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Environmental consciousness of European consumers: A segmentation-based study
Abstract
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Sustainable consumption is not a one-dimensional phenomenon; it entails various attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. To promote sustainability, decision-makers are encouraged to recognise the heterogeneity of sustainable consumers. The aim of this study was to examine a model of environmental consciousness and use its variables to segment European Union (EU) consumers. The study used a structural equation modelling approach to verify the environmental consciousness model and hierarchical agglomeration method for segmentation. It was based on secondary data on environmental issues gathered in 28 EU member states. Personal attitudinal dimensions in the model explained a relatively high proportion of the variance in sustainable behaviour. The segmentation analysis yielded three distinct segments that differ in their environmental consciousness and are affiliated with different EU country clusters. The use of secondary data to a certain extent limited the analysis. However, its strengths are its scope, the potential generalisability of the results and comparability based on EU data.
... The study by Zientara and Zamojska [53] also highlighted the positive effect of environmental consciousness on PEB and hypothesised that an individual's level of environmental consciousness was higher with the presence of pro-environmental values [37]. Subsequently, other views regarding the environment and the perceived value of environmental impacts would increase the perceptiveness of environmental knowledge [54]. Accordingly, the following hypothesis was generated: Hypothesis 2 (H2). ...
... Moreover, Jain et al. [50] found a positive impact of environmental consciousness on PEB, where people with high environmental consciousness would contribute to environmentally friendly behaviour. These results were also in line with the study by Golob and Kronegger [54]. ...
... Finally, green HRM practices aim to improve the environmental knowledge of employees to perform PEB in the workplace without hesitation [54]. It was also found that the influence of green HRM on PEB was not as significant as predicted. ...
The primary notion of sustainable development is to maintain a promising future for the planet and the next of kin by raising the awareness of sustainable development of people around the world. This study seeks to foster and enhance more sustainable behaviour in households, workplaces, schools, and higher educational institutions; previous research has placed increasing attention on the identification of factors of pro-environmental behaviour. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the elements influencing the pro-environmental behaviour of employees in the workplace. A survey was performed from January to February 2020 on 150 public employees of an organisation in Terengganu. Out of 150 employees, only 84 participated and had their responses collected by using convenience sampling. The result of this study found that green lifestyles have a significant positive effect on pro-environmental behaviour. However, the impacts of environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green self-efficacy, and green human resource management were insignificant. This study provides data that were developed using a cross-sectional design; the assessment of causality among the constructs was a risky process. Furthermore, the study collected data from a single source, namely the employees, which would enhance the relationships through common method bias. The findings of this study also offered several managerial implications for green organisations.
... Esses estudos afirmam que o posicionamento a favor do meio ambiente tem relação com o consumo consciente. Dessa forma, a CE tem impacto sobre o ato de consumir, colaborando para a criação de um consumidor mais responsável que leva em consideração as questões ambientais no momento de compra (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). No entanto, a existência de preocupações ambientais não significa, necessariamente, a mudanças de hábitos, o que foi confirmado por estudos que indicaram uma diferença entre percepções individuais e ações na prática (Roberts, 1996b;Lira, 2018). ...
... No entanto, a existência de preocupações ambientais não significa, necessariamente, a mudanças de hábitos, o que foi confirmado por estudos que indicaram uma diferença entre percepções individuais e ações na prática (Roberts, 1996b;Lira, 2018). Isso porque os indivíduos podem ter atitudes ecologicamente responsáveis apenas em alguns segmentos, não as adotando para todas as suas ações, ou podem não estar dispostos a mudarem seus hábitos, mesmo que possuam uma consciência ambiental (Lages & Vargas Neto, 2002;Golob & Kronegger, 2019). ...
... Essas descobertas evidenciam que a CE apenas não garante a adoção de uma conduta consciente, apesar de ser uma importante preditora. Dessa forma, considerando que a CE tem influência sobre os indivíduos de maneiras distintas e que o comportamento consciente pode acontecer apenas em alguns segmentos (Lages & Vargas Neto, 2002;Golob & Kronegger, 2019), ressalta-se a necessidade de entender a relação entre CE e consumo de forma individual, voltada a um item específico, em busca de encontrar a relação entre essas duas variáveis. Assim, se a consciência ecológica influencia em certa medida o consumo consciente e as modalidades desse consumo, pode-se conjecturar que a CE possui influência no consumo consciente de água. ...
The increase in water consumption combined to its scarcity has caused reflections about its maintenance for the next generations. In this sense, it pays attention to the need of consuming this resource responsibly. It is known that different factors, such as goals, the willingness to achieve them, and ecological awareness, can act as predictors of this responsible behavior. Thus, the present study sought to analyze the influence of ecological awareness and chronic regulatory focus on conscious water consumption in Agreste of Pernambuco - a region with water availability problems. To do so, a quantitative approach was used, with data obtained through an online survey, resulting in a sample of 179 valid participants. Data processing was done using SPSS and AMOS software. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. The results show that consumers, from the studied region, have a strong inclination towards conscious water consumption and the positive influence of ecological awareness on
this consumption is revealed. In addition, there is a positive relationship between the focus on promotion and the conscious water consumption. However, no relationship was identified between this behavior and the chronic orientation to prevention focus. These findings can be explained by the fact that external aspects, such as the quantity and quality of water, act in the decision process more forcefully. It is concluded that the willingness to conscious behavior is possibly related to obtaining immediate gains. Therefore, it is evident that conservative public policies may not be effective for holistic awareness regarding the use of this resource.
... En Europe, des recherches récentes confirment les préoccupations environnementales des consommateurs (Forbes et al., 2009;Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Greenflex, 2017;Ipsos, 2019 (Petrescu et al., 2019;Sanchez-Sabate & Sabaté, 2019). D'une manière générale, les consommateurs sont de plus en plus désireux de s'informer sur les aliments qu'ils achètent, leur provenance, leur production, et de connaître la répercussion que cela aura sur l'environnement et sur leur santé (Eufic, 2013;Wunderlich & Smoller, 2019). ...
... Il a aussi été prouvé qu'ils sont plus enclins à acheter des vins durables. Au contraire, les moins impliqués, considèrent le vin comme moins respectueux de l'environnement, s'intéressent plus au prix de la bouteille et passent moins de temps à s'informer sur le vin (Barber et al., 2007Bruwer & Buller, 2013;Hollebeek et al., 2007;Pomarici et al., 2016;Symoneaux et al., 2019 (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). ...
La viticulture, comme toute autre activité agricole, a des impacts sur l’environnement mais au fil du temps les préoccupations environnementales s’intensifient et les vignerons sont amenés à changer de pratiques afin d’intégrer de nouveaux critères dans leurs systèmes agricoles. Les consommateurs de leur côté, sont de plus en plus sensibles à ces sujets environnementaux, ils sont concernés par l’impact de leurs achats et montrent une préoccupation des effets de l’agriculture sur la santé et l’environnement. Une piste pour changer de pratiques agricoles et pour intégrer de nouveaux acteurs dans les systèmes sont les démarches participatives. Celles-ci incluent souvent des chercheurs et des producteurs mais à aujourd’hui, peu de démarches se sont intéressées à intégrer les consommateurs dans la réflexion que les viticulteurs ont sur l’intégration de pratiques plus respectueuses de l’environnement dans leurs vignobles Cette thèse a donc développée une démarche participative avec des viticulteurs, consommateurs et chercheurs en plusieurs étapes (diagnostic, validation, mise en place d’ateliers ). Nos travaux montrent que ces démarches peuvent donner lieu à des échanges constructifs entre ces acteurs. Cependant, la difficulté à mobiliser les acteurs professionnels et leurs divergences d’intérêts au niveau collectif et individuel ainsi que le manque de connaissances des consommateurs, peuvent entraver ce type de processus. De plus, il semble essentiel de coupler les réflexions sur le déploiement de pratiques à celle de leur valorisation et communication auprès des consommateurs, afin de sensibiliser ces derniers aux enjeux environnementaux dans les vignobles et soutenir ce changement de pratiques dans le temps.
... Thus, farm animal welfare (FAW) and consumption at the global and regional levels receive significant attention in contemporary societies. Both concepts are addressed in daily debates among politicians, policymakers, academics, businesses, nongovernmental organizations and citizens (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Consequently, the reflection on production practices continues, given the need to respond to the concerns of consumers who are looking for more animal-friendly and sustainable products (Marchant-Forde & Boyle, 2020;Yang, 2020). ...
... Consumption preferences and behavior patterns regarding food are affected by several factors such as ethical believes and opinions, lifestyle, personality, knowledge, culture, socio-demographics, product quality, and price (Font-i-Furnols & Guerrero, 2014). As factors can differ across consumer segments, not all individuals will pay Golob equal attention to sustainability-related issues when considering their consumption choices (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Consumer segmentation analysis, a tool used in market research, groups individuals based on common characteristics, preferences or desires (Vecchio & Annunziata, 2012). ...
Consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare (FAW) are not a one-dimensional phenomenon; they entail various attitudinal and social dimensions related to ethnicity, agri-food culture, ethics, purchasing power and beliefs. Therefore, the study aimed to identify segments of South American consumers of animal products according to their attitudes towards FAW. An online survey was carried out among participants from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia (n = 2852). A factor analysis followed by a hierarchical cluster analysis identified four consumers' segments based on their attitudes towards FAW. The first corresponds to consumers ethically committed to FAW (n = 1323), the second to those committed to farmers and interested in labels (n = 215), the third to consumers interested in FAW and farmers and their efforts towards FAW (n = 993), and the fourth, associated with apathetic consumers (n = 321). Although FAW is a relatively new commercial phenomenon in South America, our results showed that concern for animals may be a universal human value, which can overcome traditional dichotomies between rich-poor or developed-undeveloped countries.
... Par conséquent, il est indispensable, pour établir un standard commun sur la responsabilité individuelle du consommateur dans la mise en place de pratiques sociales responsables dans les entreprises, de faire état du niveau de conscience des individus au travers de la dimension décisionnelle ; cet état nécessitant la mobilisation des dimensions cognitive et affective. Dès lors, un questionnaire 202 prenant en compte ces différentes directives a été construit, à partir notamment de la base proposée par Golob et Kronegger (2019) 203 , adaptée à la problématique à la qualité de vie au travail. ...
... Les participants doivent de plus le compléter au moins 2 semaines avant leur participation (voir le calendrier expérimental partie 2.3.1). La dimension affective est mobilisée au travers de deux axes : la perception de l'importance globale de la situation (Golob et Kronegger, 2019), et de l'importance relative, au regard d'autres préoccupations actuelles (Sánchez et Lafuente, 2010). Pour travailler sur l'importance globale de la situation, l'affirmation suivante est proposée : « De façon générale, le niveau d'implication des entreprises françaises dans la qualité de vie au travail de leurs salariés est suffisant » 204 . ...
La Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises (RSE) est devenue un enjeu majeur du secteur agroalimentaire face aux défis de l’alimentation, de l’environnement, des conditions sociales du travail et des attentes sociétales fortement exprimées. Pour y répondre, les entreprises déploient de nombreux dispositifs de renforcement des contraintes de production, au-delà du strict respect des réglementations nationales et européennes, comme des démarches de certifications générales de l’entreprise (norme ISO 26 000), et diverses actions pouvant être communiquées auprès des consommateurs par le biais notamment d’allégations et certifications-produits. La question de la valorisation de la RSE repose donc sur l’éthique de l’entreprise, l’image qu’en a le consommateur, tout autant que la fonctionnalité des produits qu’elle propose sur le marché.A partir de l’exemple du marché du vin, l’objectif de cette thèse est de mieux comprendre les motivations des consommateurs pour valoriser ces démarches de RSE sur les marchés. Le travail méthodologique s’appuie sur les acquis de l’économie expérimentale, en proposant des extensions conceptuelles susceptibles de mesurer efficacement l’évolution des consentements à payer (CAP) des consommateurs pour des produits responsables. La crédibilité des marchés expérimentaux proposés et la pertinence des informations transmises aux consommateurs, sont assurées par des démarches pluridisciplinaires avec les sciences œnologiques et écologiques, mais aussi par une approche de recherche partenariale avec le milieu professionnel.La première partie de cette thèse permet de mesurer les réactions des consommateurs vis-à-vis des certifications, tout en évaluant les premiers arbitrages entre les différentes caractéristiques des produits. Si nous démontrons l’existence d’une pérennité de niches de marché des certifications, nous expliquons pourquoi cette interprétation doit être relativisée, notamment du fait des croyances des consommateurs concernant ces affichages responsables. En particulier, nous avons pu proposer une analyse du CAP influencé par un affichage purement environnemental concernant la biodiversité, grâce à la mise en place d’un indicateur opérationnel (‘Biodiv-Score’). Nous analysons alors les réactions des consommateurs sur le niveau de cet indicateur et mesurons précisément les croyances et les attentes associées au label BIO par rapport à la biodiversité.Ces attentes ne sont pas nécessairement durables dans le temps et dépendent de différents leviers que nous abordons dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse. Tout d’abord, à partir d’une méthodologie originale de mesure des CAP que nous proposons (G&A Method), nous provoquons une plus grande réflexion des consommateurs sur la place accordée au sensoriel, aux performances environnementales et sanitaires des produits, et au processus de production. Nous montrons alors que, si les entreprises viticoles ne pourront se passer de faire un produit qui plaise au consommateur sur le plan sensoriel, l’engagement dans une démarche responsable est indispensable pour maintenir leurs parts de marchés sur le long terme. Par ailleurs, nous abordons la question des interactions sociales qui influencent l’achat, en traitant l’implication des entreprises dans le bien-être au travail de leurs salariés. Il apparaît que si la volonté personnelle de correspondre à une norme sociale est un moteur indéniable de la transition vers une consommation responsable, la pression du regard de l’autre n’est significative que si cet autre appartient effectivement à l’environnement social du consommateur.Ces résultats nous conduisent à tirer les enseignements sur le plan des stratégies d’entreprises, non seulement par rapport aux développement d’une production vertueuse, mais aussi par rapport aux choix stratégiques des circuits de commercialisations (vente en grande distribution, en direct, via nternet…) qui conditionnent le contexte d’achat et de la valorisation RSE.
... Whether low-carbon knowledge can be translated energy-saving related awareness and attitude is the first gap, namely knowledge-awareness and knowledge-attitude gaps [5][6][7]. Then the second level is an attitude-behavior gap [8][9][10]. On this topic, researchers always take energy-saving intention as the main reason, because energy-saving attitudes cannot impact energy behavior directly and there is also an intention level in people's cognitive system [11,12]. ...
... Research set in India demonstrates that attitude toward environmentally sustainable products mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and purchase intention [34]. Meanwhile, residents' attitudes about energy conservation have a direct impact on their energy consumption choices [8][9][10]. Based on previous research, the more favorable one's attitude toward saving energy, the more likely one is to develop energy-saving intention and behavior. ...
Low-carbon knowledge is seen as having a key role in interfering with household energy consumption behaviors by wide consensus from political and academic areas. Whether low-carbon publicity will help to reduce household energy consumption is still in dispute. By constructing an integrated knowledge-intention-behavior model and using 1335 detailed survey questionnaires of household energy behavior in Henan Province, the central area in China, this paper finds that in the developing area low-carbon knowledge or publicity cannot positively impact household energy-saving behavior even if mediated by energy awareness and energy-saving attitudes. Low-carbon knowledge does improve energy-saving attitude and attitude does not decrease household energy consumption directly. Familiarity with particular energy-saving knowledge would decrease the household energy consumption but not significantly in the statistics. Path analysis unfolds the reason that the heterogeneous effects of purchase-based intention and habitual intention explain energy consumption behavior. Subgroup analysis supports those economic factors of income and energy prices play key roles in explaining such household energy consumption behavior in the rapid urbanization area. This paper gives new evidence on the residential energy-saving behavior intervention among developing areas.
... Trends in the number of environmentally friendly products reflect growing awareness of environmental issues (de Carvalho et al., 2015). In addition, ac European study showed that 50% of European citizens are moderate or pro-environmentalists (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). This evolution is a considerable opportunity for food companies to connect with consumers to influence purchases in ways that respect planetary boundaries (Rohm and Aschemann-Witzel et al., 2019;Steffen et al., 2015). ...
... In less than a decade, sustainability is now more relevant than ever as environmental, social and economic impacts of activities must be controlled. Considering the environmental aspect of sustainability, some 26% of Europeans are pro-environmentalists, and 24% are moderate environmentalists (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). Despite this trend, the understanding of labels remains low, especially when the label is not self-explicit enough (Grunert et al., 2014) or poorly known (Kaczorowska et al., 2019). ...
... Consumers are generally becoming more interested in learning about the food they buy, how it is sourced and produced, and whether it has serious environmental impacts (Wunderlich & Smoller, 2019). In Europe in particular, recent research has confirmed the rise of ecological awareness among consumers (European Commission, 2014;Greenflex, 2017;Ipsos, 2019;Pautard, 2018;Sessego & Hébel, 2019;Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Regarding wine, several studies have demonstrated consumers' interest in and willingness to pay for sustainably produced wines (Bazoche et al., 2015;Galati et al., 2019;Lanfranchi et al., 2019;Palmieri & Perito, 2020;Schäufele & Hamm, 2017;Sellers, 2016;Tait et al., 2019), while other authors have explored consumers' attitudes toward more environmentally friendly packaging alternatives (Ferrara et al., 2020). ...
... They also had a more positive perception of the impact of environmental practices and gave a higher priority to the different impacts and externalities. This was consistent with previous research demonstrating a high degree of environmental awareness among people who considered themselves environmentalists (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Similarly, previous studies with French consumers have also found that involvement in environment issues was linked with stronger criticism of the environmental impacts of wine (Jourjon & Symoneaux, 2016;Symoneaux et al., 2019). ...
Increased consumer concern for the environment has motivated winegrowers to adopt more environmentally friendly practices in their vineyards, such as agroecological measures. Thanks to a 2016 French ministerial decree, these measures can now be included in the specifications of wine appellations. However, little is known about consumer perceptions on this topic. The main objective of this research was thus to analyze consumers’ perceptions of environmental issues in wine production, specifically with respect to a selection of agroecological measures in the vineyard. A national survey with 1022 respondents was conducted online in July 2019, and the factors that influenced perceptions were identified using an analysis of variance. The environmental issue of highest concern for consumers was the use of pesticides. However, the majority of the measures selected were perceived as having a positive impact on the environment. Practices aimed at improving biodiversity – such as the preservation of low walls and nest boxes, the establishment of trees, or sodding between parcels – were highly valued by consumers. This research demonstrates that, in order for winemakers to reap the maximum benefit from the implementation of environmentally friendly practices, effective communication of such practices to consumers is crucial.
... Today's consumer is aware of the environmental impact of business operations and those of the products and services they are buying and consuming (Rafi-Ul-Shan et al., 2018). Consequently, consumers can choose to avoid buying products that are incompatible with their environmental ideology (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). As a result, businesses have started focusing on sustainable production through sustainable materials and initiatives and promoting sustainable consumption (Rafi-Ul-Shan et al., 2018). ...
... Gonçalves et al. (2016) argued that the green consumer's behaviour is highly influenced by epistemic value. With the growing concerns for nature and environmental preservation, consumers can choose to avoid products that are incompatible with their environmental ideology (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). Consumer reactions against consumption reflected by several active and visible actions, for example, brand avoidance, boycotting and consumer rebellion (Lee et al., 2009). ...
Managing environmental sustainability has become a critical challenge and an essential agenda for academics and corporations alike. This study conducted evidence-based research to explore whether it is possible to maintain a balance between environmentalism and consumerism in a capitalist society. A triangulated approach is followed by combining systematic literature review (SLR) and text mining for cross-validation, thus, limiting subjective bias. The findings suggest that, although, it is possible to achieve a balance in the long run but this necessitate enormous amount of efforts and resources due to the complexity and paradoxical nature of environmentalism and consumerism coupled with the current way of capitalist societies' life. Building on the findings and the Operations Management Input-Transformation-Output model, a research framework is proposed. The proposed framework suggests that to keep a balance between environmentalism and consumerism in a capitalist society, a progressive and transformational change could be instrumental for a viable solution. Finally, building on current gaps in the research domain, six future research directions are proposed to carry forward the notion of environmentalism and consumerism in a capitalist society.
... Therefore, it is not sufficient to characterize food consumers on the basis of sociodemographic data (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003;Sarti, Darnall, & Testa, 2018), like Kihlberg and Risvik (2007), who used age as the sociodemographic variable as a basis for their segmentation. Several other studies include sociodemographics only as profiling variable (Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Verain et al., 2012). Although sociodemographics are not sufficient segmentation variables, they are valuable in further describing the identified consumer segments; sociodemographic data also limits the scope of action consumers can undertake and therefore determine to a certain extent the capability to perform a particular behavior (Sütterlin, Brunner, & Siegrist, 2011). ...
... However, many studies referred only to the purchase of organic products (Chryssohoidis & Krystallis, 2005); they assessed food-related variables that mainly included organic attitudes and intention to buy organic (D'Souza, Taghian, & Lamb, 2006;Mostafa, 2009), and they did not refer to environmentally-friendly food consumption in general. Many segmentation studies have categorized consumers into three groups ranging from "green" behavior to "non-green" behavior with the indifferent consumers in between (Gil, Gracia, & Sánchez, 2000;Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Saleem, Eagle, & Low, 2018;Sarti et al., 2018). A reason for this low number of segments could be that these studies assessed sustainable food consumption mainly focused on one specific behavior, such as organic product choice, and did not assess the various types of food consumption behaviors in a comprehensive and differentiated way. ...
Food consumption has a large environmental impact, but the total impact of households can be reduced substantially by changing consumers’ food-related decisions and behaviors. Consumers differ in their motives and willingness to behave in an environmentally-friendly manner with regard to food consumption. Therefore, it is important to identify different types of consumers in order to develop and implement tailored intervention strategies. To identify and describe the different types of food consumers based on detailed behavioral patterns, we distributed a paper-pencil questionnaire and used data of 817 Swiss households. Applying a comprehensive and differentiated approach, self-reported environmentally-friendly food behavior was assessed with regard to different domains and different types of behaviors, which subsequently served as the basis for the consumer segmentation. We also assessed behavior in the mobility and household domains as well as several personality variables and sociodemographics as descriptive measures to characterize the segments on a differentiated basis. Cluster analysis revealed six segments in regard to environmentally-friendly food consumption: meat- and fish-eaters, origin-focused food savers, ambiguous consumers, food waste reducing sharers, renouncement aversives and consequent pro-environmental consumers. After a detailed description and discussion of the six consumer segments, we propose starting points for the development of segment-specific intervention and communication strategies to promote environmentally-friendly food consumption.
... Achchuthan et al. (2017) described attitude toward the behaviour as "the degree to which a person has a favourable or unfavourable evaluation or appraisal of the behaviour in question". If a person has a positive attitude toward the environment, it is assumed that they are conscious of the environment (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). This inclination towards a positive attitude about the environment depends heavily on the belief and expectations about personal effects of consequences associated with the behaviour. ...
... Our results represent a developed country's perspective on lifetimes and understanding the Dutch context may be relevant to other comparable countries (e.g., France, Belgium, Germany, and Spain). Notably, within Western European countries, Dutch consumers are fairly environmentally conscious, but less willing to bear personal costs compared to French and German consumers (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Therefore, our sample may have been critical toward lifetime extension strategies, such as repair investments. ...
Long‐lasting electronic products contribute to a sustainable society; however, both expected and actual lifetimes are in decline. This research provides in‐depth insights into consumers’ considerations about product lifetimes, barriers to extending lifetimes, and responses to a product lifetime label. Results of interviews (n = 22) with Dutch consumers suggest a positive view on long‐lasting products. Nevertheless, their products’ value depreciated during their lifetimes. Consumers consider themselves unable to estimate how long products should last, which can be detrimental as low expectations tend to negatively influence actual lifetimes. Also, use intensity and consumers’ care(less) behavior influence the lifetime. To extend product lifetimes, consumers often disregard the option of repairing malfunctioning products. They have limited knowledge and ability, and believe repair provides poor value for money. Lifetime extension can also be hindered by market‐related factors, such as convenient replacement services, new technological developments, and (attractive) deals. We suggest a product lifetime label should contain relevant and reliable information; furthermore, we recommend including (extended) warranty information. When information about repairability is included, potential negative responses should be considered. Finally, raising awareness about the environmental impact of short‐lived products via a label may have a positive effect but requires more research attention.
