The role of customer education: a repeated cross-sectional study
Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management
ISSN: 2053-4620
Article publication date: 26 October 2020
Issue publication date: 10 June 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Customer education is considered as an appropriate communication strategy for promoting green products. This paper aims to elaborate on the characteristics of customer education that are suitable for green products by identifying what messages must be delivered, sources and channels that must be used to achieve the greatest effect. Moreover, this study uses a repeated cross-sectional approach by using the same research model in 2008 and 2019.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was arranged based on the research model. In 2008, the data were collected at 12 shopping malls in Jakarta. The 2019 data were collected online, using Google forms, from citizens of Jakarta and five nearby cities. Then, the data were processed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Data analysis of both years shows that education containing messages that are both informational and transformational can increase customers’ perceptions of the benefits and economic accessibility of green products, as well as environmental concerns. This study’s results also indicate that customers’ intentions to buy green products are influenced by their attitudes toward buying. However, the impact of customers’ perceptions of benefit and economic accessibility on their attitudes toward green purchasing varied between 2008 and 2019.
Practical implications
Sustainable consumption can be pursued through customer education once a community’s economic conditions have reached a certain level. This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.
Social implications
This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.
Originality/value
Investigation of the role of customer education in green products using a repeated cross-sectional study.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Titah Yudhistira and anonymous reviewers for their valuable input for this paper.
ITB Research Grant 2020.
Citation
Sari, H., Firmanzah, F., Harahap, A.A. and Siahaan, B.C. (2021), "The role of customer education: a repeated cross-sectional study", Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 193-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTPM-03-2020-0068
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited