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Green Marketing and Branding: Combining Micro and Macro Perspectives to Achieve a Circular Economy

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Abstract

Green products and services have become an important part of consumption, as consumers' knowledge and concern towards environmental sustainability has increased and they have started to concentrate on their environmental impact. Nonetheless, green marketing still constitutes a small portion of the overall consumer spending. This chapter aims to highlight the importance of marketing activities in the adoption and social normalization of green consumption by the consumers generating public support and economic benefits for the companies as well as environmental and social gains for the society in return. Combining both micro and macro-level determinants and consequences, a conceptual framework is suggested which aims to contribute to literature both theoretically and practically.

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... Green products are those that are organic, environmentally friendly, recyclable and efficient (Yıldırım et al., 2018) Green value (F5) The term "green value" refers to the benefits that customers receive from using environmentally friendly goods and services. A product or service's green value is the sum of its monetary, ecological, social, informational and practical benefits to consumers (Kuscu, 2019) Green Loyalty (F6) The term "green loyalty" describes a consumer's willingness to buy and advocate for an environmentally friendly plastic product (Pahlevi and Suhartanto, 2020) Green Trust (F7) Trust in a product, service, or brand is considered "green" when consumers have faith in that item because of its reputable reputation, good intentions and superior ability to protect the environment (Chuah et al., 2020) Green Culture (F8) The term "green culture" refers to the widespread acceptance within an organization of an ecological, environmentally friendly approach to (co)production (Liu and Lin, 2020) Factors of consumer behavior Information (F9) Information means learning something new. It plays an important role in consumption patterns. ...
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Purpose This paper aims to examine how gender differs in environmental attitude, environmental concern, perceived seriousness of environmental problems, perceived environmental responsibility, peer influence, self identity in environmental protection and green purchasing behavior in Hong Kong adolescent consumers. Design/methodology/approach A total of 6,010 (2,975 males and 3,035 females) adolescents in Hong Kong were recruited through multi‐staged random sampling. Surveys were distributed through 48 high schools in Hong Kong. Findings Female adolescents scored significantly higher in environmental attitude, environmental concern, perceived seriousness of environmental problems, perceived environmental responsibility, peer influence and green purchasing behavior than male adolescents in Hong Kong. In contrast, male adolescents' average score on self‐identity in environmental protection was significantly higher than that of the female adolescents. Research limitations/implications A major limitation lies in the self‐reported nature of survey used in the study. Future study should include some objective assessments (such as observations or other‐reported survey) of the subjects' green purchasing and environmental behaviors. Practical implications This study should provide a useful source of information for international green marketers in Hong Kong. Hong Kong female adolescents constitute a potentially good market for green products. Marketing messages targeting this group should use emotional appeals, emphasize individual responsibility to protect the environment, and facilitate peer networking to spread good word‐of‐mouth. Originality/value This paper offers practical guidelines to international green marketers who are planning to target the Asian markets.
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The growing global public concern for safety and preservation of the environment has given rise to the perception that consumer purchases may be somewhat influenced by environmental labels. It suggests that accuracy in label information is relevant so as to allow consumers to make an informed choice. This paper proposes that consumers can be grouped using a matrix of four different environmental positions. The results of these grouping are more likely to provide an effective profile of a green consumer, enabling marketers to segment and target these groups based on a clear understanding of consumer behaviour.
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Recent evidence suggests that the extent of consumer adoption of ‘green’ products is much less than would be indicated by the enthusiastic opinion poll evidence concerning public attitudes towards environmentally-friendly consumption. This paper reports on an empirical analysis of firms' marketing strategies and their influence on consumer demand for green products. In twenty 2–3 hour interviews with senior managers, four representative groups of markets were analysed household detergents, paper (recycled), petrol (unleaded) and automobile technology (focusing on catalytic converters). According to managers, firms' marketing strategies influenced consumer demand by making green technologies available in the fwst instance. However, barriers to supplying green products that show panty with, or better performance than, conventional technologies constrain pricing and communication efforts Managers stressed that, in the absence of clarity of green products' environmental benefits, product performance and other attributes, not green benefits, remain the main determinants of product preference and choice. Promotions focused much more on consumers than distribution channels, yet channel acceptance and support of green innovations are paramount in facilitating sales. Firms see the costs of generating and promoting desirable green technologies as barriers to diffusion in the immediate future. Legislation and/or economic incentives may help, but manufacturers are not optimistic that future green consumption rates will accelerate. The results also highlight several propositions concerning the discrepancy between consumer environmental concerns and purchasing actions which warrant further testing: there is mis-specification of green products in relation to consumers'needs; there are barriers to perceptions of green products' environmental impact and consumers' free ride due to individual self-interest.
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Green marketing is not achieving its potential for improving the quality of life of consumers, while improving the natural ecosystem. The failure is the result of the inability of consumers, firms and governments to adopt systems thinking, in which macro-marketing perspectives are integrated into their respective micro-decisions, that is, the anthropocentric view of the natural world is disregarded. The paper discusses why the three groups above have had difficulties in embracing environmental issues, thus impeding real transformative green marketing from occurring. To address the difficulties three proposed actions need to be undertaken: (1) Marketers need to look for new ways of calculating and communicating value that integrates environmental value, thereby moving away from financial measures which have no real environmental meaning. (2) Change the discourse regarding the environment, highlighting the importance of action and inaction, which needs to be based on increased education about the human–environment interface. (3) Marketing needs to refocus its emphasis on want satisfaction, shifting away from the acquisition of goods, thereby enhancing how marketers create value. Making these changes will allow marketers to operationalize transformative green marketing so the human condition and the natural system that humans operate within are both improved and bring about transformative green marketing.
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In this article, I propose that concern for environmental problems is fundamentally linked to the degree to which people view themselves as part of the natural environment. Two studies are reported that test aspects of this theory. The first study describes the structure of people's concern for environmental problems. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis showed a clear three-factor structure, which I labeled egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric. A second study examined the effects of a perspective-takingmanipulation on egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns. Results showed that participants instructed to take the perspective of an animal being harmed by pollution scored significantly higher in biospheric environmental concerns than participants instructed to remain objective.
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What makes consumers adopt energy-sustainable innovations? The uptake of such products and technologies is of importance, particularly at a time when climate change, diminishing energy resources and energy security are urgent issues. This paper reports on a case study of consumer adoption of hybrid vehicles, a green innovation that has been in the market since the late 1990s. The study is based on a questionnaire survey, conducted in 2009 in collaboration with Toyota GB, to investigate the dimensions that constitute motivations to purchase the Prius and to examine how policy can encourage hybrid adoption. The survey yielded 1484 responses, 1263 of which were used for the analysis; the results of the exploratory factor analyses provide information on consumer purchase motivations. The financial benefits related to transport policy are an important factor in consumer hybrid purchase motivations, and social norms and consumers' willingness to comply with the norms of their groups influence the purchase decision. We also find that various meanings are attached to hybrid vehicle ownership, and practical, experiential and affective values need to be communicated to consumers in terms of value added.
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Promoting a circular economy has been identified as China’s basic national policy, according to the recently enacted 11th five-year plan for China’s economic and social development. Because of the importance of the development strategy used for this purpose, an implementation framework is proposed in this paper. First, a program is suggested for practically implementing a circular economy in China to serve as a demonstration, beginning at the level of enterprises, then industrial parks, then expanding to cities and regions, thus enabling accumulation of experience to facilitate reasonable decision-making at each successive step. Legislation is also urgent. Certain issues involving legislation, for example the rules the law requires, maneuverability, public involvement, and referencing of developed countries’ experiences, must be effectively addressed. Finally, a scientific and effective assessment system should be developed to obtain accurate information and improve guidance. Assessment indices should include an economic development index, a green development index, and a human development index.
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As technological innovations have become an integral part of the world economy in recent decades, predicting acceptance of those products has become a major goal of many researchers in academia and industry. The main objective of this study is to examine the role of social influence and the moderating effect of a product's public/private status on consumers' intended adoption of high-tech innovations. The results indicate that both social influence and adoption attitude have positive effects on consumer intention to adopt an innovation. Specifically, the effect of social influence on adoption intention is fully mediated by consumer attitude. Further, the relationship between social influence and adoption intention is stronger when an innovation is publicly consumed rather than privately consumed. Implications and future research directions are discussed.