... Environmental involvement: This scale consisted of 12 affirmations adapted from (Golob & Kronegger, 2019) on European consumer segmentation with respect to environmental concerns. Responses also used a 5-point Likert scale. ...
Previous research on wine consumers’ attitudes, perceptions, and purchasing behavior regarding environmentally friendly wines has confirmed that consumers are interested in this type of wine but, have little awareness of environmental wine practices and certifications. To address this, the most common solution proposed has been to improve communication with consumers on this topic. However, few studies have questioned consumers about their expectations of environmentally friendly wines. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore wine buyers’ expectations of a wine that would be respectful of the environment. A second objective was to identify the respondent’s characteristics influencing their expectations. A textual analysis was conducted with respondents’ answers. A Reinert descendent classification, using Iramuteq software, distributed these responses into ten clusters. The term ‘respectful of the environment proved to be polysemic. Wine buyers imagined that an environmentally friendly wine would respect the health of both people and the environment, be ethically produced, and be accessible from a price point of view. Some respondents also mentioned hedonic characteristics.
Highlights
• A lexical analysis identified ten clusters of topics mentioned by wine buyers.
• The term environment proved to be polysemic.
• Respondents expected a wine that would be ecofriendly, ethic, healthy, local and made with a limited use of inputs and additives.
• The age, the degree of involvement in wine and environmental issues and the use of an environmental label as a buying criterion, influenced wine buyers’ expectations.
• Non-wine consumers or respondents less involved in wine and in the environment, were more associated with a cluster regarding wine hedonic characteristics and price.
... However, sales via intermediate SFSCs make out the largest volume sold and market share compared to other direct SFSCs, where the number of producers might be relatively higher, the volume of sold produce and market share is low (Malak-Rawlikowska et al., 2019;Plakias et al., 2020). This is the result of producers in a specific region working together with intermediary organizations to provide the customer with a more diverse supply of products, therefore fulfilling customer drivers to purchase locally produced products (Galli and Brunori, 2013;Kneafsey et al., 2013;Dimitri and Gardner, 2019;Golob and Kronegger, 2019;Cicatiello, 2020). ...
Purpose
Intermediate short food supply chains (SFSC) have been presented as a possible solution to unsustainable global food supply chains. There is currently a knowledge gap about intermediate SFSC. Thus, this review synthesizes the available literature to identify prominent themes and their main considerations.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on a systematic literature review including peer-reviewed journal articles until December 2021. Inductive data coding resulted in the identification of four themes related to intermediate SFSC.
Findings
The identified themes illustrate the complex landscape intermediate SFSCs operate in and focus on the key relationships within these supply chains. The established relationships have implications for the governance of intermediate SFSCs. The organization of intermediate SFSCs affects numerous sustainability indicators.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should focus on the position intermediate SFSCs have in food systems and the roles intermediaries have in intermediate SFSCs. There is furthermore an opportunity for researchers to investigate different types of intermediaries and explore the factors influencing them.
Originality/value
Creating sustainable food supply chains is one of the major societal challenges of today. The current state of the art suggests that intermediate SFSCs could play an important role in achieving this. So far, this area is underdeveloped and this review highlights knowledge gaps in the literature and suggestions for a future research agenda are proposed.
... We expand the notion of types of sustainable consumers by using these latent classes rather than presupposing a particular set of categories (Verain et al., 2015). This enables us to advance beyond previous studies that categorize consumers, for instance as sustainable, unsustainable, and indifferent (Golob & Kronegger, 2019), but fail to account for the variation in sustainable consumption behavior that we can uncover in our approach. Creating categories based on whether a behavior could be considered curtailment of an existing behavior or 'a new product choice' similarly imposes categorical structure on behavior (Verain et al., 2015), precluding an understanding of how sustainability is conceptualized broadly across multiple behaviors rather than operationalized in terms of a single behavior. ...
Environmentally sustainable food consumption is one component of addressing climate change. Previous research has largely approached sustainable food consumption by investigating individual behaviors, without a broader conceptualization of what motivates food consumers to act sustainably. Using a representative sample of Indiana consumers, we explore sustainability across a range of food behaviors through latent class analysis, controlling for environmental attitudes, spatial access to food, and consumer demographics. This approach allows us to go beyond consumer segmentation analysis to explore how consumers conceptualize sustainable food behavior. The largest class of consumers (44% of the sample) appear either unwilling or unable to pay more for sustainability but are more likely to engage in sustainable behaviors that intersect with self-oriented attributes such as health benefits and lower cost. A second class (34%) consists of consumers who seem to be primarily motivated by the single issue of buying organic, are on average higher income, more educated, have better access to food, and are not opposed to paying for sustainability. Consumers in the smallest and most highly motivated group (9%) in terms of sustainability attitudes and self-perceived sustainability focus on local food production and are generally rural dwelling with less income. Only 13% of consumers engage in few to no sustainable behaviors, and these people notably exhibit the least sustainable attitudes. These findings illustrate the ways in which food sustainability is more nuanced than often characterized—much of it is driven by convenience and self-interest rather than reputation with respect to sustainability or conviction about environmental outcomes. This work also highlights how a combination of social, psychological, and spatial barriers exists and shape how different consumer groups conceptualize sustainable food consumption.
... Another survey suggests that almost 86% of respondents prefer greenness-labeled products when making purchasing decisions (Xu and Lin, 2021). Empirical research shows that consumers with CEA are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products to offset their emissions (Golob and Kronegger, 2019;Lanz et al., 2018). These findings reveal that the actual purchase behavior of customers is another driving force for companies to reduce carbon emissions. ...
Sustainable development has become an important issue for governments and the public. However, a firm's manager may have an optimistic bias about consumers' environmental awareness. Characterizing managers' green optimism and consumers' perception of green products through behavioral theory, this paper establishes a game-theoretical model in which green optimistic/realistic managers compete to sell similar products. We examine the impact of green optimism on green operating strategies in a competitive market by game theory. Furthermore, we shed light on how cap-and-trade regulation adjusts the performance of the industry. The results show that green optimism will always make the firm improve the greenness level of its products, but unilateral optimism may reduce the greenness level of the entire market. Taking the type of managers as exogenous and the firm's hiring strategy as a game, we show that when the quotas of duopoly firms differ greatly, (optimism, optimism) is the only Nash equilibrium; otherwise, (realism, realism) is the only one. Further research shows that the conflict between environmental interests and consumer surplus cannot be reconciled; (optimism, optimism) always leads to better environmental performance but lower consumer surplus. In general, social welfare under dual optimism will be better only when consumers have high environmental awareness.
... org/ resea rch_ data/ ZA7602. Reyes Energy, Sustainability and Society (2022) 12:38 Eurobarometer dataset to explain the outcome, guided by previous studies that employed corresponding variables in their models addressing willingness [17,65,66] relevant to smart technology, stated preferences and environmentally significant behavior of citizens [53,58,59,67]. ...
Background
There is growing attention and policy debate about the sharing of personal information that the modernization of electricity grids requires. This is particularly important for big data management in smart grids that needs access to data generated and sent through devices such as smart meters. Using the Nordic Countries as a case study, this study investigates the willingness of people to share personal information for energy efficiency. The study builds upon data from the Eurobarometer survey and binary logistic regressions.
Results
Nordic countries exhibit a higher willingness to share personal information compared to the rest of the EU countries. However, despite high levels of concern for climate change and other pro-environmental attitudes found overall among Europeans, the willingness to share personal information is not as prevalent and is still mainly shaped by socio-demographic features such as gender and age. Key predictors also included climate change perception and congruence of citizen engagement with environmentally friendly behaviors. Several contextual and market-specific issues framing these findings are discussed (e.g., trust, energy use).
Conclusions
Even when high levels of pro-environmental attitudes in certain countries are found, let alone the Nordics, this does not mean people are willing to share personal information that would support pro-environmental energy efficiency behaviors and policies.
... Accordingly, environmental consciousness is an element of the belief system that contributes to specific mental influences linked to one's tendency to participate in the eco-friendly behavior regime [31]. To date, many recent studies have highlighted that environmental consciousness has become a vital component of the consumer decision-making process in the sustainable consumption context [32][33][34][35]. For example, Kautish and Sharma [36] and Zhang et al. [37] validated the relationships among environmental consciousness, perceived values, and behavioral intentions for green products. ...
The circular economy is one of the crucial issues in fashion because the fashion industry is a major global polluter. Many consumers are adopting a more sustainable lifestyle and it shows in their buying preferences and behaviors. This study aims to predict sustainable fashion apparel consumption using an extended version of the belief–attitude–intention framework, by investigated the moderating effect of generational cohorts. Particularly, the study emphasizes the rental apparel, second-hand apparel, and recycled apparel markets. Survey data were collected from 135 Generation X consumers, 134 Generation Y consumers, and 139 Generation Z consumers in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping method were applied to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings determined environmental consciousness, perceived value, and perceived risk as key predictors of consumers’ sustainable apparel purchase intentions. The findings also showed that the generational cohort negatively moderated the relationship between environmental consciousness and sustainable apparel purchase intentions. Therefore, fully understanding consumers’ purchase intentions regarding sustainable apparel is an indispensable topic for both academia and industry in a circular environment. Moreover, the fashion industry should concentrate more on promoting sustainability and ecologically friendly apparel products as well as developing multi-generational marketing strategies.
... En la revisión de la literatura, se identifican segmentos basados en aspectos demográficos, psicográficos y de comportamiento proambiental como los hábitos personales (Azjen, 1991;Finisterra do Paço et al, 2009;Ziaei-Bideh & Namakshenas-Jahromi, 2020), actitudes de responsabilidad ambiental orientadas hacia los esfuerzos de responsabilidad social y colectivismo , actitudes proambientales (Bianchi, Ferreyra & Kosiak de Gesualdo 2013;Coskun & Yetkin, 2019;Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Jakubowska & Radzymińska, 2019) y de creencias proambientales Salgado-Beltrán, 2019). No obstante, resalta entre todas las variables, la continua influencia de las actitudes proambientales como elemento clave para la identificación de segmentos del consumidor. ...
El cambio climático ha influido en la formación de nuevos segmentos del mercado constituidos por consumidores preocupados por el medio ambiente. El objetivo de
esta investigación es caracterizar perfiles de consumidores a partir de sus actitudes
proambientales. La investigación tiene un enfoque cuantitativo, de carácter exploratorio,
recopila información de 775 consumidores mexicanos y colombianos para realizar
una secuencia de análisis econométrico; factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, clúster
jerárquico y k-medias. Se identificaron siete segmentos de consumidores denominados
como: cafés egoístas, verde intencionado, verde indiferente, verde desinformado, verde
activo, verde contradictorio y verde intelectual. Se concluye que existe heterogeneidad
entre los consumidores mexicanos y colombianos, que van desde los más accionarios
-actitudes proambientales con componentes conductuales- hasta aquellos que exhiben
niveles altos en actitudes contra ambientales, asimismo los perfiles de los consumidores
diferenciados permitirán desarrollar estrategias para la segmentación de mercado
centradas en actitudes favorables al ambiente, lo cual puede ser útil para posicionar y
reposicionar productos.
... Green consumers are concerned with acquiring environmentally friendly products, recycling, saving resources, and promoting shared values associated with eco-innovations adoption (Jaca et al., 2018;Jansson et al., 2010). They may also push firms to develop sustainable products and green strategies (Ginsberg and Bloom, 2004), although there exists a high degree of heterogeneity among green consumers themselves (Golob and Kronegger, 2019;Haan et al., 2018). It is also known that environmentally friendly attitudes do not fully imply that consumers behave in environmentally friendly ways (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002). ...
As a society, we are aiming to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and one of the most important challenges is fostering responsible production and consumption. Green marketing campaigns and instruction in university curricula are an opportunity to influence producers' and consumers' decision-making process in a positive way. This research aims to understand the instructional effects of non-compulsory university courses linked to sustainability and the circular economy (SCE) on students' motivations and behavior. We analyze students' proclivities to consume products and develop more sustainable habits before and after enrolling in SCE courses. Results confirm that the courses impacted students' propensities toward sustainable consumption. Therefore, the biggest changes in the six dimensions underlying green consumption reveal four key recommendations for developing a green marketing strategy. We recommend firms to 1) engage in green education, 2) create community, 3) be aware of consumer diversity, and 4) not differentiate by gender. For this reason, we argue that university education may greatly influence students' mindset concerning sustainable behavior. Results also revealed no significant gender differences, which contrasts with the differentiated behavior found in extant studies on older populations.
