sustainability by addressing conceptual, methodological, and empirical gaps that are not addressed by current collections on digitalization and sustainability. This issue focuses on the mechanisms through which digital systems shape consumption and its environmental impacts.

This collection adopts a mechanistic rather than a thematic perspective. Instead of treating the concepts of "digital" and "sustainability" as parallel disciplines, it examines how interface design, algorithmic architectures, and data infrastructures directly impact resource intensity, repair practices, and behavioral sufficiency. This mechanism-based approach allows for empirical testing of causal pathways linking digital environments to measurable sustainability outcomes. It integrates consumer-centered and infrastructure-centered perspectives. While many Special Issues focus on either user behavior or digital technologies, this issue treats both as co-constitutive elements of the same socio-technical system. By combining UX research with studies of IoT systems, AI analytics, and data management, this publication situates the consumer experience within the broader material and information infrastructure that enables or constrains sustainable choices.

This proposal places a strong methodological emphasis on measuring net impact. It explicitly encourages research that quantifies rebound and substitution effects by combining digital telemetry, lifecycle assessment (LCA), and input–output modeling. This focus on net sustainability effects—rather than assumed efficiency gains—fills a significant empirical gap in the current research and provides a foundation for future policy and design recommendations.

The Special Issue embeds ethical and normative research within material design practices. While most discussions of digital ethics focus on privacy, transparency, or disinformation, this issue expands the concept of ethics to address interface-level manipulation, algorithmic persuasion, and digital access equity. By grounding ethical analysis in material consequences, it connects moral responsibility with measurable ecological and social outcomes.

This collection proposes a coherent socio-technical framework for digital consumption as an ecosystem in which behavioral patterns, design logic, data infrastructure, and governance systems co-evolve.

The issue's interdisciplinary structure provides a convergence point for multiple research communities. Scholars from human–computer interactions, behavioral sciences, environmental accounting, data science, and law can contribute using a common conceptual language focused on mechanisms of sufficiency, remediability, and accountability. This inclusiveness fosters high-quality work that transcends disciplinary boundaries.

This Special Issue aims to establish new methodological and practical standards for assessing and designing sustainable digital systems. By encouraging the development of sustainability metrics for UX, audit protocols for recommendation systems, and assessment frameworks for circular digital infrastructure, this contribution provides tangible tools for researchers and practitioners seeking to operationalize sustainability in the digital domain.

All these features make this Special Issue significantly different from current sustainability offerings. Rather than rehashing current topics, it deepens theoretical and empirical understandings of the impact of digital environments on consumption and sustainability outcomes.

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Jaciow
Dr. Ilona Lipowska
Dr. Marcin Awdziej
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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