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1 – 10 of over 26000Amanda Beatson, Udo Gottlieb and Katrina Pleming
By applying social practice theory to green consumption, this paper extends our understanding of consumer insight on green consumption processes beyond linear decision-making. The…
Abstract
Purpose
By applying social practice theory to green consumption, this paper extends our understanding of consumer insight on green consumption processes beyond linear decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes including the purchase and disposal of household products and to contribute to current discourse about widening social marketing research beyond a predominant focus on individuals’ behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
Thematic content analysis exploring the lived experiences of participants’ green consumption was undertaken by conducting 20 in-depth interviews of Australian consumers. These interviews were analysed through a social practice lens.
Findings
The research identified six emergent social practice themes of green consumption. By using social practice theory, a different paradigm of social research than the linear models of behaviour is used. This unconventional investigation into the green consumption process, including the purchase and disposal of household products, extends literature past the attitude–behaviour gap and highlights the importance of aligning green consumption processes with social practice.
Originality/value
By integrating social practice theory into the marketing discipline, this paper explores consumption as part of sustainable marketing and provides suggestions about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes. These insights have relevance to micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social marketing, and can help alter consumption practices making them more sustainable.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the impacts of the interaction experiential customization (IEC) mode on consumers' information processing fluency and green customization intention (GCI) as well as the moderating effect of consumers' self-construal.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an online field experiment, questionnaire study and between-subjects laboratory experiment to test the hypotheses.
Findings
It was found that IEC had a significant positive effect on consumers' GCI. Moreover, consumer retrieval processing fluency played a partial mediating role in the relationship between IEC and GCI. In addition, consumers' self-construal moderated the “IEC? Three dimensions of processing fluency” relationships.
Practical implications
The results emphasized the importance of IEC in influencing consumers' consumption intention in a green customization setting and have some practical implications, that is, companies have the opportunity to use appropriate digital choice architecture designs, which can enhance consumer processing fluency when promoting eco-friendly products in the customized consumption process, especially for independent consumers.
Originality/value
This study focused on the customization design on consumers' GCI and explained the mechanism of impact of IEC on improving consumers' processing fluency and GCI in a product customization setting based on the fluency theory. In addition, this study investigated the moderating effect of consumers' self-construal (independent vs interdependent) on their significant different information processing modes for low-carbon choices.
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Ruizhi Yuan, Martin J. Liu and Markus Blut
This study aims to examine the impact of five consumption values (i.e. ecological, functional, symbolic, experiential and epistemic) on consumers’ intentions to adopt green…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of five consumption values (i.e. ecological, functional, symbolic, experiential and epistemic) on consumers’ intentions to adopt green products. Using Thaler’s utility theory, the authors investigate the indirect effect of values on purchase intention through acquisition utility and transaction utility. Two moderators (materialism orientation and value consciousness) further influence the strength of the effect of consumption values on transaction utility.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a survey design (N = 437 Chinese customers recruited through a Chinese online panel provider) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test six hypothesized relationships in the proposed model. Moderated SEM was used for moderation analysis.
Findings
Most hypothesized relationships in the model were confirmed, with the exception of the functional value–transaction utility link and the moderating effect of materialism on the experiential value–transaction utility relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Larger-scale research may help to determine whether there are more significant differences in consumer evaluations of different types of green products.
Practical implications
As the concept of green marketing in China evolves, firms should continue to stress the importance and value of green products regarding individuals’ care for the environment, status and self-image. Further, firms should conduct systematic utility analyses and address acquisition and price equity in a strategic process.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to adapt utility theory to green consumption and proposes a clearly defined and well-substantiated set of utility types by merging economic and green consumption literature.
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João Pedro Pereira Luzio and Fred Lemke
There is a research gap in terms of understanding how green consumers perceive green products in a marketplace context. The purpose of this paper is to respond to this omission by…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a research gap in terms of understanding how green consumers perceive green products in a marketplace context. The purpose of this paper is to respond to this omission by exploring the green consumers' product demands and consumption processes.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with Portuguese green consumers are used to discuss potential key factors (reasons to buy green products, defining green product characteristics, feelings about pricing, perceived product confidence, willingness to compromise, environmental knowledge, consideration of alternatives, product's point of purchase and use and disposal).