... Previous studies have characterized food consumers based on sociodemographic data. Differently from Kihlberg and Risvik [43], who used age as the sociodemographic variable as a basis for their segmentation, we considered age to predict and define class membership [44,45]. Sociodemographics are valuable in further describing the identified consumer segments and therefore determine, to a certain extent, the capability to perform a particular behaviour [46,47]. ...
Extensive livestock grazing has proved to be a valuable tool to reduce wildfire risk in Mediterranean landscapes. Meat from herds providing wildfire prevention services exhibit sustainability traits that can appeal to ethical consumers and find a suitable niche in local markets. This study assesses the preferences of a consumer sample in the province of Girona (north-eastern Spain) for different lamb meat labeling options from herds providing wildfire prevention services. The aim is to disentangle consumer profiles, providing evidence for improved product labeling. This may increase the added value and the viability of small farms providing this service. Employing a latent class modeling approach, we explore how meat consumption patterns and socioeconomic features may contribute to explain preferences for different meat labeling options. Our results have identified three consumer profiles: traditional rural consumers relying on trust with producers, younger consumers more akin to new labeling schemes, and urban consumers that support local butchers as a trusted information source. Different labeling mechanisms may work in a complementary way to arrive to different audiences of potential consumers. Geographical indication labels can serve as a good departure point, complemented with information cues on environmental factors related to wildfire protection.
... Environmental consciousness is also important for customers' decision-making process in seeking information (Oates et al., 2008;Golob and Kronegger, 2019). They should lead to environmentally friendly products (Didier and Lucie, 2008). ...
The European Union’s policy on environmental protection and energy security is not only a set of regulations and bans. At the same time, it introduces new opportunities for economic development, it enhances ecological safety and contributes to public health protection by limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This policy contributes to the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and those take an essential part in limiting consumption of basic energy sources and fossil fuels that are responsible for the current state and further deterioration of our environment. Environmental and energy education of our society has a significant impact on further development of renewable energy sources. It presents real dangers but also values derived from the development of green energy with the support of the state. It will bring a tangible improvement in the society’s quality of life.
Aim: The main purpose of the article is to attempt to determine the development of the renewable energy sector in the EU. The regulations, EU directives, laws and the current role of the state in the development of the renewable energy market were analyzed.
Materials and Methods: The source of the data was the extensive literature on the subject and Eurostat. This work used tabular, graphic and descriptive methods.
Results: Analysis show that energy safety and environmental protection are one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. With the rapid depletion of conventional energy sourcesand the continued growing demand for energy, on which the growth of GDP depends globally, causes accelerated degradation of the environment, and with it , greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As far as energy safety and environmental protection is concerned, the policy of the European Union , through its actions,strives towards development of the renewable energy market . This in turn prevents the depletion of resources and environmental pollution.
Conclusions: The current EU situation, including countries like Poland, shows that the development of renewable energy is one of the most pressing issues in modern management, where renewable energy plays a key role in protecting the environment, public health and economic growth. It also prevents resource depletion, environmental pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It sometimes occurs with the opposition of the private sector and its citizens. To a large extent it is dependent on the availability of financial support from the state.
... Theoretical underpinnings Golob and Kronegger (2019) asserted that segmentation based on a combination of demographics, psychographic, and other types of profiling may provide a nuanced insight for marketers and policy makers, as it will be more informative and relevant. Classic rational theory, such as Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour, along with other social-psychological theories such as the Triandis's Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (1977), Stern's et al.'s Value Belief Norm Theory (1999), have been widely applied in sustainable consumption studies (Attiq et al., 2021;Ghazali et al., 2019;Gkargkavouzi et al., 2019) due to its explanatatory and predictive power especially with regards to values and personal factors. ...
Single–use plastics waste, when not properly managed and discarded, poses a threat to both the environment and human health. In the next 30 years, the global plastics waste crisis will exacerbate if the current consumption pattern and their production continue. The plastics crisis is seen as an anthropocentric problem that requires the understanding of consumer consumption patterns in order to encourage its alleviation. Thus, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to examine the predictors for adopting single–use plastics reduction activities among young urban consumers in Malaysia. Rather than assuming the homogeneity of the consumer’s single-use plastics reduction pattern, the current framework posits that different consumers are at different stages of behavioural readiness and adoption. It also explores the underlying factors and specific social referent groups at each stage using the integration of the Transtheoretical Model and Theory of Planned Behaviour. Consumer segmentation based on the theoretical integration could be used to create a more targeted behavioural change efforts that align with the characteristics and drivers of each stage. It is hoped that the present research can help to support efforts in reducing single-use plastics as outlined in the Malaysia’s Roadmap towards Zero Single-Use Plastics 2018-2030 policy.
Keywords: conceptual framework, digital influencers, single-use plastics, social referent groups, theory of planned behaviour, transtheoretical model
... Achchuthan et al. (2017) described attitude toward the behaviour as "the degree to which a person has a favourable or unfavourable evaluation or appraisal of the behaviour in question". If a person has a positive attitude toward the environment, it is assumed that they are conscious of the environment (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). This inclination towards a positive attitude about the environment depends heavily on the belief and expectations about personal effects of consequences associated with the behaviour. ...
Environmental sustainability is imperative for the sustenance of human life on Earth. The environmental pressure created by the overconsumption and overuse of natural resources threatens the environment. This study intended to determine the consumer’s environmental consciousness and identify the relationship between environmental consciousness and pro-environmental purchase intention. This study is quantitative in nature, where data collected from 201 upper- and middle-class consumers using non-probability convenience sampling techniques were analysed using PLS-SEM. The findings show a relationship between environmental consciousness and pro-environmental purchase intention, suggesting that environmentally conscious people are more likely to purchase pro-environmental goods. The findings also suggest that environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, environmental concern, and subjective norms influence developing environment consciousness among the consumers. Pro-environmental purchase intention is affected not only by environmental consciousness but also by many other factors. Incorporating those variables can stimulate researchers to understand pro-environmental purchase intention better.
... Finally, we introduce β (0 ≤ β ≤ 1) to test the hypothesis that adoption depends on the different motives and that they might have a different relative weight. It follows that if β = 0, then N has 5 Some authors suggest that the relationship between pro-environmental behaviour and environmental concern is not clear (Golob and Kronegger, 2019), while others relate environmental concern to an intrinsic motivation to protect the environment which makes individuals more likely to engage in pro-environmental decisions (Schleich et al., 2016). For a review see for example (Marcinkowski and Reid, 2019). ...
In spite of the established importance that retrofitting the existing building stock has in decreasing end-use carbon emissions and of the large availability of policies aimed at financially supporting renovations, investments in the residential sector remain below the optimal levels. The paper proposes an encompassing theoretical framework that merges economic, behavioural and social motives and suggests diverse policy instruments to promote retrofitting and their appropriate targets. The paper exploits the Consumers Survey data from the Second consumer market study on the functioning of the retail electricity markets for consumers in the EU (2016) to calibrate an agent-based model of the thermal insulation investment choice. The model simulates the investment choice of 19,538 homeowners based on their perceived financial situation and environmental concern, and introduces unobserved networks on which adoption by imitation occurs. We investigate the effect of a financial incentive, a pro-environmental campaign and a norm-based intervention on the adoption rate. Results show that the interplay between economic, behavioural, and social motives produces unexpected outcomes: policies that leverage only one motive are nonetheless affected by the others.
... Worldwide, consumers' demand for transparency and accountability grows. Then, boycott movements are emerging in Europe and the US, destinations of many Brazilian exports, to put commercial pressure on businesses permeated by deforestation, aiming to eradicate it from supply chains (Golob and Kronegger 2019). This situation is already reaching Brazil. ...
The agricultural frontier expansion in the Cerrado biome made Brazil a leader in commodity exports and is changing its landscape. Hence, efforts to accurate land use and land cover (LULC) monitoring in this region are strategic, due to its role in Brazil’s food, environmental, and economic security policy. Thinking on planning and technical sovereignty in the spatial sector, the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) Program was launched to provide useful data for decision-makers to manage the Brazilian territory independently of external policies. Their data, especially from CBERS-4 Wide-Field Imager (CBERS-4/WFI), are largely applied in deforestation monitoring by remote sensing specialists but less applied than data from other image providers for machine learning-based LULC mapping due to the small number of spectral bands and limitations related to clouds and shadows detection. However, with advances in orbital data analysis, data cubes enabled storing and accessing large spatio-temporal analysis-ready data. Within this scope, the Brazil Data Cube Project (BDC) creates multidimensional data cubes from orbital sensors’ data for all Brazilian territory. We applied BDC CBERS-4/WFI data cubes to generate LULC classifications for the Extremo Oeste Baiano agricultural belt correspondent to the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 harvest periods, at two levels of detail: broad and crop type, incorporating ground truth samples, crop calendar knowledge, and vegetation indices to a dense time series analysis approach. Overall Accuracies were equal to 0.87 and 0.89 for broad, and 0.91 and 0.94 for crop type classifications. The results indicate CBERS-4/WFI data cubes as a useful tool for improving crop monitoring in the Cerrado biome based on machine learning.
... Given the importance of sustainable consumption in accomplishing sustainable development goals, it has piqued academics and practitioners' interest. For example, previous research has explored various aspects of sustainable consumption, such as environmentally friendly consumption (Haws et al., 2014;Hosta & Zabkar, 2020;Yadav et al., 2019), environmental consciousness and knowledge (Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Polonsky et al., 2012), environmental value orientations and lifestyles (Sony & Ferguson, 2017), and environmental behaviors (Lacroix & Gifford, 2020;Paço & Lavrador, 2017). Furthermore, scholars have investigated sustainable consumption in a variety of contexts, including food products (Moser, 2016), apparel (Kim & Seock, 2019), hospitality services , tourism destinations (Jiang & Hong, 2021), airline services (Hwang & Choi, 2018), utilities (Paço & Lavrador, 2017), and lowincome consumers (Al Mamun et al., 2018). ...
Unsustainable consumption and production patterns are endangering global development more than ever (United Nations Environment Programme, 2015)
... Mindfulness, as an enhanced state of attention (Jha et al., 2007), is different from environmental consciousness. Environmental consciousness refers to one's values, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and involvement regarding environmental matters (Golob and Kronegger, 2019), but this notion does not explain the enhanced attention and awareness of one's situation in general that are described by mindfulness. Unlike environmental consciousness, mindfulness can affect one's orientation on a subject matter due to its ability to increase the recognition, evaluation, and processing of a stimulus in the present environment (Ndubisi, 2014). ...
This study investigates how businesses can persuade customers to participate in food waste reduction efforts by using communication strategies. Grounded in information processing and persuasion theories, we conducted two studies. In study 1, a focus group interview was performed to explore how customers process food waste communication from foodservice operations. In study 2, a 2 (communication modality: written vs. verbal) × 2 (presentation order: before meals vs. during meals) × 2 (mindfulness: low vs. high) between-subjects design quasi experiment was conducted to examine these interaction effects on customers’ intention to support the restaurants’ food waste reduction efforts. The findings are consistent across the two studies. The findings indicate that people with low mindfulness have lower intention to participate when the message is delivered verbally (vs. written) and the message is prompted before meals (vs. during meals). Conversely, people with high mindfulness tend to have higher intention to participate regardless of communication modality and presentation order.
... Recently, psychological variables characterizing green consumers as a proxy for sustainable consumers have gained increasing attention. This is not unexpected since several researchers claimed and maintained that psychographic variables, such as behavioral or attitudinal variables, best model sustainable consumer behavior [38,45,46]. For example, Konuk [47] found that conscientiousness about fair consumption, environmental concerns, trust in fair trade labels, and consumer innovativeness positively influence consumers' fair trade preferences. ...
