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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.
... It has been known for quite some time that specific details of pro-environment attitude and behavior can depend at least partly on country socio-economic conditions [1][2][3]. Even within a particular country, consumers are also likely to have a range of views, i.e., there will be multiple segments with differing attitudes and behaviors [4,5]. Discussing the often-lamented gap between green attitudes and green behavior, Sharma [6] (p. 1225) asserts that "segmentation may help in better understanding the varied concerns of the consumers". ...
... "The literature on segmenting environmentally conscious consumers suggests that . . . attitudinal and behavioural variables best determine green or sustainable consumer segments" [4] (p. 2). ...
... Green segmentation traditionally has been mostly socio-demographics: this is one reason for conflicting results. As Golob and Kronegger [4] observed, attitudes and behaviors are much better ways to understand consumers. As just summarized here, this includes not just an overall merger of attitudes across various segments but assessing things segment Beyond the frequently observed divergence of environmental attitudes country by country, noted in the introduction, there is also divergence segment by attitude segment. ...
This discussion examines segmentation by environmental attitudes in Kuwait using a survey (n = 1121) of adult Kuwaiti citizens. Attitudes were measured with a shortened version of the Environmental Attitudes Inventory (EAI) scale as adapted in prior work about the UAE. Consistent with research suggesting that environmental attitudes frequently reflect local conditions, the dimensional structure in Kuwait was not very similar to that of the UAE case. The Kuwait data do, however, yield a dimensional structure which reflects the broader debate in the sustainability literature on the relative balance of environmental vs. socio-economic concerns. Cluster analysis on these dimensions yielded five distinct segments ranging from not very strong concern about either to strong concern about both, for focusing on one or the other. Policy implications of addressing different views about environmentalism are discussed.
... Furthermore, regarding other socioeconomic and demographic factors, generally, most literature suggests that women (Casaló and Escario 2018;Farahmand et al. 2014;Pirani and Secondi 2011;Torgler et al. 2008), highly educated (Aral and López-Sintas 2023;Casaló and Escario 2018;Cheung et al. 2015;Golob and Kronegger 2019;Petrovic et al. 2013;Robelia et al. 2011;Yucedag et al. 2018), with good income levels (Aral and López-Sintas 2023;Casaló and Escario 2018;do Paço and Raposo, 2009;López-Mosquera et al. 2015;Yucedag et al. 2018), married couples (Dupont 2004;Jacob et al. 2009;Patel et al. 2017), and urban residents (López-Mosquera et al. 2015;Shen and Saijo 2008) tended to exhibit more environmental behavioural intentions. Despite these statements, the literature is not uniform. ...
... In this respect, some authors have argued that environmental knowledge and pro-environmental attitudes are highly interconnected and strengthen each other (Bamberg 2003). Research states that knowledge of environmental problems, their consequences and possible solutions (action, skills and strategies) can lead to changes in behaviour at the individual level (e.g., Botetzagias et al. 2015;Gifford and Sussman 2012;López-Mosquera et al. 2015;Saphores et al. 2012). This raises the question of the role played by information sources. ...
Global awareness of environment-related problems is progressively becoming a priority for public authorities all around the world. This led to the creation of environmental policies and a frequent sensitisation of citizens to the risks, associated with environmental damage, which calls for a balanced and competitive socioeconomic development system and a better quality of life for the population. This eco-friendly change requires the development of environmental awareness at both institutional and individual levels. Accordingly, by using ordered probit models and secondary information from the Eurobarometer on attitudes of citizens towards the environment, this study contributes to understanding the differences in the determinants of pro-environmental attitude and behaviour among European Union residents, and more particularly, differences between older and younger generational groups. Our results show that residents from older generations, women, living in cities or large urban areas, not living alone, with no economic difficulties, part of the wealthier classes of society, and with higher life satisfaction, are associated with a higher pro-environmental behaviour. In addition, results show that some determinants are highly correlated to the type of generation considered, such as household composition, class of society, or attitude towards life satisfaction.
... In contrast to environmental awareness, which largely refers to environmental knowledge and education, environmental consciousness represents a product of this knowledge which has been embedded in human minds [46]. In other words, environmental consciousness portrays a deeper understanding of the environmental implications of human actions influenced by environmental knowledge obtained from various sources, such as education and the media [47]. ...
... However, Hwang [97] argues that the moderation effect represents a more meaningful variable to study given that the trait of collectivism is more likely to reinforce individual attitudes than affect them directly. This is because environmental attitudes are formed under the influence of various factors, including education and the media [47]. Hence, the following research hypotheses are formulated for testing in the current study: ...
Although food donation plays an important societal role in redistributing surplus food to people in need, little is known about the antecedents of individuals' intention to donate food. Yet, such knowledge can inform the design of marketing and promotion campaigns to encourage food donation. This study explores the role of altruistic and collectivistic values in individuals' intention to donate surplus food. Data are collected in Pakistan, a collectivist society, by the survey method (n = 416). The results show that pure altruism exerts the strongest effect on surplus food donation intention with environmental consciousness driving its occurrence. Impure altruism, driven by self-interest, has lower, yet significant, influence. Collectivistic values moderate the effect of pure altruism and attitudes towards food waste reduction on intention to donate. The results suggest that, to make food donation more appealing in collectivistic societies by activating pure altruism, marketing and promotion campaigns should emphasise the benefits of donated food for the people living in the same community as food donors. Campaigns should also publicise the efforts of food donors to provide them with emotional rewards, thus triggering impure altruism.
... By utilizing biocatalysis, the fragrance industry has the potential to create more sustainable and environmentally friendly fragrance products. As some consumer segments become more environmentally conscious, demand for sustainable fragrance products is likely to increase (Amberg & Fogarassy, 2019;Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Therefore, biocatalysis represents a promising approach to meeting this demand while also addressing the environmental impact of the fragrance industry. ...
... perfume choice and purchase) is influenced by a variety of factors such as culture, personal preference, and marketing (Milotic, 2003). Additionally, sustainability and ethical concerns are becoming increasingly important to some consumer segments (Golob & Kronegger, 2019), who might be seeking out fragrances that are responsibly sourced and produced. As these attributes might be difficult to judge by consumers, perceived naturalness or more easily accessible information about the product (e.g., origin of fragrance, packaging) might serve as proxy information to consumers. ...
... In one estimate, 40% of American consumers participate in the $300 billion conscious consumer market (Cohen & Muñoz, 2017), while another study estimates that sustainable products (i.e., those that have environmental labels and/or are certified by a third party) would have accounted for 25% of total retail sales in the United States in 2021 (Nielsen, 2018b). Similarly, in Europe about 26% of consumers can be classified as "pro-environmentalists," who are willing to pay more for sustainable products (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). Globally, about 81% of respondents in a survey feel that companies should contribute to helping the environment (Nielsen, Accepted by Yanchong Karen Zheng, after two revisions. ...
... According to studies conducted by IBM and the National Retail Federation, purpose-driven consumers (who are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce their environmental impact) already account for the largest segment of the population in 2022 at 44%, from 40% in 2020, in two samples of over 19,000 consumers worldwide (Haller et al., 2022). As detailed later, there is empirical evidence that some consumers in some settings voluntarily pay more for lower carbon footprint products or services (Brouwer et al., 2008;Diederich & Goeschl, 2014;Golob & Kronegger, 2019;Lanz et al., 2018;MacKerron et al., 2009;Schwirplies & Ziegler, 2016;Schwirplies et al., 2019). Facing these trends, many large consumer products firms, such as Unilever and L'Oreal, plan to introduce carbon labeling in their products (Asad, 2021). ...
Carbon emissions reduction initiatives have received considerable attention at the corporate level. Companies such as Daimler, Apple, and Amazon have publicly declared their goal of becoming carbon neutral or “net zero” in a near future. They are responding to a growing demand for sustainable products and services. Companies have a variety of options for carbon emission reductions available to them, including internal reductions such as adopting renewable energy as well as buying carbon offsets. This raises the question of whether consumers perceive the different types of carbon emission reductions as equivalent, or whether they favor the implementation of internal measures. We investigate this issue empirically through surveys and incentive-compatible discrete choice experiments. We find clear consumer preferences and willingness to pay for companies to reduce their carbon footprint when companies internally reduce their controllable emissions rather than buying carbon offsets for these emissions, and it is especially true for eco-conscious consumers. Consumers place roughly the same value, however, on internal reductions in controllable emissions and buying offsets for the same amount of uncontrollable emissions
... Awareness of the importance of preserving and conserving the environment is the basis of changes in the community's life practices. Golob and Kronegger (2019) affirm that environmental concern refers to a person's emotional level related to environmental problems. Benedek and Takácsné György (2013) explained that a person's environmental concern consists of three dimensions: knowledge about environmental issues, awareness of the environment, and sensitivity to the environment. ...
The issue of environmental pollution has become the primary coverage of today's newspapers, and it has become increasingly serious lately. There are many causes for this matter, including uncontrolled development and high population growth, especially in big cities, which causes more and more resources to be needed to support the lives and consumption of the population. To overcome the problem, green consumption has become the government's and environmentalists' focus and agenda. This study aims to identify the influence of environmental consciousness, eco-label, attitude, green advertising, and price on Gen Z green consumption. The population in this research is Gen Z in Malaysia, with a total sample of 300 respondents. This research uses non-probability convenience sampling as a sampling method. The research technique used is a quantitative survey study. The results first revealed that Gen Z consumption is at a high level. The results showed significant relationships between independent variables and Gen Z green consumption. Eco-label also acts as the most significant predictor of Gen Z green consumption. Research findings show that Gen Z highly emphasizes global issues such as social justice, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. In addition, this study also shows how Gen Z can have a lasting impact on global awareness and how leaders and political institutions need to adapt to the latest needs and expectations of society, especially Gen Z. Moreover, by providing information about the product's environmental impact, eco-friendly labels can help Gen Z consumers make the right decisions and encourage them to choose more sustainable options.