Findings
The analysis indicates that green consumers represent an artificial segment and provides further empirical support to the definition of sustainability as a market‐oriented concept. The paper's findings suggest that mainstreaming green products is a more positive alternative than green segmentation.
Research limitations/implications
This research is exploratory in nature and the authors followed established guidelines to ensure objectivity. However, the study's findings are restricted to Portuguese green consumers and a replication in other countries would help to remove any potential country bias.
Practical implications
Sustainable businesses are eager to learn who the green consumer is in order to define this market segment. This may not represent the best strategy, however. Targeting green products to a niche market based only on intangible environmental or ethical values may not only be hindering the progress of sustainability as a market‐oriented concept but also missing the huge opportunity of gaining competitive advantage in the inevitable future marketplace.
Originality/value
Most marketing studies were unsuccessful in segmenting green consumers even “on average”, resulting in elusive and contradictory outcomes. Only very few studies are aimed at exploring the green consumer's behavior using qualitative research approaches. This paper explores the product demands of green consumers, as well as their consumption processes in detail.
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Chen Wang, Ran Zhang, Taiwen Feng and Jingyi Tao
This study aims to investigate the impact of environmental responsibility (ER) on consumers' green customization intention (GCI), as well as the separate and joint moderating…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of environmental responsibility (ER) on consumers' green customization intention (GCI), as well as the separate and joint moderating effects of consumers' negative perceptions and environmental claim type (ECT) on the relationship between ER and GCI.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, two online experimental questionnaires and one between-subject lab experiment were conducted to test all hypotheses.
Findings
This study found that high-ER consumers are more likely to choose environmental options in the product customization process (versus low ER). The effect of ER on consumers' GCI is moderated by consumers' negative perceptions of green consumption (e.g. green skepticism and perceived environmental premium (PEP)). Additionally, ECT's joint moderating effect and consumers' negative perception of green customization consumption can be decreased by a substantive (versus associative) claim type in message framing.
Practical implications
The findings provide new insights into the factors affecting consumers' GCIs and have significant practical implications. First, consumers' different ER levels should not be neglected when examining the value of green customization. Second, consumers' green skepticism and PEP could reduce consumers' GCI. Third, the use of substantive environmental claims may also be particularly helpful for companies' communication strategies regarding consumers' low-level negative perceptions of green options.
Originality/value
While previous studies state “environmental responsibility” as a key characteristic of general green consumption, the authors extend that to a green customization process and connect that with consumers' negative perceptions and ECT. In addition, the separate and joint moderating effects of consumers' negative perceptions and ECT were examined. Thus, these findings refine the existing understanding of the relationship between ER and green customization.
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Bo Wu, Dongjin Li and Chubing Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction effect of moral identity and construal level on consumer green consumption and the mediating role of pro-environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction effect of moral identity and construal level on consumer green consumption and the mediating role of pro-environmental self-accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined the hypotheses in two experiment studies. In study 1, the authors measured participants’ chronic individual difference of moral identity and primed construal level. In study 2, the authors primed moral identity and measured chronic individual difference of construal level. The authors also measured pro-environmental self-accountability in these two studies.
Findings
The results reveal that construal level moderates the relationship between moral identity and consumer green consumption, specifically, when consumers are induced a high construal level, moral identity has no effect on consumer green consumption, while when consumers are induced a low construal level, moral identity has a positive effect on consumer green consumption; the interaction of moral identity and construal level on green consumption is mediated by pro-environmental self-accountability.
Research limitations/implications
This research enriches the literature on how to improve consumer green consumption, and thus has some managerial and public policy implications. But the authors only chose students as participants and the dependent measures are also limited. Future research can choose other type of sample and other dependent measures to test the generalization of the conclusion.
Originality/value
Prior literature of green consumption lacks research on mediation mechanism. Due to prior literature gaps, the authors integrate social-cognitive perspective moral identity theory, especially the in-group circle expansion of moral identity, and construal level theory to investigate the moderating effect of construal level on the relationship between moral identity and green consumption and the mediation effect of pro-environmental self-accountability.