Sustainability marketing has emerged as an important trend both in practice and academic literature. The relevant literature has heavily focused on determinations of sustainable consumer behavior, and practitioners have used these results to derive short-term marketing decisions, e.g., adequate pricing of sustainable products. However, no study has scrutinized derivations of sustainable brand personalities or provided important long-term, strategic, managerial implications for marketing managers of sustainable brands. This study aims to contribute to this underrepresented research field and makes recommendations for preferred brand personality dimensions for sustainable brands. First, the personality structure of sustainable consumers by using a preference-based two-step segmentation approach is investigated, and subsequent profiling of the sustainable consumer segment is conducted. The research relies on the results of an empirical discrete choice experiment and a personality test, including the data of a representative German consumer sample. Sustainable consumers were found to be highly agreeable and open. Second, the personality results of sustainable consumers are linked to consumers' personality-specific preferred brand personalities. Third, recommendations for harmonic brand personality dimensions for sustainable brands, e.g., competence, excitement, and sincerity, are derived, and therefore, long-term, strategic, managerial implications are provided.
... A variety of studies have addressed issues of sustainable consumption. For example, studies have profiled consumers [4] or executed consumer segmentation studies derived from market research approaches [5][6][7]. However, environmental issues are complex, and their impact is difficult to measure [8]. ...
Despite the booming interest in determinants of green (i.e., sustainable) consumption, the psychological factors that influence pro-environmental consumption patterns are not yet fully understood. To answer this call, we developed and analysed a model that offers an integrative approach to sustainable consumption patterns by addressing the full palette of consumers’ personal value orientations. Specifically, we linked consumers’ egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values at the personal level to pro-environmental purchasing intentions, behaviours, and experiences. Furthermore, we examined whether implicit beliefs about the balance between humanity and nature (i.e., worldviews) moderate these relationships. To support the theoretical propositions in our model, we drew on the key premises of the theory of planned behaviour. Data from 291 Polish respondents were analysed by using multiple linear regression analysis, and the moderating effect of worldviews was investigated with simple slope analysis. While controlling for cultural values, the findings show that personal values, specifically biospheric values, predict sustainable consumer patterns and that consumers’ worldview moderates this relationship. Our study offers a novel holistic approach to analyse sustainable consumption patterns, which will assist environmental management scholars and practitioners who seek to understand and stimulate pro-environmental consumer behaviour. Our findings may help practitioners to develop strategies to influence consumer intentions and behaviours concerning green products.
... A variety of studies have addressed issues of sustainable consumption. For example, studies have profiled consumers [4] or executed consumer segmentation studies derived from market research approaches [5][6][7]. However, environmental issues are complex, and their impact is difficult to measure [8]. ...
Prior studies predominantly use cross-sectional designs to determine effects of pro-environmental beliefs on green purchasing attitudes, thereby limiting the possibility for causal inferences and examining mediation effects. We overcome these gaps by adopting a two-wave longitudinal design to test a moderated-mediation model that draws on consumer choice theory, positing that the effect of implicit pro-environmental beliefs on green purchasing attitudes is mediated by perceived social value from buying green, while the relationship between pro-environmental beliefs and perceived social value is moderated by perceived inconvenience of buying green. Findings from a sample of Polish youth indicate that green purchasing attitudes resulting from implicit pro-environmental beliefs, partly depend on wider societal factors, i.e., perceived social value and inconvenience. These findings suggest that it is not a desire to do good for society motivates pro-environmental attitudes of the youth, but rather a desire to look good, especially for consumers who perceive high inconveniences of buying green. The attitude of youthful consumers who are less susceptible to social values is directly determined by beliefs.
... Trends in the number of 8 environmentally friendly products reflect growing awareness of environmental issues (de 9 Carvalho et al., 2015). In addition, ac European study showed that 50% of European 10 citizens are moderate or pro-environmentalists (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). This 11 evolution is a considerable opportunity for food companies to connect with consumers to 12 influence purchases in ways that respect planetary boundaries Witzel, 2019; Steffen et al., 2015). ...
Current environmental issues require shifting to a more sustainable agri-food sector. The perception of the environmental impact of the products that consumers buy is not well known. The present study investigated consumers’ perceptions of the environmental impacts related to the food chain. A group of 28 French buyers of organic products were questioned in a preliminary qualitative study, assuming buyers consume the products. Then, an online survey was conducted with 523 French organic buyers. Results showed that their perceptions included more than just pollution aspects, encompassing sustainability as a whole, including social (health) and economic (agricultural and other production activities) aspects. Results also highlighted that they did not understand certain impact categories used in life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate environmental impacts because of the complex terms used (e.g. marine eutrophication, photochemical oxidant formation). The participants perceived that LCA did not consider some positive impacts that should be included when assessing environmental impacts. In addition, LCA impact categories were less broad than the participants’ perceptions. This study suggests that developing new ecolabels needs a more holistic approach of the impacts of food, considering positive and negative impacts.
... Our empirical results suggest that green slots especially work well with more eco-consciousness customers. This insight, together with insights from the research on the relationship between eco-consciousness and demographic and cultural characteristics (Golob andKronegger 2019, Gray et al. 2019), may help practitioners to predict the effect of green labels for specific customer populations. The way companies implement green slots, beyond dynamic or to incentivized longer slots, may also be important. ...
In this paper, we study the effectiveness of incentives on delivery service time slot choices. In particular, we focus on the use of green labels that specify time slots as environmentally friendly and that intrinsically motivate customers to choose a specific delivery time slot in lieu of price incentives based on extrinsic motivation. We argue this is important since green labels' intrinsic nature affects customer choice in fundamentally different ways than price incentives. We conduct two experiments and two simulation studies to study the effects of using green labels. Our experimental findings suggest that: (1) green labels are an effective tool to steer shoppers toward a certain delivery option, (2) green labels are more effective for people who are more eco‐conscious, (3) green labels remain effective in the presence of price incentives, while price incentives offer little added value beyond that of just green labels, and (4) the effectiveness of green labels versus price discounts remains high when time slots are less appealing (i.e., longer). Our simulation findings suggest that green slots, compared to price incentives or no incentives, offer providers a way to effectively steer consumer time slot choices to yield shorter routes, fewer delivery vehicles used, and more per‐customer revenue. We thus conclude that steering individuals to select delivery time slots through intrinsic motivation via green labels may be a promising, no‐cost direction for (online) retailers and an important topic for further research.
... To describe the specific characteristics of green consumers and how they differ from others, various segmentation studies already exist in the literature (Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Haan et al., 2018). ...
Consumer segmentation is an important tool for dealing with the often strongly differing consumer preferences in many markets for fast‐moving consumer goods. Therefore, this study analyses the factors that can distinguish the different consumer segments for green all‐purpose adhesives in Germany. On the basis of an online survey with 709 respondents, we performed a choice experiment and segmented consumers based on their preferences for this product. We identified six consumer segments of which in particular Green Consumer Value, Perceived Consumer Effectiveness and Trust separate eco‐friendly consumers from the other groups. Our results give a deeper insight into the different consumer segments for green fast‐moving consumer goods and facilitate the development of business and marketing strategies in a more targeted way.
... In recent years, it is observed that consumers are becoming more aware of their role in the propagation of environmental issues (Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Hojnik, Ruzzier, & Ruzzier, 2019;Lin & Niu, 2018). A measurable transition from passive consumer to prosumer is emerging, where the prosumer is a consumer who participates in production and consumption processes that add value to products and services (Xie, Bagozzi, & Troye, 2007). ...
Consumers are becoming more aware of their role in the propagation of environmental issues, the transition from passive consumer to prosumer is emerging, and it is of interest to know the commitment factors that leads the biodiesel prosumer to act in favor of an organization which they belong in order to achieve one goal in common and contribute to local sustainable development. In this research, the prosumer is the one who participates as a member and consumer of a biodiesel cooperative. The prosumer's commitment is made up of two components: (i) nonactive or affective, identification with the organization, and (ii) active or participatory, action towards certain goals. The objectives of the investigation are to evaluate the biodiesel prosumer's commitment and know its causes and effects. The hypotheses on the causes and results of the prosumer's commitment are postulated in a structural equation model (SEM), whose theoretical basis corresponds to the double role of the prosumer: member and client of the cooperative. The SEM is evaluated from the perspective of the prosumer based on mixed methodology and partial least square (PLS). The proposed SEM explains 78% (R² = 0.78) of the variability of the contribution of the biodiesel cooperative to local sustainable development, where this contribution is directly and significantly impacted by the two components of the commitment. This case study identifies dimensions that lead the biodiesel prosumer to commit in the cocreation and consumption of renewable fuel, which gives more opportunities for long‐term survival of this initiative in a competitive market.
... This makes Spain the second highest country in Europe (behind only Malta) in terms of second homes, with most located on the Mediterranean coast. This finding may also be in line with the hypothesis of Golob and Kronegger (2019) that Spanish consumers' environmental awareness is below the European mean. This would justify an education policy to inform the public that BFs offer other benefits apart from an increase to beaches' tourism appeal, i.e. environmental. ...
Eco-labels such as Blue Flags can be effective for enhancing both sustainability and tourism. Given the ongoing political debate on the effectiveness of Blue Flags for promoting tourism, we analyze the impact of the number of Blue Flag beaches on tourist arrivals (international and domestic, respectively) for Spanish coastal provinces. Panel data techniques are used to evaluate Blue Flags econometrically for the longest and most recent time period in the literature (2000–2019). Findings suggest that Blue Flags are effective at promoting international tourism but not domestic tourism. Different patterns for international and domestic tourists mean that differentiated policies should be applied.
... Additional factors that could explain the differences are the different periods in which the surveys were carried out and the nationality of the respondents. Environmental consciousness has recently increased, although at different rates in different countries (Golob and Kronegger, 2019), moreover, the willingness to pay for environmental public goods is significantly influenced by the disposable income (Baumgärtner et al., 2017) which differs by country. ...
The aviation industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in producing carbon emissions. In order to reduce its carbon footprint and to respond to the increasing number of people concerned about the impact caused by air transport on climate change, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has recently passed the “carbon neutral growth from 2020” resolution requiring that the global net CO2 emissions from international aviation do not exceed the 2019–2020 levels. Airlines, however, can act beyond their obligations under the ICAO resolution investing in projects aimed at reducing or offsetting all the emissions produced not only by their international flights but also by their domestic flights. The aim of this paper is to test whether Italian air travellers would be willing to donate a contribution to finance these projects and whether the willingness to pay depends on the projects’ type and on the projects’ effectiveness. To this aim we performed a stated-choice experiment involving a sample of 1228 Italians who travelled by plane at least once in the last 3 years. We find that their willingness to pay ranges from €12 to €38 per ton and from €14 to €66 per flight. The description of the project type to be financed via the passengers’ donations is one of the most important factors influencing their willingness to pay. Other key factors are the quantity of CO2 reduced or offset via the project and the respondents’ gender, education degree, occupational status, environmental consciousness and travel habits. Our results are useful for airlines to design the donation proposals and improve the corporate image and for policy makers to support air travellers’ environmental conscious behaviour and airlines’ environmental sustainable strategies.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of brand familiarity, consumer green consciousness (GC) and chronic regulatory focus on consumer attitudes, buying intentions and willingness to pay more for eco-friendly products in a comparison between eco-friendly and non-eco-friendly products among Generation Z consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment with a between-subjects design was conducted with 151 Malaysian Generation Z consumers.
Findings
When consumers are more familiar with an eco-friendly brand than a non-eco-friendly brand, their attitude toward, buying intention and willingness to pay more for eco-friendly products are significantly higher than for non-eco-friendly products. In contrast, such effects are not significant when consumers are more familiar with a non-eco-friendly brand than an eco-friendly brand. Hence, young consumers are more inclined to favor a familiar eco-friendly brand than a familiar non-eco-friendly one. Consumers with higher GC are willing to pay more than consumers with lower GC for products of a familiar eco-friendly brand. When consumers are less familiar with an eco-friendly brand, those with a higher chronic promotion focus (CPF) will have a more favorable attitude toward, and a higher intention to buy, eco-friendly products than those with a lower CPF.
Practical implications
Awareness of how these factors influence consumer purchase behavior can help retailers and marketers design and communicate specific messages to highlight their brand and product eco-friendliness in their marketing strategies. Doing so may increase familiarity with their brand and the demand for and purchase of their brand’s eco-friendly products.
Originality/value
This research explores the influence of an integrated model of brand familiarity, GC and CPF on consumer purchase behavior in the comparison between eco-friendly and non-eco-friendly products. This has not been clearly examined in previous research.