... On the other hand, the covariance obtained for PBI and PB was 0.133, which could indicate a moderated relationship. The TBP establishes that behavioral intention is the strongest and most direct predictor of behavior; however, the magnitude of this covariance suggests a gap between intention and action, a phenomenon widely studied by authors such as [59,60]. However, this gap could be because, although individuals intend to act in favor of the environment, the lack of resources or social aspects may limit the ability to carry out these behaviors. ...
Using data from Round 11 of the European Social Survey, covering Switzerland, this article employs Structural Equation Modeling to investigate the associations between psychosocial factors and pro-environmental behavior. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, which integrates subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and attitudes to predict behavioral intentions and actual pro-environmental behaviors. The findings reveal that perceived social norms are strong predictors of pro-environmental behavioral intentions, illustrating the power of expectations from other people on the propensity to act sustainably. However, the effects of attitudes toward the environment and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention were minimal or unobserved. It indicates that respondents may support environmental and sustainability issues, but this is often not matched by strong intentions to act. Additionally, the perceived control over pro-environmental behavior does not directly affect actual behavior. This suggests that external barriers may prevent individuals from performing sustainable behavior, even if they are motivated. The measurement invariance across gender groups was also examined in the study, which is essential to confirm the equivalence of measurements, and observed differences in latent variables could not be an artifact due to potential measurement bias. The findings suggest that subjective norms and pro-environmental behaviors are more likely to be higher among women, while men scored higher on perceived control. This indicates that women internalize social expectations stronger than men do to act, but for men, they feel able to act, but this confidence does not imply action. This research focuses on the significance of social influences in ecologically friendly action and on the discrepancies between intention and behavior. This study adds to our understanding of the determinants of pro-environmental behavior, providing relevant insights for policymakers to inform more effective interventions that close the gap between awareness and action.
... Findings of this study indicate that individuals with high levels of altruism and concern for the environment (Gen Z) are more likely to engage in eco-friendly behaviour, reflecting their belief in the importance of their individual actions in addressing environmental issues. Golob and Kronegger (2019) posit that environmental considerations have gained prominence in consumer decision-making, as evidenced by the willingness of consumers to pay a premium for socially and environmentally responsible products. The minimization of textile and apparel consumption is not the sole solution to environmental problems, but enhancing consumer awareness of the impact of their daily consumption habits on the environment, as well as promoting environmentally sustainable apparel consumption and disposal practices, is crucial (Liang & Xu, 2018). ...
Modern society is facing a multitude of challenges and environmental problems related to excessive consumption and extensive utilization, or even depletion, of natural resources caused by various industries. These issues are compounded by the fashion businesses selling attractive, trendy, mass-produced cheap clothes, while exploiting labour force with unsatisfactory working conditions. The objective of this study was to examine generational differences in environmental concerns of females related to sustainable clothing and differences in their actual purchases. A questionnaire survey was conducted for a sample of 1796 female respondents from 4 countries: Slovakia (428), Czechia (423), Slovenia (518), and Lithuania (427). Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for data processing. The findings reveal significant differences in concern for the well-being of clothing factory workers, animal species, future generations, and for the environment across the generational cohorts. Overall, younger generations, especially Gen Z and Gen Y, exhibit higher levels of concern for the well-being of clothing factory workers, animal species, and for the environment compared to Baby Boomers. Gen X demonstrates higher levels of concern for the well-being of future generations and environmental issues. Notably, Gen Z shows the lowest levels of engagement across all categories, suggesting a gap between attitudes and actual behaviour. Limitations of the study are discussed, and future research directions are noted.
... Gansser and Reich [43] elaborate that environmental consciousness reflects a general readiness to recognize and exhibit pro-environmental behavior; it constitutes an understanding of the environmental crisis. Golob and Kronegger [62] note that environmental consciousness encompasses both environmental concern and the perceived severity or importance of environmental issues. Notably, studies highlight the tendency of people with lower environmental consciousness to overlook environmental factors when making decisions, whereas people with greater environmental consciousness give sustainability high priority. ...
This study identifies factors that influence the behavioral intentions of German university students to reduce food waste, particularly the moderating role of environmental consciousness. Data were collected through a survey of 368 university students in Germany. The findings show that individual attitudes, environmental knowledge, and awareness of consequences affect students’ behavioral intentions to reduce food waste. In addition, the study introduces as a key moderating factor the concept of environmental consciousness, which strengthens the positive associations between individual attitude, environmental knowledge, and behavioral intention to reduce food waste. The moderating role of environmental consciousness in the relationship between awareness of consequences and behavioral intention is not significant, however. This research uniquely examines the factors promoting food waste reduction among university students in Germany, a group underexplored in current studies. Its insights can inform targeted interventions and enhance the understanding of sustainable behaviors in younger demographics.
... Awareness of the importance of preserving and conserving the environment is the basis of changes in the community's life practices. Golob and Kronegger (2019) affirm that environmental concern refers to a person's emotional level related to environmental problems. Benedek and Takácsné György (2013) explained that a person's environmental concern consists of three dimensions: knowledge about environmental issues, awareness of the environment, and sensitivity to the environment. ...
Concern over global environmental problems is increasing. With rapid economic growth and industrial development, individual consumption ability has increased rapidly, which causes damage to the environment. To overcome the problem, green consumption has become the government's and environmentalists' focus and agenda. The Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen (1991) guide this article to identify the influence of environmental consciousness, eco-label, attitude, green advertising, and price on Gen Z green consumption. The population in this research is Generation Z in Malaysia, with a total sample of 300 respondents. This research uses non-probability convenience sampling as a sampling method. The research technique used is a quantitative survey study. The results first revealed that Gen Z consumption is at a high level. The results showed significant relationships between independent variables and Gen Z green consumption. Eco-label also acts as the most significant predictor of Gen Z green consumption. Research findings show that Gen Z highly emphasizes global issues such as social justice, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. In addition, this study also shows how Gen Z can have a lasting impact on global awareness and how leaders and political institutions need to adapt to the latest needs and expectations of society, especially Gen Z. Moreover, by providing information about the product's environmental impact, eco-friendly labels can help Gen Z consumers make the right decisions and encourage them to choose more sustainable options.
... As a mechanism to alleviate consumers' perceived risks and encourage their purchase intentions related to recycled PCTW denim products, we first propose a consumer characteristic factor, environmental consciousness, which refers to a consumer's belief system influencing their inclination to adopt environmentally friendly practices (Kumar et al., 2021). Literature shows that consumers' perceptions and choice of recycled products (Golob & Kronegger, 2019) and intentions toward purchasing eco-friendly and green products are significantly shaped by their environmental consciousness (Kumar et al., 2021). Given this, more environmentally conscious consumers may be less likely to doubt recycled PCTW products' performance and more likely to feel a sense of assurance and fulfillment rather than concerns about emotional discomfort or social shame from purchasing recycled PCTW products, which in turn would lead to a more favorable purchase intention for these products. ...
... These environmental consequences concern not only retailers but also consumers who make purchases. Empirical evidence suggests that consumers are willing to pay more for ecofriendly choices in various settings (Brouwer et al., 2008;MacKerron et al., 2009;Diederich & Goeschl, 2014;Golob & Kronegger, 2019). For example, a 2020 survey indicates that consumers would on average pay 18% more when shopping, online or offline, if what they buy results in a more positive impact on the environment (Keane, 2020). ...
Facing consumers’ growing environmental consciousness, retailers need to consider the environmental consequences when choosing between e-commerce and traditional retailing. We develop a game-theoretic model to study the retailers’ channel selection problem in the presence of consumer environmental consciousness in both monopoly and duopoly settings. We find that even though the existence of consumer environmental consciousness drives the retailer toward more eco-friendly channel strategies, there exist conditions under which the retailer’s optimal channel strategy is still misaligned with environmental and social interests. Furthermore, we show that an increase in consumers’ consciousness, though seemingly reducing consumer utility, can in fact be welfare-enhancing. A reduction in the unit environmental impact of a channel (traditional or e-commerce), on the other hand, may lead to lower social welfare due to the retailer’s insubstantial carbon abatement. Finally, contrary to the conventional wisdom that competition tends to increase social welfare, we show that with consumers’ environmental consciousness, retail competition may result in social welfare decline. Our policy implication is that even though the presence of environmentally conscious consumers pushes firms to internalize the environmental consequences of their channel strategies, environmental regulations are still necessary to achieve social welfare maximization.
... Consequently, we can infer that consumers with low PDB are more likely to prefer organic foods as a means of protecting the environment and reducing societal inequality. Understanding consumers' psychological factors, such as environmental concern, is often based on surveys and is not easily accessible to marketers (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). However, marketers can improve their segmentation strategies by taking into account the PDB levels of consumers. ...
... Indeed, the strive for luxurious consumption has a long history in psychological research (for review, see Dubois et al., 2021). In the case of environmental consciousness, many researchers have argued for its importance in predicting various behaviours such as sustainable consumption (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). It is also important to point out that our construct 'environmental consciousness' includes the similar items as the construct 'Responsibility' found by Bretter et al., (2022). ...
Examinations into the psychological drivers of car-sharing have to date focused on short-term cognitions such as attitudes, norms, and intentions. In this paper, we integrate such short-term cognitions with medium-term cognitions (e.g., goals) and long-term cognitions (e.g., values), thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of the psychological drivers of car-sharing. We surveyed a broadly representative sample of the UK population (N = 1,294) and found that values underlie medium-term cognitions (e.g., goals) and short-term cognitions, thereby ultimately influencing car-sharing intentions and behaviour. Moreover, our results show that environmental consciousness and the desire for luxury are important yet opposing goals that affect both intentions to engage in car-sharing and to actually use car-sharing. Overall, we demonstrate that car-sharing may be more complex than previously anticipated and should be understood as a behaviour that results from a complex web of long-, medium-, and short-term cognitions. We discuss practical and theoretical implications.