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Unprecedented environmental crises threaten the world, and most environmental problems are closely associated with human behaviour. At the same time, social exclusion and…
Abstract
Purpose
Unprecedented environmental crises threaten the world, and most environmental problems are closely associated with human behaviour. At the same time, social exclusion and loneliness occur widely, influencing consumers' product preferences and choices. Hence, this study aimed to explore the impact of social exclusion on green consumption and its underlying mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an empirical study with different research designs and green consumption measures. This pilot study investigated the relationship between social exclusion and green consumption by examining the frequency of green consumption behaviours in the past. Study 1 established a causal link between these two variables by manipulating social exclusion in a controlled experiment and assessed green product preferences. Study 2 further generalised the results of the secondary data analysis from the World Values Survey (WVS).
Findings
Overall, the research study provides convergent evidence that chronically or transiently excluded consumers are less likely to implement green consumption than their counterparts who do not feel socially excluded; this effect is partially mediated by a reduced sense of control and willingness to sacrifice for society after social exclusion.
Originality/value
Based on social exclusion theory and considering the unique characteristics of green consumption, this study enriches research in the fields of social exclusion and green consumption, revealing the negative effect of social exclusion on green consumption and the dual mediators in this relationship.
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Zhang Yanyan, Chuen-Khee Pek and Tat-Huei Cham
This study aims to look into consumers' green consumption intention by incorporating social media exposure, environmental concern and habit into theory of planned behavior (TPB…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to look into consumers' green consumption intention by incorporating social media exposure, environmental concern and habit into theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the context of China advocating green consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the data collected from online survey, this study use partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analysis the measurement model and structure model.
Findings
The results show attitude, social media exposure, environmental concern and subjective norms are important determinants of consumers' intention to purchase green products.
Originality/value
This study explores the new associations between the major constructs of the TPB model in green consumption. This study also expanded the TPB model by adding three extra factors, namely social media exposure, habit and environmental concern. In addition, this study attempts to bridge the gap between attitude and intention from a new perspective by using social media exposure as a moderating variable.
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Paulo Fuchs, Carlos Raulino, Diogo Conceição, Samara Neiva, Wellyngton Silva de Amorim, Thiago Coelho Soares, Maurício Andrade de Lima, Carlos Rogerio Montenegro De Lima, João Coelho Soares and José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Andrade Guerra
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges in the current scenario, a sustainable development that finds the necessary changes and advances for communities, industry and the various stakeholders involved is required. In this process of promoting sustainable development, universities stand out for being institutions capable of taking an analytical and questioning look at the directions of the society in which they are inserted and not just helping them to pursue them, serving as a model and living laboratory for the implementation of greener practices in cities. One of the actions that contributes to the consolidation process of a more sustainable university and the development of the green campus is the use of green marketing, understood as a set of all the practices that involve conventional marketing, focused on the search to reduce the negative impact or promote positive effects on the relationship between the institution and the environment. This paper aims, based on the balanced scorecard (BSC), to propose a strategic management tool as support for green marketing strategies, thus promoting, more quickly, the promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach
Four universities were chosen, from the literature, in terms of best practices for sustainable development, where the main dimensions used by green marketing were mapped. Based on them, the BSC structure was adapted to enhance its strategies.
Findings
To achieve the objective of this work, this paper proposed an adaptation of the original BSC for better management of green marketing strategies for universities, based on four dimensions: community members, university members, product and strategy.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper is to propose a BSC as a strategic management system focused on the green marketing of universities to accelerate the promotion of sustainable development in HEIs.
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Gaopeng Zhang, Linfan Wang and Hu Meng
Based on the knowledge-attitude-behavior model, this study is aimed at investigating the influential mechanism underlying the purchase of green clothing by dividing this clothing…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the knowledge-attitude-behavior model, this study is aimed at investigating the influential mechanism underlying the purchase of green clothing by dividing this clothing category into green home-in wear and home-out wear within the context of green consumption. The mediating effects of perceived greenwashing (PG), perceived value (PV) and expected moral benefit (EMB) and the moderating effect of green clothing type (GCT) were examined.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study were collected from 366 valid samples through a between-subject design survey administered in China. Moderation analysis and mediation analysis using SPSS/PROCESS macro were applied to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that consumers' level of environmental knowledge (EKL) not only has a direct effect on purchase intention (PI) but also has an indirect effect through perceived value and expected moral benefit. However, perceived greenwashing did not play a mediating role in this relationship.
Originality/value
The study's findings show a moderating effect of green clothing type (green home-in wear vs green home-out wear). That is, compared to green home-out wear, the relationship between expected moral benefit and perceived greenwashing for green home-in wear had a weaker negative effect on purchase intentions.
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