This study examines how European Union (EU) citizens systematically differ in their environmental attitude-behavior relationships according to country-level contextual drivers. Using Eurobarometer data and a multilevel latent class regression model, we identified four attitude-behavior relationships that we labelled, according to mean environmental behavior scores, as environmentalist, pre-environmentalist, less-environmentalist, and non-environmentalist. Regarding their distribution across the EU, we identified four country clusters reflecting pattern similarities that we labelled green, yellow-green, brown, and gray clusters. We found that the attitude-behavior relationship was weaker for more environmentalist patterns than for less environmentalist patterns. Furthermore, more environmentalist patterns were associated with more privileged social positions. As expected, the country clusters reflected socioeconomic development levels (more developed countries were environmentally greener). In the interest of reducing inequality in the distribution of environmentally healthy and vital ecosystems, we suggest that EU environmental policies should mainly address the environmental behaviors of countries classified as brown and gray.
Purpose
Industrialization has contributed to global environmental problems, especially in developed countries, but increasingly so in developing ones as well. Leveraging on the natural resource-based view theory, this study aims to examine the mediating role of environmental consciousness (EC) on the relationship between green intellectual capital (IC) and environmental performance among manufacturing firms in Ghana against a backdrop of increasing national drive towards greater industrialization.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a cross-sectional survey design to obtain data from 245 manufacturing firms using purposive sampling technique. Structural equation modelling was used to test for the hypothesized relationships among variables.
Findings
Evidence suggests that green IC has a significantly positive effect on environmental performance. Furthermore, it was found that green IC has a positive and significant effect on EC, but EC only mediated the relationship between green IC and environmental performance.
Practical implications
Manufacturing firms within emerging economies like Ghana can improve on their green practices by incorporating these findings in their business models, while research could be guided to focus their inquiries on this and related genre of scholarly work.
Originality/value
This study is an early-stage study to identify EC as a variable which mediates the relationship between green IC and environmental performance among manufacturing firms in an emerging economy like Ghana.
Despite being considered a consumption behaviour, disposal is still treated in an incipient way in the consumer literature. In addition, little is known about the entire journey of those who practice sustainable consumption disposal. In order to fill this gap, this exploratory, qualitative study used semi-structed interviews with 15 consumers who already discarded items through return programmes for recycling purposes of two products: slow fashion wallets and coffee capsules. The products are from two companies in Brazil, Dobra and Terra Cycle, whose managers were also interviewed. Records of photos and videos made by these consumers were also part of the research material, in addition to the analysis of brands’ social media. Content analysis with deductive coding was used to analyse the data. The results allow for the proposition of a disposal journey framework and the understanding of this journey and its touchpoints for the products as a different trajectory. Still, it was found that detachment, emotional and mental separation from the product, only happens in some circumstances. The theoretical, managerial, and social implications of this journey of sustainable consumption disposal are discussed.
This research, which was conducted in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, aimed to examine the effect of spiritual competence, pedagogic competence, and social skills of Christian Religious Education (PAK) teachers. This research was conducted using quantitative methods. This study involved 30 PAK teachers in Minahasa Regency, Sulawesi. The data analyzers involved in this study used PLS software for structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The results of this study indicated that the quality of teaching and learning will be good and have a positive effect if the teacher has spiritual, pedagogic, and social competencies. Thus it can be concluded that the three competencies greatly affect the understanding of learning materials by students.
Abstrak. Penelitian yang dilakukan di Minahasa, Sulawesi Utara ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh kompetensi spiritual, pedagogi, dan keterampilan sosial guru Pendidikan Agama Kristen (PAK). Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan menggunakan metode kuantitatif. Penelitian ini melibatkan seluruh guru PAK di Kabupaten Minahasa, Sulawesi yang berjumlah 30 orang. Penganalisis data yang terlibat dalam penelitian ini menggunakan perangkat lunak PLS untuk analisis pemodelan persamaan struktural (SEM). Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kualitas belajar mengajar akan baik dan berpengaruh positif jika guru memiliki kompetensi spiritual, pedagogik, dan sosial. Dengan demikian dapat disimpulakan bahwa ketiga kompetensi tersebut sangat berpengaruh terhadap pemahaman materi pembelajaran oleh siswa.
In this paper, we model a firm that can reduce its carbon footprint in the presence of a segment of eco-conscious consumers, who consider the product’s carbon footprint when making purchasing decisions. The firm can reduce its controllable emissions at increased fixed and variable costs. The firm can also buy carbon offsets, at the price set by a nongovernmental organization (NGO), for both its controllable and uncontrollable emissions in the supply chain. We find that the firm should not use these two emission reduction methods as simple substitutes. In particular, as the offset price decreases, the firm may spend more efforts reducing its controllable emissions. Also, a firm’s decision to buy carbon offsets depends on the correlation between consumers’ preferences for the product function and for its environmental attributes, and this has implications for NGOs selling offsets. Specifically, although NGOs should price offsets as low as possible in most cases, we find some instances where a premium pricing strategy may be more effective in promoting lower-carbon footprint products, especially when eco-conscious consumers have a significantly higher valuation for the product than those who do not care about the environment, on average.
This paper was accepted by Jayashankar Swaminathan, operations management.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify critical personality traits affecting and influencing buying behaviour in high involvement consumer durables. It also intends to guide practitioners in selecting appropriate marketing frameworks, consumer segments and processes considering the characteristics of consumer behaviour in developing economies.
Design/methodology/approach
It systematically reviews the literature on consumer personality traits, its measurement and related consumer buying behaviour. It uses data collected from potential car buyers at various car showrooms across the Indian subcontinent. The authors have worked with the online survey firm Qualtrics, to gather a data set of 328 car purchase intenders’ responses to their validated survey. The model was tested using the SmartPLS.
Findings
The personality traits of imagination, agreeableness and social factors positively influenced attitude towards automobiles with advanced technology. Further, in line with the theory of planned behaviour, it is seen that a positive attitude towards advanced technology and design for automobiles makes a person more willing to pay for the same.
Research limitations/implications
The study is confined to consumers intending to purchase a car, who are Indian residents.
Originality/value
It adds to the comparatively lesser body of study on the impact of personality traits on intentions and attitudes in high involvement consumer durable purchases. Further, it serves as an empirical examination of the adoption of new technologies, in the context of high involvement consumer durables. For practicing managers, it provides a reference for deciding future development directions and approaches related to the effective market launch strategies and commercialization of advanced technology automobiles in India.
This study aims at embedding sustainability practices by exploring sustainable actions of individuals consisting the educated workforce of Greece. A tailored questionnaire was created and sent via e-mails to 500 respondents, to identify a snapshot of participants daily buying and consuming actions. 483 responses received and analyzed using statistical tools. They respond to recommendations for enhancing sustainability consciousness at individual level, inspiring people to buy sustainable, creating new consumption attitudes that are key factors for moving towards a sustainable citizenship. The findings will further provide information for a second paper on developing the 'Go Sustainable Living' digital application to be uploaded in individuals' mobile phones, for rewarding users with points that correspond to each sustainable action and can later be used for discounts in all participating stores. The analysis showed that <30% of consumers are considered sustainability-conscious, 57.6% are in a transition phase, while 13% fell into the category of non-conscious. To make sustainable decisions and actions in every daily life, individuals need to have knowledge of sustainability, awareness, consciousness of their actions, and be active citizens. An educated workforce armed with sustainability perceptions and competencies is an asset for societies and businesses poised to respond to the sustainability call. Sustainability should not be only an 'utopia' in our societies but an 'eutopia' entailing a life with ecological and social health and prosperity at a local, regional, and global level.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43615-021-00046-9.
This study is an investigation of how environmental consciousness and health consciousness influence consumers' ecological purchase intentions regarding eco‐friendly products (pollution‐reduction behavior) and self‐protective products (pollution‐avoidance behavior). Data collected in a between‐subject experiment indicate that environmental and health consciousness influence ecological purchase intentions. Moreover, haze pollution moderates these effects. On hazy days, environmental consciousness motivates ecological intentions; on clear days, health consciousness motivates ecological purchase intentions. In addition, perceived self‐competence moderates the impacts of environmental consciousness and health consciousness on purchase intentions. Consumers with high self‐competence are only influenced by environmental consciousness. Health consciousness has the strongest effects on consumers who have low self‐competence. Implications for policymakers and managers are discussed.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A humanistic paradigm framework is used to examine leading practices in contemporary creative tourism, with a particular focus on the rural and small-city context. These experiences are drawn from a research-and-application project, CREATOUR, which catalyzed a network of 40 creative-tourism initiatives in Portugal. Focusing on eight initiatives, it examines the ways in which creative-tourism strategies and practices embody and advance a humanistic paradigm. We find that creative tourism promotes human flourishing, engages the other in a journey of mutual discovery, honors the dignity of each stakeholder, and contributes to the common good in intriguing ways.
Los consumidores están cambiando sus preferencias y prioridades de compra en atención a la implementación de prácticas de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (RSE) vistas desde las dimensiones social, ambiental y económica, buscando minimizar el impacto negativo que las organizaciones pueden generar en su entorno. De ahí que, el objetivo de este artículo sea analizar la relación existente entre las tres dimensiones de la RSE y su influencia en la intención de compra de los consumidores. Para tal fin, se realizaron 107 encuestas en línea auto-administradas, de las cuales se obtuvieron 20 variables observables, 3 variables latentes endógenas y 1 exógena. La modelación se hizo con ecuaciones estructurales (SEM por sus siglas en inglés). Los hallazgos sugieren que las actividades de RSE que hace una organización y que están relacionadas con asuntos sociales, ambientales y económicos se asocian positivamente con la intención de compra, sin embargo, se encontró la relación con la dimensión económica no es tan fuerte como con las dos primeras.
This paper contributes to the large volume of literature investigating the link between awareness and pro-environmental behaviours by combining theory and empirical evidence. We first develop a simple model incorporating agents’ environmental awareness in their decision-making processes, which helps us to understand the fundamental mechanism. Using household level data taken from the 2015 China General Social Survey (CGSS), we then empirically test a number of hypotheses derived from the theoretical framework. Our results confirm that the role of awareness is important in affecting household energy consumption and pro-environmental choices. Both accessibility and affordability of using energy improves social wellbeing in terms of health status. Awareness alone does not necessarily reduce energy consumption, but subjective factors can play important roles. Moreover, household’s subjective attitude can significantly influence decisions to purchase more energy efficient products and encourage pro-environmental choices. Policy implications can be drawn from these results that government should play a more active role in raising public awareness of sustainable development.
Previous research on sustainability and health-related product labels has sought to develop segmentation frameworks based on consumers' self-reports. However, consumers are likely to overstate the effect that these labels have on their purchasing behavior. Moreover, existing consumer segmentation frameworks do not distinguish among product labels based on whether they offer public benefits (e.g., environmental benefits, animal welfare, social equity) vs. private benefits (e.g., cost savings, health benefits) vs. both. This article addresses these gaps by 1) developing a consumer segmentation based on consumers' actual purchases of sustainability and health-related products and 2) differentiating product labels based on the benefits they offer – public, private or both. Using cluster analysis, it assesses the actual daily consumption of 132 Italian consumers over 30 months and more than 370,000 transactions. The results indicate three segments of consumers: collectivists, individualists and indifferents. Moreover, the findings show that consumer segments are affected differently depending on whether a product label promises either public benefits, private benefits or both.
This article assesses the impacts of individual-level environmental attitudes and national-level environmental governance on individual sustainable consumption. Multilevel analysis based on data from 31 countries shows that three key environmental attitudes, environmental concern, environmental efficacy, and perceived environmental impact, are all positively associated with sustainable consumption behavior. Environmental governance is found to have different impacts in high-income compared with other countries analyzed. In high-income countries, effective environmental governance encourages people to participate in sustainable consumption, whereas it discourages people’s participation in other countries. In addition, in high-income countries, people with strong proenvironmental attitudes are more likely to consume sustainably in the face of weak environmental governance; in other countries, however, the attitude–behavior association is strengthened in the face of effective governance. The results highlight the importance of individual attitudes and the broader context in influencing proenvironmental behaviors, and suggest that sustainable consumption should be understood as a social process accomplished through collaboration between individual consumers and institutions. (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916516680264)
Technological advances have led to vast amounts of data that has been collected, compiled, and archived, and that is now easily accessible for research. As a result, utilizing existing data for research is becoming more prevalent, and therefore secondary data analysis. While secondary analysis is flexible and can be utilized in several ways, it is also an empirical exercise and a systematic method with procedural and evaluative steps, just as in collecting and evaluating primary data. This paper asserts that secondary data analysis is a viable method to utilize in the process of inquiry when a systematic procedure is followed and presents an illustrative research application utilizing secondary data analysis in library and information science research.