... So, a favorable condition of environmental growth will not depend on only one consumer, it depends on multiple and the same applies to the country. Countries rely on sociodemographic variables that are not as powerful as pro-environmental behaviors (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). ...
Environmental art design, which uses natural materials to show the connection to nature, plays a crucial role in encouraging awareness regarding environmental pollution and creativity in universities in China. This study aims to demonstrate the significance of incorporating environmental themes into art education curricula and its impact on students' environmental consciousness and artistic innovation in China. To achieve this, the study employed a mixed-method research approach, gathering insights from 96 art design educators and 295 college students through quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. The findings underscored that integrating natural materials into art design enhances students' creativity and supports a deeper appreciation for environmental management. Environmental art and design were found to be effective tools for raising awareness about environmental pollution and advocating for conservation efforts. This research highlights the multifaceted benefits of environmental art design, including its potential to enhance students' artistic proficiency, personal development, and overall well-being. The study's findings offer practical implications for both educators and policymakers, suggesting the integration of environmental art design into educational curricula. By incorporating environmental art, schools can cultivate critical thinking skills, implant a sense of environmental responsibility, and inspire creative solutions to environmental challenges, ultimately producing environmentally conscious individuals capable of addressing ecological issues effectively. The novelty of the research lies in integrating environmental art design into education. Thus, the objective of the research is to investigate the significance of environmental art design in education and this enhances students' artistic achievements and career prospects.
... Furthermore, as consumers' environmental awareness increases, environmentally friendly products are becoming more favored [42]. Additionally, consumers are willing to pay a premium for these products [43,44]. To describe the characteristics of environmentally friendly products, we define parameter γ representing the low-carbon advantage, which indicates the additional utility that consumers gain from purchasing low-carbon products. ...
The evolution of tax exemption policies and consumer preferences for low-carbon products affect firms’ optimal pricing strategy selection in a competitive duopoly market. In our study, we build a two-period pricing model to examine the pricing strategy choices between low-carbon and traditional firms. Low-carbon firms offer consumers greater value, improving their overall experience and satisfaction. Given the evolution of government policies from tax exemption to taxation for low-carbon products, we divide the changes in carbon tax into two periods. Since each firm can choose either the uniform pricing strategy (setting the same price in both periods) or the tiered pricing strategy (setting different prices for two periods), four scenarios may occur. Conventional wisdom suggests that a firm’s pricing increases should result in a reduction in consumer demand. Interestingly, our results show that as traditional firm raises prices, consumer demand for traditional products could increase simultaneously in the second period. In such a case, the low-carbon firm selects the uniform pricing strategy and the traditional firm chooses the tiered pricing strategy. Moreover, as tax exemption policies evolve in duopoly markets, the cancellation of the tax exemption policy may intensify competition between traditional and low-carbon firms under certain conditions. Furthermore, given one firm’s pricing strategy, our results show that the other firm could adopt either a uniform pricing strategy or a tiered pricing strategy, which depends on the low-carbon advantage and tax rate.
... According to a recent European Social Survey, consumers in France are rated with the highest personal responsibility for creating a sustainable feature. The sustainability consciousness of French consumers is visible in their purchase behaviour and consumption [75]. The corporate social responsibilities of the companies are considered by French consumers when they prefer a brand. ...
Sustainable consumption is crucial for mitigating environmental harm and combating climate change. This study examines sustainable consumer behaviour in developed and developing countries, aiming to identify drivers and barriers to responsible consumption patterns. Using qualitative data analysis, we explore factors influencing consumer attitudes and behaviours. Adopting an exploratory approach, we employ interpretivist philosophy and thematic analysis. Through case study methodology and secondary data sources, we analyse drivers, attitudes, and barriers to sustainable consumption. The study findings indicate that consumers in both developed and developing countries exhibit a keen interest in embracing sustainable consumption to contribute to environmental preservation. Corporate social responsibility towards sustainability influences consumer purchasing decisions, highlighting the importance of green initiatives within companies. Recommendations include implementing Green Fund Schemes at the governmental level and sustainability audits within corporations to promote and sustain sustainability efforts. Collaborative endeavours among consumers, corporations, and authorities are essential for promoting sustainability and safeguarding the environment.
... A system can develop sustainably if all its parts contribute by finding their own way to sustainability. To this end, sustainability is applied to an increasing variety of activities, such as project management (Sabini et al. 2019), tourism (Zhang and Chan 2020), agriculture and supply chains (Magrini and Giambona 2022;Trivellas et al. 2020), quality of urban life (Pacione 2003), working conditions (Spreitzer et al. 2012), and consumption choices (Spaargaren 2020;Golob and Kronegger 2019;Prothero et al. 2011). ...
