Search results

This study aims to determine preference and concerns regarding tap vs bottled water and recommendations to increase tap water use in a US Midwest university. The authors propose interventions to increase tap water use based on survey results.

The authors conducted an online survey of the community of a regional comprehensive university in the St. Louis metro-east region (Illinois, USA). They analyzed 781 responses using mixed methods, and developed recommendations based on community-based social marketing principles.

Black respondents reported higher bottled water use than White respondents. Undergraduate students reported higher bottled water use than faculty or staff. Most respondents were concerned about cost and environmental impact for bottled water and taste and water quality for tap water. Chemical and safety concerns were specific and location-focused for tap water only. Concerns were similar to Safe Drinking Water Act mandated public information, such as prior reports of lead (Pb) in campus drinking water. Tap water taste concerns may relate to proximity to the water treatment plant, resulting in high residual chlorine levels. To increase tap water use in this community, the authors recommend persuasive information campaigns, improvements to infrastructure and distribution that increase tap water convenience, more transparent public reporting on tap water lead levels, management of residual chlorine levels, and establishment of institutional norms favoring tap water over bottled water.

The authors evaluate barriers to drinking tap water across multiple environmental and social systems. The methods used in this study combine mixed methods analysis and community-based social marketing. The findings integrate respondent demographics and concerns, local water quality, local and national contamination events, campus-specific sustainability initiatives and barriers, and national drinking water regulations.

The purpose of this study was to identify how to reduce bottled water use on our campus, given that the majority of students were bringing it onto campus from outside sources. Bottled water bans have been implemented on several college and university campuses in an effort to reduce the consumption of bottled water and the associated waste. Observations on the campus of Allegheny College demonstrated that while bottled water was being consumed, students were not purchasing those bottles on campus.

To identify methods to reduce bottled water prevalence on campus, alter negative perceptions of local tap water and create behavioral changes among student, an environmental science class surveyed the student body. Students were asked about their preferred type of drinking water and why they preferred one type to another, as well as additional questions about reusable bottle ownership and usage.

The data identified that disposable bottled water was most commonly consumed by first year students, with rates of use decreasing the longer students are on campus. Many students were concerned about the safety of tap water and did not like the taste.

As a result of this survey, Allegheny College has increased the number of filtered, bottle refill stations throughout campus and provides a high-quality, metal water bottle to all students upon beginning their first year. Students are also provided information about the safety of Meadville tap water, as well as the environmental and social benefits of choosing tap water over bottled water.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting consumer demand for and the effects on tax on sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water in the USA.

Using nationally representative data from 62,092 households and tobit econometric procedure, conditional and unconditional factors affecting the demand for sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water were estimated.

The own-price elasticity of demand for sparkling and non-sparkling bottled water is −0.664 and −0.229, respectively. Coffee, fruit drinks, whole milk and tea are substitutes for non-sparking bottled water. Non-sparking bottled water, coffee, fruit drinks and whole milk are substitutes for sparking bottled water. Household income, race, region and presence of children significantly affect the demand for bottled water. A 10 percent increase in price due to a tax on bottled water decreased plastic use by 50 grams per household per year. This is equivalent to saving 9.5m pounds of plastic annually.

Data used in this analysis only captured at-home consumption of bottled water by US households. While tax on bottled water may reduce the consumption of bottled water, it may increase the consumption of competitive beverages such as carbonated soft drinks or fruit drinks. Although the use of plastic with regards to water bottles may go down as a result of the tax, the plastic consumption could go up with regards to consumers’ increased purchase of other beverages. This might contribute net increase plastic bottle consumption, undermining the effects of a bottled water tax.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to look at demand and tax aspects with regards to disaggregated bottled water products.

This paper aimed to examine the impact of the removal of bottled water on the campus community. This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted at the first Australian university to remove single-use bottled water from sale on a small regional university campus. The removal of bottled water from sale at the university formed part of the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

The study was conducted substantially by undergraduate students who participated in an action learning project in which they assisted in the design, implementation and analysis of an online snapshot survey made available to all staff and students of the university.

The results indicated some evidence of changes to pro-environmental behaviors such as increased use of re-fillable bottles, but there were less desirable outcomes such as drinking less water. Community perceptions were dramatically polarized. Restrictions on freedom of choice, concerns about health as a result of increased use of high-sugar drinks and the continued availability of other plastic drink bottles were provided as strong objections to the removal of bottled water from sale on campus.

The study provides useful insights for university sustainability planners and administrators about the complex range of issues associated with the implementation of sustainability initiatives on a university campus.

While extensive literature exists about the environmental impacts of bottled water, few studies have explored the impacts or community responses to the removal of bottled water in the university context.

Bottled water consumption continues to break records worldwide and its environmental impact is often underestimated by the consumer. Many factors affect individuals’ choices to consume tap water and bottled water including perceived health risks and water quality. The University of South Florida (USF) has joined a nationwide initiative to become carbon-neutral, and reducing bottled water consumption was a chosen strategy. The purpose of this study was to assess the risk perceptions and drinking water choices of the USF-Tampa campus community.

A sample of 561 students, faculty and staff members responded to an online survey. The survey contained questions about the use of bottled water and tap water, reusable water bottles, risk perceptions and demographics.

The results revealed that certain groups – undergraduate students and ethnic/racial minorities (e.g. black/African American, Hispanic/Latino) – drank significantly more bottled water. Among political ideologies, Liberals drank the least bottled water. Females and minorities had significantly greater risk perceptions of the tap water on campus. Important perceived benefits were tap water being less expensive and better for the environment than bottled water. Important perceived barriers were poor tasting tap water and the desire for filtered water.

The findings suggest the need for public health campaigns to increase awareness of health, environmental and financial consequences of bottled water consumption. Such campaigns should aim to discourage bottled water and any potential increased sugar-sweetened beverage consumption while promoting tap water consumption.

The purpose of this paper, conducted within an emerging market context, was to investigate the influence of colour in packaging on the purchase intent of consumers for bottled water. Colour, whether in branding or packaging, has always been an important attribute in attracting the attention of consumers. For years, bottled water packaging has largely centred on the colours blue and white. The study looked into the effect of cold colours, warm colours and neutral colours on the purchase intent for bottled water. It also analysed the influence of the demographic variables of age group, gender, language and income group on colour preferences of the product.

An experimental design was utilised for the purposes of this study. Data were collected by means of a mall intercept survey of South African consumers within suburban supermarket stores.

The findings determined that while consumers appear somewhat indifferent between colours, there is a greater preference for neutral colours as opposed to cold and warm colours in bottled water packaging. It was also determined that income has a significant influence in colour preference for bottled water, with lower income groups preferring cold and warm colours and higher income groups preferring neutral colours.

This suggests that marketers of bottled water ought to pay close attention to these signals and optimise packaging accordingly. In particular, this study suggests that tailored coloured packaging can be used to target specific income groups in a more appropriate manner. This is particularly pertinent in an emerging market context, where income disparities are extremely prevalent. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs can seize this opportunity to introduce niche products and stimulate innovation in a relatively stagnant marketplace.

As discovered in the course of this research, few studies have been undertaken to examine the effect of colour in packaging in the context of emerging markets and, notably, sub Saharan Africa. As such, the authors believe this is a significant contribution to the knowledge base. It is hoped that the results of this study will assist marketers, SMEs and entrepreneurs in improving understanding of how colours differentiate a product, particularly in a commodity merchandise category such as bottled water, the knowledge of which may be leveraged to tailor the positioning in the market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the rhetorical strategies used by organizations in support of propriety judgments concerning their products.

The approach taken entails discourse and rhetorical analysis of texts produced by leading firms in the bottled water industry, and by the industry’s trade association, surrounding issues of sustainability.

The analysis reveals rhetorical strategies invoked by firms to legitimate their economic, environmental and social performance.

This paper’s primary contribution is to research that informs the discursive aspects of legitimacy. As well, this study contributes to our nascent understanding of the microfoundations of sustainability.

Our knowledge of how organizations use different discursive strategies in support of legitimacy is relatively underdeveloped. By examining rhetorical strategies used in support of propriety judgments concerning organizations’ environmental, social and economic legitimacy, this study begins to fill gaps in our understanding.

This paper aims to account for the crafting of the constellation of brand and consumer values around an everyday product, that of bottled water. This paper situates the exponential growth of this market in its historical and cultural context, paying particular attention to the fostering of the “social conditions of possibility” for this product in the French market. The socio-historical context and the interplay of stakeholders to the respondents’ understanding and uses of bottled water, highlighting the importance of a range of factors that made this market and product resonate with their requirements, are linked.

This account responds to the call for more engagement with social theory in marketing and consumer research (Brownlie and Hewer, 2011). It also connects with recent scholarly pleas for a displacement of the consumer from the center of our analytic attention (Askegaard and Linnet, 2011; Holt, 2012). It does so by using the social praxeology approach associated with Pierre Bourdieu to study the affirmation and sedimentation of the practices surrounding the consumption of bottled water in France.

Influential institutional actors invoked discourses of purity, nature and health, juxtaposing these with the risks of tap water consumption. These were cemented by the influence of pediatricians who encouraged changes in family drinking habits which translated into long-term shifts in consumer behavior. By contrast to studies of different contexts, our respondents were greatly enamored by the materiality of the products themselves, using these in innovative ways for aesthetic pursuits. The social praxeology approach uncovers how brand and consumer value have been constructed in the French bottled water market.

This study is based on the historical development and growth of the market for bottled water in France. It would be a valuable exercise to investigate other contexts to determine whether the strategies of symbolic competition, especially the use of expert intermediaries rich in cultural capital that can be identified, are reflected elsewhere.

Bottled water producers will have to confront the issue of the resource-intensiveness of their products. This feature stands in marked contrast to the symbolic capital and points of differentiation that producers have weaved around bottled water. Such contradictions will be exposed by actors in other fields (e.g. the environmental movement). This can be expected to have an impact on the consumption and viability of this market in future.

This paper uses a philosophical framework – social praxeology – to chart the development, affirmation and exponential growth of the bottled water market. Via a combination of historical re-construction and empirical research, it highlights the interactive relationships between government, producers and consumers, uncovering brand and consumer value creation.

The market of bottled water is one of the largest in the world. Paradoxically, the consumption of water in plastic bottles is highest in countries rich in the potable tap water of excellent quality. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of the factors that foster or hinder the intention to use refillable water bottles by university students and to determine whether their study program played a moderating role.

Within the framework of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB), this paper conducted this cross-sectional study to understand the influence of attitudes, norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on the intention to drink tap water from reusable bottles. Italian university students (n = 540) majoring in the hard (42.4%) or the soft (57.6%) sciences completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire.

For both groups, there was a significant association between attitudes and intention to use a refillable water bottle. The intention to drink tap water was also influenced by PBC among the hard science students, whereas among the soft science students the descriptive norm exerted a significant influence.

This is the first application of TPB, a well-established theoretical and methodological framework, to understand the intention of university students to drink tap water from reusable bottles. Within the framework of TPB, this study is the first to address this specific pro-environmental behavior and explore the potential moderating role of university studies programs, which proved significant.