Wales is one of the few countries in the world that has adopted sustainability as a central organising principle for public policy. This paper describes the development of a sustainability segmentation model that can be used by to engage the public across different sustainability policy areas. A nationally representative survey (n=1,538) was conducted containing questions on the three pillars of sustainable development, human values, perceptions of climate change and energy security, and self-reported behaviours in the domains of household energy use, travel and transport, waste and recycling, and water use. A series of cluster analyses identified six segments of the public that relate differently to sustainability. Even if the segments were solely constructed on the basis of thirteen distal psycho-social indicators, they had distinct socio-demographic profiles and diverse patterns of self-reported environmental behaviour. A 15-item screening tool was developed to replicate the segments with an average 72% accuracy.
This study reviewed 53 empirical articles on green purchase behavior from 2000 to 2014. This is one of the first study that reviewed articles related to attitude - behaviour inconsistencies in the context of green purchasing. This review identified various prevalent motives, facilitators and barriers affecting purchase decision-making towards green products and provides possible explanations for inconsistencies reported in green purchase behavior. All These factors are divided into those unique to the individual decision maker and those considered situational in nature. Consumer's environmental concern and products functional attributes emerged as the two major determinants of consumer green purchase behavior. The paper informs about the main predictors of consumer's green purchase behavior. In this way, it will help policy makers and managers in formulating and implementing strategies to encourage green purchasing.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: ( 1 ) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, ( 2 ) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and ( 3 ) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated rating scale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
The secondary analysis of existing data has become an increasingly popular method of enhancing
the overall efficiency of the health research enterprise. But this effort depends on governments, funding
agencies, and researchers making the data collected in primary research studies and in health-related
registry systems available to qualified researchers who were not involved in the original research or in the
creation and maintenance of the registry systems. The benefits of doing this are clear but the barriers are
many, so the effort of increasing access to such material has been slow, particularly in low- and middleincome countries. This article introduces the rationale and concept of the secondary analysis of existing
data, describes several sources of publicly available datasets, provides general guidelines for conducting
secondary analyses of existing data, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of analyzing existing
data.
Background:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionImplications Sustainable development (SD) is a complex idea, based on environmental, economic and social dimensions. In line with SD, education for sustainable development (ESD) is an approach to teaching that combines cognitive and affective domains and aims to build empowerment abilities.Purpose:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionImplications The purpose of this article is to investigate effects of the implementation of ESD in Sweden, in terms of developing students’ sustainability consciousness (SC). Two groups of students were included: one was from schools with a profile of ESD and the other one was from comparable schools without explicit ESD-profile.Sample:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionImplications A total of 638 students from upper secondary schools (grade 12) in science-related or social science-related programs participated in the study.Design and methods:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionImplications A procedure was created for the selection of schools considered to be the most active in using an ESD approach as well as comparable schools with no explicit ESD approach. During spring 2013, the students responded to a questionnaire based on sustainability knowingness, attitudes and behaviors within the environmental, economic and social dimensions of SD that together constitute the concept of SC. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionImplications The results indicate that there are significant differences in SC between students from schools that teach with an ESD approach compared to students from regular schools. Furthermore, a significant difference between the two groups of students was found in the underlying economic dimension of SC. No significant differences were found in the environmental and social dimensions of SC.Conclusions:Jump to sectionBackground:Purpose:Sample:Design and methods:Results:Conclusions:IntroductionMethod
ResultsDiscussionImplications Although the results show that ESD-profiled schools have effect on students’ SC, the effects are relatively small. Therefore, the effects and nature of the implementation of ESD are discussed.
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a vast field and widely used by many applied researchers in the social and behavioral sciences. Over the years, many software pack-ages for structural equation modeling have been developed, both free and commercial. However, perhaps the best state-of-the-art software packages in this field are still closed-source and/or commercial. The R package lavaan has been developed to provide applied researchers, teachers, and statisticians, a free, fully open-source, but commercial-quality package for latent variable modeling. This paper explains the aims behind the develop-ment of the package, gives an overview of its most important features, and provides some examples to illustrate how lavaan works in practice.
Studies that use the norm activation theory (Schwartz, 1977) to explain pro-environmental behavior often focus on personal norms and on two situational activators, i.e., awareness of need and situational responsibility (e.g., Vining & Ebreo, 1992). The theory's other situational activators, efficacy and ability, and its personality trait activators, awareness of consequences and denial of responsibility, are generally ignored. The current article reports on two studies - a mail survey among the general public (N = 345) and a laboratory experiment among university freshmen (N = 166)–that found that (1) inclusion of additional activators improved the norm activation theory's potential to explain pro-environmental behavior and (2) personal norms significantly mediated the impact of activators on pro-environmental behavior. Theoretical issues and issues concerning environmental management evoked by these results are discussed.
Sustainable food consumption is an important aspect of sustainable development. When adopting a sustainable food lifestyle, consumers are confronted with complex choices. Today's food consumption is too complex to be explained by socio-demographic factors exclusively. A broader perspective is needed. In order to explain behaviour across different consumer segments better, relatively homogenous segments of food consumers were identified by segmenting food consumers based on a wide range of variables. The current study aims to provide an overview of published studies that have segmented consumers with regard to sustainable food consumption. The literature review has been conducted by searching SciVerse Scopus for all relevant articles available until November 2010. The main criterion for including a specific study was the inclusion of empirical analyses of primary data, resulting in consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption. Sixteen articles were incorporated in the final analysis. First, the variables used for segmentation and profiling in the included articles have been categorized into three levels of abstraction: personality characteristics, food-related lifestyles and behaviour. The three levels of abstraction proved to be helpful in categorizing the segmentation studies. The findings indicate that variables on all three levels were efficient in differentiating consumer segments regarding sustainability. In addition, the importance of price and health differed across the segments, although these variables are only indirectly related to sustainability. Second, the three most frequently identified consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption were: ‘greens’, ‘potential greens’ and ‘non-greens’. These segments differed from one another on all three levels of abstraction. This implies that future segmentation studies should include variables on all levels of abstraction to get a complete picture of existing sustainable consumer segments. Marketers should be aware that targeting specific segments based on socio-demographic variables exclusively is not sufficient. Personality characteristics, lifestyle and behaviour are all important to take into consideration. Attempts at stimulating sustainable consumption might be most effective when differences across consumer segments are taken into account. Future research is needed to explore the characteristics of different sustainable food consumer segments with respect to their potential contributions in promoting sustainable development
Using a clusterwise regression analysis of French and Australian wine consumers, the authors explore the question of whether global marketers, who target the same segment around the world, are using a better strategy than international marketers who segment each national market and target the most attractive ones. Using involvement as a segmenting variable, several clusters were found, some warranting the global approach and others more suited for the nationally focused one. Based on the description of each segment, various strategic options appear to be open to retail marketers.
The concept of voluntary simplicity (VS) is taken as a starting point to investigate consumers' use of information sources when making purchases of sustainable technological products and services. Differences in information seeking and sources consulted and trusted are investigated with a view to increasing the uptake of sustainable domestic technologies such as energy efficient fridges and washing machines over more grey alternatives. Clear patterns both in sources used and the information seeking process were found between different groups of consumers and priorities for purchase were also identified. The results suggest different strategies for marketing sustainable technologies to these different consumer groups.
The text of this article is available from; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1046
Two endemic problems face researchers in the social sciences (e.g., Marketing, Economics, Psychology, and Finance): unobserved heterogeneity and measurement error in data. Structural equation modeling is a powerful tool for dealing with these difficulties using a simultaneous equation framework with unobserved constructs and manifest indicators which are error-prone. When estimating structural equation models, however, researchers frequently treat the data as if they were collected from a single population (Muthén [Muthén, Bengt O. 1989. Latent variable modeling in heterogeneous populations. Psychometrika 54 557–585.]). This assumption of homogeneity is often unrealistic. For example, in multidimensional expectancy value models, consumers from different market segments can have different belief structures (Bagozzi [Bagozzi, Richard P. 1982. A field investigation of causal relations among cognitions, affect, intentions, and behavior. J. Marketing Res. 19 562–584.]). Research in satisfaction suggests that consumer decision processes vary across segments (Day [Day, Ralph L. 1977. Extending the concept of consumer satisfaction. W. D. Perreault, ed. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 4. Association for Consumer Research, Atlanta, 149–154.]).
This paper shows that aggregate analysis which ignores heterogeneity in structural equation models produces misleading results and that traditional fit statistics are not useful for detecting unobserved heterogeneity in the data. Furthermore, sequential analyses that first form groups using cluster analysis and then apply multigroup structural equation modeling are not satisfactory.
We develop a general finite mixture structural equation model that simultaneously treats heterogeneity and forms market segments in the context of a specified model structure where all the observed variables are measured with error. The model is considerably more general than cluster analysis, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, and multigroup structural equation modeling. In particular, the model subsumes several specialized models including finite mixture simultaneous equation models, finite mixture confirmatory factor analysis, and finite mixture second-order factor analysis.
The finite mixture structural equation model should be of interest to academics in a wide range of disciplines (e.g., Consumer Behavior, Marketing, Economics, Finance, Psychology, and Sociology) where unobserved heterogeneity and measurement error are problematic. In addition, the model should be of interest to market researchers and product managers for two reasons. First, the model allows the manager to perform response-based segmentation using a consumer decision process model, while explicitly allowing for both measurement and structural error. Second, the model allows managers to detect unobserved moderating factors which account for heterogeneity. Once managers have identified the moderating factors, they can link segment membership to observable individual-level characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic and demographic variables) and improve marketing policy.
We applied the finite mixture structural equation model to a direct marketing study of customer satisfaction and estimated a large model with 8 unobserved constructs and 23 manifest indicators. The results show that there are three consumer segments that vary considerably in terms of the importance they attach to the various dimensions of satisfaction. In contrast, aggregate analysis is misleading because it incorrectly suggests that except for price all dimensions of satisfaction are significant for all consumers. Methodologically, the finite mixture model is robust; that is, the parameter estimates are stable under double cross-validation and the method can be used to test large models. Furthermore, the double cross-validation results show that the finite mixture model is superior to sequential data analysis strategies in terms of goodness-of-fit and interpretability.
We performed four simulation experiments to test the robustness of the algorithm using both recursive and nonrecursive model specifications. Specifically, we examined the robustness of different model selection criteria (e.g., CAIC, BIC, and GFI) in choosing the correct number of clusters for exactly identified and overidentified models assuming that the distributional form is correctly specified. We also examined the effect of distributional misspecification (i.e., departures from multivariate normality) on model performance. The results show that when the data are heterogeneous, the standard goodness-of-fit statistics for the aggregate model are not useful for detecting heterogeneity. Furthermore, parameter recovery is poor. For the finite mixture model, however, the BIC and CAIC criteria perform well in detecting heterogeneity and in identifying the true number of segments. In particular, parameter recovery for both the measurement and structural models is highly satisfactory. The finite mixture method is robust to distributional misspecification; in addition, the method significantly outperforms aggregate and sequential data analysis methods when the form of heterogeneity is misspecified (i.e., the true model has random coefficients).
Researchers and practitioners should only use the mixture methodology when substantive theory supports the structural equation model, a priori segmentation is infeasible, and theory suggests that the data are heterogeneous and belong to a finite number of unobserved groups. We expect these conditions to hold in many social science applications and, in particular, market segmentation studies.
Future research should focus on large-scale simulation studies to test the structural equation mixture model using a wide range of models and statistical distributions. Theoretical research should extend the model by allowing the mixing proportions to depend on prior information and/or subject-specific variables. Finally, in order to provide a fuller treatment of heterogeneity, we need to develop a general random coefficient structural equation model. Such a model is presently unavailable in the statistical and psychometric literatures.