Sustainability can be conceived as an ideal state in which society, environment and economy can thrive without harming each other in the present, future and global space. In this paper, we validate the Italian version of the sustainability consciousness questionnaire developed by a Swedish research group. The psychometric construct aims to measure individual sustainability consciousness through a combination of knowingness, attitudes and behaviour. The validation process is based on the hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis model and includes both the long and short forms of the questionnaire proposed in the original study. Specifically, we propose two alternative approaches to validate the short form, one based on the same subset of items as the original proposal and another based on a data-driven strategy that resulted in a different subset of items. Once validated on a national level, the sustainability consciousness questionnaire becomes a valuable tool for researchers and policymakers to assess the sustainability consciousness levels within a national or local population regarding this crucial issue, enabling the design of more precisely targeted policies.
... Individuals with greater environmental consciousness have a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between humans and the natural world, and they recognize the impact of human activities on the environment (Lin and Niu, 2018;Sharma and Bansal, 2013). Environmental consciousness is not only an element of an individual's overall environmental awareness but also reflects their level of concern and commitment to addressing environmental issues (Ahmad et al., 2020;Golob and Kronegger, 2019;Thormann and Wicker, 2021b). ...
Purpose
Sustainability is a major global concern, and research has suggested a bidirectional relationship between participatory sport events and the natural environment. Against this background, we examined the influence of runners’ environmental consciousness on their perceptions of the quality of green initiatives and their supportive intention at a running event.
Design/methodology/approach
We collected questionnaire responses from 496 runners at an event held in Taiwan, and we used partial least squares structural equation modeling for our measurement and structural models.
Findings
Our findings revealed that environmental consciousness had a positive relationship with green perceived quality, and that green perceived quality, in turn, positively affected supportive intention. Green perceived quality also mediated the relationship between environmental consciousness and supportive intention, and running frequency moderated the relationship between environmental consciousness and supportive intention.
Practical implications
Stakeholders should promote the environmental consciousness of event participants and implement sustainable initiatives to enhance participants’ supportive intention towards participatory sport events.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by examining the role of environmental consciousness, green perceived quality and supportive intention in the context of a running event. The findings highlight the importance of environmental sustainability in participatory sport events and provide valuable insights for event organizers and stakeholders in designing and implementing sustainable initiatives.
... Not only in the consumption aspect, but environmental consciousness also influences travelers' intention in choosing a green destination (Ahmad et al., 2020). In Europe, public environmental consciousness is divided into three segments: pro-environmentalists, moderate environmentalists, and sideline environmentalists (Golob & Kronegger, 2019). In the context of education, Agull et al. (2019) found that the environmental consciousness of elementary school students is higher than that of secondary school students. ...
Amidst growing concerns about environmental degradation, global trends increasingly emphasize the urgency to adopt eco-friendly consumption patterns. This paradigm shift drives the emergence of sustainability-centered products, especially in the cosmetics sector. Despite experiencing substantial growth, the eco-friendly cosmetics industry in Indonesia continues to grapple with various obstacles that require resolution. In addition, researchers' attention to green cosmetics still needs to be increased. This study integrates environmental consciousness into the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) framework to bridge this research gap. The main objective is to comprehensively examine consumers' intention to purchase environmentally friendly cosmetic products. By employing a quantitative approach, we surveyed a sample of 305 respondents from Indonesia. The collected data was then analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to validate the hypotheses. The results showed that environmental consciousness and subjective norms directly and significantly affect consumer attitudes. Likewise, environmental consciousness, subjective norms, and consumer attitudes influence consumers' intention to purchase green cosmetics. In addition, it was revealed that consumer attitude serves as a potential mediator in mediating the effect of environmental consciousness and subjective norms on consumer purchase intention. This study offers insights into sustainable cosmetics. Companies can use this to enhance marketing strategies for environmentally conscious products.
... Boycott movements emerged pressuring businesses permeated by deforestation. Influenced by concerns for nature conservation and climate change, consumers are avoiding products incompatible with environmental causes (Golob and Kronegger, 2019). These counter-cultural attitudes are rising in Europe and the United States, destinations of many Brazilian exports, requiring the attention of governments and companies. ...
Brazil can provide ecosystem services, food, and combat climate change-related vulnerabilities. However, this possibility is obliterated by the increasing deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon derived from illegalities and political incentives to a business-as-usual economic development model that clears land for real estate speculation or extensive agro-livestock. Recently, the state governments of Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia, supported by agro-livestock-related institutions, proposed a zone for economic development in a region of confluence accounting for 23.37% of these states’ total area. Formerly “Sustainable Development Zone between the States of Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia” (AMACRO), it was renamed to “Abunã-Madeira Sustainable Development Zone (SDZ)” to meet sustainability criteria; however, environmental impact studies regarding its implementation still lack. By integrating land tenure and official deforestation datasets from 2012 to 2022, we assess whether this region is becoming a notable deforestation hotspot. Results showed growing deforestation trends for all land tenure classes, alarmingly in protected areas, since 2018, when the project was announced. Unlike possible economic gains, deforestation in this region affects essential edaphoclimatic conditions for Brazil’s agro-livestock, worsening environmental and socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Effective territorial planning, environmental impact studies, and law enforcement are urgently needed before establishing the zone to avoid a regional hecatomb.
