Rethinking Sustainable Consumption Across Contrasting Socio‐Spatial Contexts in Türkiye

ABSTRACT Population growth and overconsumption pose serious threats to natural resources, increasing interest in sustainable consumption. This exploratory study examines the relationships between environmental orientations and consumption orientations across two contrasting socio‐spatial contexts in Türkiye. Survey data were collected through snowball sampling in Istanbul and Burdur. Of 456 responses received, 448 valid cases were retained after data cleaning. The findings reveal an attitude–practice gap: despite high levels of environmental awareness and responsibility, sustainable consumption practices remain limited. Sustainable consumption was not significantly associated with hedonic and symbolic consumption, suggesting that it is not strongly associated with pleasure‐ or identity‐oriented consumption within the samples examined. A weak positive bivariate association with conspicuous consumption was observed, but this relationship did not remain statistically significant after sociodemographic and spatial controls were introduced. Differences between the two study contexts were limited for most of the constructs examined, although some socio‐demographic variations were observed. Policies should therefore move beyond awareness‐raising and improve the accessibility and visibility of sustainable options while supporting their integration into everyday consumption practices. The study is limited by the use of non‐probability snowball sampling and self‐reported data, which may constrain the generalizability of the findings.