Unsustainable consumption patterns of the North (or rather of the global affluent consumers class) have been identified by Agenda 21 as one of the key driving forces behind the unsustainable development. However, neither accounting based on the system of national accounts SNA nor household economics provide the proper instruments to assess the environmental impact of household decision making. Eco-efficiency assessments as familiar in the business sector provide no appropriate tool for households. As an alternative an environmental space based assessment scheme is suggested covering the major pressures on the environment caused by household decisions. The methodology is used twice: once to analyse the environmental relevance of the main activity clusters of household consumption and once to identify the dominant acts of consumption within each cluster. The latter provide the basis for deriving environmental performance indicators. A rough analysis of household influence potentials permits to identify housing, eating and mobility as the three priority fields for action for minimising the environmental impact of households. Extending the influence analysis actor matrixes are derived allocating influence and thus responsibility for environmental pressures to different groups of economic agents.
Based on a review of the main analytical approaches found in the literature, in this paper we establish a multidimensional and behaviour-oriented definition of environmental consciousness. We propose a method to operationalize this definition with the final aim of obtaining summary measures (or indexes) of this phenomenon which can be applied to different social contexts and time periods. The data obtained from a survey on environmental attitudes and behaviour conducted in 2004 among Andalusians (Ecobarómetro de Andalucía 2004) is used as an empirical basis for the proposed operationalization. The resulting measures are then employed to identify social groups according to the diverse forms of their environmental consciousness and to explore their basic socio-demographic profiles
A partir de las principales aproximaciones analíticas presentes en la literatura, en este trabajo establecemos una definición de conciencia ambiental multidimensional y orientada a la conducta; proponemos un método para su operacionalización con el objetivo de elaborar medidas sintéticas de este fenómeno en distintos contextos sociales. La operacionalización propuesta utiliza como base empírica los resultados del Ecobarómetro de Andalucía (EBA 2004). Los indicadores resultantes son utilizados seguidamente para identificar distintos grupos sociales según la naturaleza de su conciencia ambiental.
Responding to the global call for a “sustainable economy” requires meaningful insights into sustainabilityconscious
consumers and their actual buying behaviors. Sustainable consumption is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon
because it encompasses several distinct behavioral patterns and consumption types. Therefore, companies
are well advised to recognize multiple types of sustainability-conscious consumers with different expectations,
attitudes, and values and to implement targeting strategies that do not rest on the assumption of
homogeneity. Thus, the objective of this study is to provide a more fine-grained picture of (un)sustainable
consumer segments and their differentiated effects in different product markets. Based on three large datasets,
we create a robust six-segment typology of consumer consciousness regarding sustainable consumption. By using
panel data on actual purchases, the results show not only that sustainability concerns significantly positively
influence actual sustainable purchases, as expected, but also that sustainable buying can occur independently of
sustainability concerns.
Behaviours of individuals and households have major and cumulative impacts on the ecology and sustainable development. A generic segmentation model of sustainable behaviour is presented based on three fundamental drivers of behaviour: motivation, opportunity and habit. Four segments of consumers are distinguished: low motivation/low opportunity, high motivation/high opportunity, low motivation/high opportunity and high motivation/low opportunity. Strong unsustainable habits are likely to be found among low motivation/low opportunity consumers, while high motivation/high opportunity consumers have the propensity to adopt sustainable lifestyles and form strong sustainable habits. This model is then used to highlight how different intervention techniques may be effective for the different population segments. Traditional interventions to promote sustainable behaviours (e.g. goal setting, feedback), as well as alternative approaches, are discussed, including using habit discontinuities, mental models, choice architecture and systemic approaches. The model may thus form a starting point for selecting optimal behaviour change strategies in specific contexts.
Over the past decades, environmental sustainability has raised at the top of the international political agenda and has been recognized as a key driver of innovation. As a result, the number of companies developing green products has been rapidly growing and consumers have shown an increasing interest for these products. Thus, understanding the main characteristics of green products, identifying factors affecting their price and consumers’ willingness to pay more for them, sales channels and promotional tools (the 4Ps of Green Marketing) would be very useful for companies aiming at designing, developing and marketing green products. For this reason, deeply understanding Green Marketing would foster, on the one hand, cleaner production through the development of green products and, on the other hand, sustainable consumption through the successful marketing of them. To this aim, this study reviews the body of knowledge on the topic, through a systematic review of the literature. Specifically, this paper analyzes: 1) the dominant definitions of Green Marketing (and related concepts) and their evolution over time, 2) the different steps to build a Green Marketing Strategy, and 3) the characteristics of Green Marketing Mix elements. After searching for academic publications in three databases (EBSCO, Scopus, and Web of Science) and selecting publications based on their relevance for the stated aims, 114 studies have been included in the review. Results show that the definition of Green Marketing has changed over time according to the growing relevance of environmental sustainability. Regarding the Green Marketing Strategy, several ways of segmenting consumers have been identified; studies converge in giving greater relevance to green brand positioning rather than to green product positioning and many of them see it as a chance of differentiation. Referring to the Green Marketing Mix, results show that: many types of green products exist; consumers are willing to pay a premium price according to products’ functional attributes or their responsibility towards the natural environment; closed-loop supply chain and reverse logistics play a key role; a careful definition of advertisement contents is essential and ecolabels can be important tools. This study provides an in-depth analysis and synthesis of the body of knowledge so far produced in the field of Green Marketing and, as such, it has important implications for managers, scholars, and students.
The article discusses the factors influencing proenvironmental consumer behaviors and the policy implications of knowledge about these influences. It presents a conceptual framework that emphasizes the determining roles of both personal and contextual factors and especially of their interactions. The practical usefulness of the framework is illustrated by evidence of the interactive effects of information and material incentives – typical interventions in the personal and contextual domains, respectively. The author concludes that incentives and information have different functions, so that efforts focused on only one are sometimes misplaced; however, properly deployed, they can have synergistic effects on behavior. Some policy conclusions are drawn for consumer and environmental policy.
This paper provides a review and categorization of the environmentally related research published in the major English language marketing journals over the period from 1971 to 1997. It traces the development from the early research which focused predominantly on the characterization of the "green" consumer, conceptualization of environmental consciousness, environmentally related behaviours such as recycling, and attitudes towards environmental problems such as pollution. This was followed by a period in which energy conservation, legislation, and public policy issues were added to the agenda which remained predominantly managerialist in perspective. While the same issues were studied within the 1990s, the research agenda was expanded again to include broader issues such as environmental values and institutions. Most recently, the macro issues of sustainable marketing and its relationship to the dominant social paradigm have been introduced into the literature. The paper concludes by arguing that the examination of the macro issues from an interdisciplinary perspective is necessary for further development of marketing thought in this area, and that a synthesis of the macro and micro perspectives is necessary for effective and enduring public policy regarding the marketing/environmental relationship.
A review of the literature suggests that traditional segmentation variables (socio-demographics) and personality indicators are of limited use for characterizing the green consumer. Explores the extent to which variables, specific to environmental consciousness, are better able to explain consumers’ pro-environmental purchasing behaviour. Two conceptualizations of the purchasing domain are addressed, namely general green purchasing behaviour and specific purchasing habits relating to five green product categories. Two data sets are used in the analysis, namely marketing students and members of the United Kingdom general public. Suggests that measures of environmental consciousness are closely linked to environmentally-responsible purchasing behaviour, although the strength of the relationships varies according to sample type, the conceptualization of the purchasing domain and the particular product category at issue.
This paper analyses the influence of environmental knowledge on pro-environmental behaviour among university students from countries with different levels of economic development (USA, Spain, Mexico and Brazil). The explanatory variables include formal and informal education sources, gender, motivations, attitudes and perceived effectiveness of pro-environmental behaviour. Differences are found between students from emerging and developed countries which suggest that external factors (culture, environmental structures and services in each country) might play a relevant role in university students’ behaviour towards the environment. A multinomial ordered logit model is applied to estimate the influence of the covariates on the environmental performance probability. The results also suggest that motivation and perceived effectiveness are not only significant variables in both groups but also the most important ones in explaining pro-environmental behaviour. While knowledge (objective and subjective) influences pro-environmental behaviour, attitude and informal education are not relevant variables.
Keywords: environmental knowledge, university students, pro-environmental behaviour, cross-country comparison
This article develops a conceptual framework for advancing theories of environ- mentally significant individual behavior and reports on the attempts of the author's research group and others to develop such a theory. It discusses defini- tions of environmentally significant behavior; classifies the behaviors and their causes; assesses theories of environmentalism, focusing especially on value-belief-norm theory; evaluates the relationship between environmental concern and behavior; and summarizes evidence on the factors that determine environmentally significant behaviors and that can effectively alter them. The article concludes by presenting some major propositions supported by available research and some principles for guiding future research and informing the design of behavioral programs for environmental protection. Recent developments in theory and research give hope for building the under- standing needed to effectively alter human behaviors that contribute to environ- mental problems. This article develops a conceptual framework for the theory of environmentally significant individual behavior, reports on developments toward such a theory, and addresses five issues critical to building a theory that can inform efforts to promote proenvironmental behavior.
Previous research has extensively studied consumer's environmental and social concerns. However, measuring the value of the environmental or social dimension of a product remains a challenge. This paper proposes to partially fill this gap by measuring the double ‘Fair Trade and organic’ labels' value using an experimental method – the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak's mechanism. Two ‘organic and Fair Trade’ and two conventional chocolate products were tested on a sample of 102 consumers. Results show that organic and Fair Trade labels increase consumers' willingness to pay, and allow the identification of three consumers clusters. The first cluster represents people insensitive to the label. For the second cluster, the ‘organic and Fair Trade’ labels' influence on the improving image of the products is positive and important. And finally, for the third cluster, the valuation of the ‘organic and Fair Trade’ label is determined by the product's taste. Our research contributes to a better understanding of consumers' valuation of Fair Trade and organic labels, leading to our conclusions, which offer managerial implications with respect to this market (importance of taste and usefulness of double labels).
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.
In this paper, we analyze the market for organic products in eight European countries, based on differences in their respective value systems. With a significant sample of 8014 consumers, we first identify international segments in the European organic products market using the Values Theory. Then we apply the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine how European consumers use attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control to form their purchase intention for organic products. Results show that subjective norms are the main underlying factor driving consumer behavior concerning these products. This effect is higher for the group of countries whose citizens score higher on Schwartz's value scale. In this segment of countries, people are more likely to be affected by what others think, which means that the best approach is to increase social awareness of the relevance of purchasing organic products. Organic products represent a potentially profitable opportunity for companies with an international horizon. Results are also useful for consumers and public administrations.
A number of the environmental problems threatening our habitat are to a greater or lesser extent caused by present consumer lifestyles. More sustainable lifestyles cannot be obtained without marked changes in consumer attitudes and consumer behaviour. To arrive at a synthesis of what is known, and of what needs to be known, about the determinants of consumer behaviour with an environmental impact, a frame of reference employing three main classes of variables is used: motivation, ability, and opportunity. Apart from surveying the research of others, illustrations are given from studies carried out by the group of researchers at the Aarhus School of Business to which the authors belong; this research has been mainly concerned with waste handling and recycling. In addition, various strategies for changing consumer behaviour in an environment-friendly direction are considered. Information, moral arguments, and economic incentives are discussed as instruments for change. In setting goals for change strategies, broad goals such as heightened psychic and communicative activity in matters of environmental concern ought to be considered as an alternative to the elicitation of very specific behaviours.
Four studies are reported on the structure of environmental attitudes. Based on Stern & Dietz' (1994) value-basis theory for environmental attitudes, we predicted that concerns for environmental issues would form three correlated factors. The first study presents the results from a confirmatory factor analysis of the proposed three-factor model among a sample of 1010 U.S. college students. The second study presents the results from a telephone survey of 1005 U.S. respondents. The third study examines the relationship between the three identified types of environmental concerns, existing measures of environmental attitudes, empathy, and social-value orientation. The final study presents the results from a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis examining the factor structure of environmental concerns among college students in ten countries. Additional analyses are provided on the relationship between values and environmental concerns. Taken together, the results provide strong evidence for the distinction between egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns.
This paper explores whether socio-demographics still have a role to play in profiling green consumers. Following an interdisciplinary review of the literature, the second part of the paper attempts to address shortcomings identified in previous research. Specifically, hypotheses are developed concerning the relationship between six key socio-demographic variables and five valid and reliable measures of environmental consciousness. These hypotheses are subsequently tested on a large nationwide sample of British consumers and conclusions drawn on the utility of socio-demographic variables for profiling green consumers.