... 'adaptation' by Gifford et al. [71]). Second, the perceptions of alternative proteins among respondents in our sample, in which young and highly educated people were overrepresented, may have been more positive than in the general population in Germany as these groups are environmentally conscious [72]. A similar effect could have had the high proportion of people with adventurous eating habits in our sample. ...
Our agrifood systems require transformation to meet today’s challenges, especially the growing demand for protein. Promising alternative protein sources include algae, crickets and jellyfish, but little is known how the public perceives these future options. We argue that to identify responsible pathways for the protein transitions, the public’s views need to be explored. Consequently, the aim of this study was to understand public perceptions of three alternative future pathways for protein transition. Our survey of 474 respondents in Germany showed that the consumption of algae in the future is perceived as possible and more probable than the consumption of animal-based sources of proteins such as cricket and jellyfish. Gender, age, geographical location and food habits were found to influence these perceptions. Reflecting on the differences in the public perceptions of three alternative protein sources, we discuss how inclusive these future visions are and how to manage the innovation and transition responsibly.
... Based on Behavioral Motivation Theory (BMT), residents' awareness of green consumption will lead them to form a green lifestyle. For example, Golob et al. found that environmentally conscious consumers would be highly involved in various green behaviors, such as green transportation, garbage classification, and the reduction of energy consumption [34]. ...
Based on the data of 282 cities from 2006 to 2019, this paper conducts a quasi-natural experiment with National Forest City as a proxy variable for urban ecological culture construction (Cul), using the difference-in-differences model to verify its impact and mechanisms on residents’ green living. The results are described as follows. (1) Urban ecological culture construction helps form residents’ green living, specifically, reducing carbon emissions from electricity, transportation, and heating, and this conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. (2) Urban ecological culture construction helps form residents’ green living through two mediating channels: enhancing public environmental protection participation and forming green consumption awareness. (3) Confucianism plays a positive moderating role in the process of urban ecological culture construction promoting residents’ green living, while the moderating role of exotic culture is not significant. It is worth mentioning that the role of Confucianism remains unchanged even when the above two cultures coexist. In view of this, this paper argues that urban ecological culture construction matters in forming residents’ green living. The organic integration of modern urban ecological culture construction with the region’s excellent traditional culture is worth noting.
... Yeşil tüketiciler, çevre dostu ürünler edinmek, geri dönüştürmek, kaynakları korumak ve çevre dostu yeniliklerin benimsenmesiyle ilişkili ortak değerleri teşvik etmekle ilgilenmektedir (Jaca vd., 2018). Yeşil tüketiciler arasında yüksek derecede heterojenlik olmasına rağmen (Golob & Kronegger, 2019), firmaları sürdürülebilir ürünler ve yeşil stratejiler geliştirmeye de yönlendirebilirler (Ginsberg & Bloom, 2004). Çevre dostu tutumların, tüketicilerin tam olarak çevre dostu davranışlar sergilemeleri anlamına gelmediği de bilinmektedir (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). ...
... Existing consumer sustainability studies have segmented the market for green products (e.g., Balderjahn et al. , 2018 ;Ross and Milne 2020 ;Sarti et al., 2018 ) and selected climate-friendly actions (e.g., Golob and Kronegger , 2019). However, no research has focused on the most impactful climate-friendly actions and investigated cross-country market segments based on consumers' subjective utility of these actions. ...
Fenomena penutupan seluruh gerai The Body Shop di Amerika Serikat dan Kanada, serta penurunan penjualan yang signifikan di Inggris membuat The Body Shop harus mengkaji ulang strategi penjualan. The Body Shop Indonesia juga menghadapi penurunan indeks merek selama tiga tahun terakhir meskipun memiliki citra keberlanjutan yang kuat. Penelitian ini ditujukan untuk melakukan analisis bagaimana environmental awareness, brand trust, dan brand image mempengaruhi keputusan pembelian dengan brand loyalty sebagai mediator. Pendekatan kuantitatif diterapkan sebagai metode penelitian ini dengan 120 konsumen The Body Shop sebagai responden yang diolah dengan SmartPlS 3.0. Variabel independent mencakup environmental awareness (X1), brand trust (X2), dan brand image (X3), dengan variabel dependent merupakan keputusan pembelian (Y), serta brand loyalty (Z) sebagai variabel intervening. Hasil dari penelitian ini menegaskan brand trust dan brand image dalam mempengaruhi keputusan pembelian untuk memperkuat loyalitas, melalui brand loyalty sebagai mediator utama.
E-commerce deliveries have grown significantly in the last decade, generating increased environmental impacts. While e-commerce grows, there is a need to integrate sustainability into its operations, especially concerning last-mile deliveries. Our goal is to understand the factors influencing consumer decision-making when selecting delivery alternatives. We examine consumers’ preferences using stated preference data collected in the United States. Respondents evaluated delivery alternatives, including operational and behavioral attributes. Interestingly, disclosing the environmental impact of each option does not influence consumer decisions. However, disclosing the delivery vehicle type does matter. The analyses reveal that consumers’ willingness to use sustainable options depends on their receiving additional benefits, varying across socio-economic profiles. Furthermore, elasticities and substitution rates confirm that consumers are willing to pay for convenient deliveries and are reluctant to make behavioral changes. These insights should be used to incentivize the use of sustainable alternatives for last-mile deliveries. We close the paper with recommendations to key stakeholders in urban areas.
Given that the impact of consumers' environmental awareness and government subsidies on retailer sourcing has not been adequately examined in previous research, our study examines the impact of government subsidies on a retailer's low‐carbon sourcing strategies. We define a parameter that characterizes the efficiency of government subsidies and build a game theoretical model that includes an ordinary supplier, a low‐carbon supplier, and a retailer. The retailer's sourcing strategies include three options: only ordinary products (O), only low‐carbon products (L), and both ordinary and low‐carbon products (D). Our analysis shows the following results: First, when the retailer's environmental awareness exceeds a certain threshold, the retailer sources either low‐carbon products or a combination of ordinary and low‐carbon products. Otherwise, the retailer sources both ordinary and low‐carbon products. Second, when the retailer's environmental awareness is relatively high, the government adopts a nonsubsidy policy regardless of the product's abatement level. However, when the retailer's environmental awareness is relatively low, the government's policy depends on the abatement level of the product: It provides a subsidy if the abatement level is low and no subsidy if the abatement level is high. Third, government subsidies to the retailer are not always an effective means of increasing social welfare. Our results have important implications for the design of effective government subsidy policies.
This study discusses the cannibalization strategy of an outside manufacturer. A game‐theoretic model is developed in which manufacturers sell low‐quality products through retailers. The external manufacturer chooses between the retailer channel and the direct sales channel when considering carbon differences. The results show that carbon differentials and direct marketing costs play a key role in the choice of cannibalization strategy. Cannibalization by external manufacturers through retailers is not necessarily harmful to existing manufacturers. An increase in the degree of carbon differentiation leads to a decrease in wholesale and retail prices, while direct pricing by external manufacturers increases.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the tourism sector play crucial yet often underestimated roles in climate change mitigation, contributing to approximately half of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Although the existing literature has examined barriers to climate change action and potential drivers for the involvement of small firms, these aspects have not been comprehensively explored within the context of tourism. The article addresses this gap by conducting a narrative review that analyzes 78 papers and reports published on the topic. The results substantiate a differentiation among barriers, pressures, and incentives. Barriers encompass aspects related to knowledge and personality, understanding and perceptions, management, data, finances, technology, legislation, and community. Pressures originate from costs, customer expectations, and compliance. Incentives manifest in economic considerations, subsidies, marketing strategies, staff benefits, and community advantages. The findings are synthesized into a series of conceptualizations, offering pathways for progress on mitigation. Findings emphasize the significance of legislation and efforts of destination management organizations for accelerating SME engagement with climate change.
Suboptimal food products in Indonesia are identified as a set of attributes that indicate the sustainable transformation of consumer behavior. As preferences for suboptimal food products are influenced by attributes, consumers consider attributes in various ways, and the current state is still far behind the desired state in practice. This study aims to explore the attributes that enhance sustainable consumption behavior. An approach combining the fuzzy Delphi method and a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is employed to assess the interrelationships among the attributes following experts’ judgments, and a choice experiment is used to evaluate the attributes of consumers’ preferences. As a result, socially responsible consumption and information framing represent the critical aspects of achieving sustainable consumer behavior. Socially responsible consumption is also found to be important in influencing consumers’ willingness to adopt SCB. In practice, food waste avoidance and saving behavior are the criteria for enhancing consumers’ acceptance of suboptimal food products.
Sustainability and related issues are widely accepted as vital themes in contemporary fields. These include the idea of developing products and services necessary for individuals to lead sustainable lives into the future in Industry 4.0 (I4.0), the main focus of which is digitalization. Also, the notion of Sustainable Consumption (SC) is related to the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), which comprise SC and production motives. The methodology of this study involved analysing data from a bibliometric review, which was obtained from different themes within environmentally friendly and ecofriendly consumption sources. We searched a key theme, SC, in the Web of Science (WoS) database and obtained 1451 documents. A total of 1005 documents were selected. In the next stage, we searched for two key words, “environmentally consumer behaviour” and “eco-friendly consumer behaviour”; 258 studies were obtained from the WoS database. This paper represents a thorough literature review of the line between consumers and SC. The aim of this study is to underline the level of awareness of environmentally friendly and ecofriendly consumption in the I4.0 period by selecting and examining articles published over the past 10 years. The final aim of this work is to provide suggestions based on gaps in the literature.
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.
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