Green intentions under the blue flag: Exploring differences in EU consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally‐friendly products

Recent research on consumer social responsibility highlights the need to examine psychological drivers of environmentally‐friendly consumption choices in a global context. This article investigates consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) more for environmentally‐friendly products across 28 European Union (EU) countries, using a sample of 21,514 consumers. A multigroup structural equation modeling analysis reveals significantly different patterns and relationships, in how (a) subjective knowledge about the product's environmental impact, (b) environmental product attitudes, and (c) the perceived importance of the products’ environmental impact influence consumers’ WTP more for environmentally‐friendly products across countries. The hypothesized model predicts WTP for 20 out of 28 countries and the findings show that a “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach is inadequate in capturing the heterogeneity of EU consumers. Hosfstede's cultural dimensions of uncertainty tolerance and individualism explain differences in WTP for environmentally‐friendly products across EU countries. Business, marketing communications, and policy making implications are discussed.     

Explaining consumers’ willingness to be environmentally friendly

Theoretical and empirical evidence from the environmental psychology and related literatures are used to develop a model for explaining consumers’ willingness to perform environmentally friendly behaviour. Environmental concern and perceived psychological consequences of environmentally friendly behaviour are posited as key determinants of willingness. Hypothesized antecedents of these are also included in the model, which is tested using structural equation modelling on data from a sample of 232 consumers collected in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The results indicate that the key determinant of willingness is perceived psychological consequences, which in turn is significantly determined by past behaviour. A hypothesized effect of environmental concern on willingness is not significant, although concern is itself significantly determined by perceived psychological consequences. Other positive determinants of concern are environmental knowledge and perceived seriousness of threats to the global environment. Substantive and methodological implications of the findings are outlined and discussed.     

Toward Consumption Reduction: An Environmentally Motivated Perspective

Faced with the threat of climate change, there is a challenge to promote more environmentally friendly consumption patterns. This work seeks to unearth psychographic and socio‐demographic factors that could trigger environmentally motivated reductions in consumption. The context of empirical investigation is the European Union (i.e., a large‐scale sample of European citizens), with a focus on two key types of environmentally motivated consumption reduction: domestic and “out‐of‐home” (purchasing) activities. The findings show the interrelated effects of environmental knowledge and ecological motivations (in both aggregated and disaggregated forms) on positive and negative environmental attitudes, which in turn influence consumption reduction. There is also evidence of significant moderating influences of perceived environmental threat, gender, age, education, and country value orientation—particularly on “environmental knowledge” links. The findings reported here contribute to theory and practice toward environmental sustainability.     

Does educating customers create positive word of mouth?

This research theorizes and empirically examines whether and how educating customers—a brand's efforts to enhance customers' product-related knowledge—affects customer word of mouth (WOM). In two lab experiments across service and retailing contexts, we find that educating customers enhances customers' positive WOM for a brand. Customer satisfaction and perceived expertise mediate this effect. Critically, the positive impact on WOM is stronger for customers who have less prior knowledge regarding the educational topic and are more amenable to knowledge sharing. The current findings add to the literature on customer education and WOM and offer managerial insights for improving brands' WOM campaigns.     

An exploratory study of the influences that compromise the sun protection of young adults

This paper reports on an exploratory research project designed to gain a deeper understanding of the influences on ultraviolet radiation (UVR) behaviours among high‐risk young adults to determine what compromises the adoption of protection measures for this group. A dual approach using focus groups and the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique was used to provide personal narratives related to UVR behaviour for tertiary education students. Results from both ‘conversations’ were content‐analysed using an iterative ‘bootstrapping’ technique to identify key themes and issues. This exploratory research identified a number of key themes including effect on mood, influence of culture, the value of tans, unrealistic optimism, risk‐orientation, and the role of experience. This group felt that they not been targeted effectively by public health campaigns and did not fully understand the dangers of high‐risk UVR behaviours. Although a number of previous studies have investigated the relationship between knowledge and behaviour, and largely concluded that increases in knowledge do not lead to increases in adoption of protection practices, the preliminary findings of this study reveal that the knowledge and perceived self efficacy of protective practices is extremely high, what is lacking is the perceived threat and thus the motivations to adopt such behaviours. The conclusions drawn from this research indicate that there are a variety of important influencing factors that compromise UVR behaviours, in particular, the lack of perceived seriousness and severity towards long term consequences such as skin cancer. The recommendation to address the imbalance of ‘perceived threat’ and ‘outcome expectations’ is to focus on increasing knowledge of skin cancer, particularly susceptibility to skin cancer and the severity of the condition.     

Young UK adults and the 5 A DAY campaign: perceived benefits and barriers of eating more fruits and vegetables

Although consuming adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases, it is widely recognized that young adults' intakes are currently well below the Department of Health's recommended five portions a day, with men consuming even less than women. One approach in the UK has been to introduce health campaigns such as the 5 A DAY programme; however, little is currently known about how well their messages are understood amongst young adults. This study examined current knowledge of the 5 A DAY message in young adults, as well as the perceived benefits and remaining barriers towards consuming more fruits and vegetables. In total, four focus groups were conducted using male (n = 22) and female (n = 18) students at the University of Reading. Content analysis revealed that while participants were aware of the 5 A DAY recommendation, there was widespread confusion regarding the detail. In addition, men were less accepting of the message than women, reporting greater disbelief and a lack of motivation to increase intake. Finally, a range of barriers was reported by participants of both genders, despite the perceived beneficial effects for health and appearance. The results illustrate a considerable gap between awareness and knowledge of the 5 A DAY message, and underscore the challenge that changing behaviour in young adults represents. As well as stepping up education‐ and skill‐based health campaigns, more targeted gender specific interventions will be needed to achieve sustained increases in fruit and vegetable intake.     

Polish and Belgian consumers' perception of environmentally friendly behaviour

The aim of this study was to design a method for evaluating the importance that consumers place on the characteristics of environmentally friendly (EF) products and on consumer EF behaviour. Attitudes and opinions of consumers regarding the EF value of the different aspects of consumer behaviour – purchasing, using and disposing of goods – were measured. The perception of EF behaviour was analysed for Belgian and Polish consumers, a Western and an Eastern European country. The cultural, economic and political differences between Belgium and Poland may imply that their consideration of EF behaviour is different. The perception of consumers about buying, using and disposing of EF products does not necessarily indicate their own EF behaviour, but it gives an indication of what consumers think is EF behaviour. On the basis of the results, policy‐makers and industry can diagnose the consumers' perceived cost–benefit relationship of EF consumer behaviour. An evaluation of what consumers think is EF can be made for the two countries. Marketers, government and EF organizations can draw on our research results when developing EF products and/or advertising campaigns.     

Investigating the direct and indirect effects of corporate hypocrisy and perceived corporate reputation on consumers’ attitudes toward the company

Consumers are placing increasing importance on the social responsibility of firms when making purchase decisions. Nonetheless, corporate irresponsibility has become more prevalent in the corporate world. Through corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies can showcase their virtues and appear as good citizens while ignoring many internal standards. Hence, the primary purpose of this study was to explore the impact of corporate hypocrisy on CSR belief, corporate reputation, and consumers’ attitudes toward a company that may have a bad reputation. Second, we investigated the mediating effect of CSR belief and perceived corporate reputation on the relationships between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. We asked a sample of respondents in Australia (n =518) to respond to a real CSR campaign launched by a beer company. The results showed that CSR belief mediates the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. The results indicated a perception that companies may use CSR to try to shift the blame from producers to users. The results of this study provide guidelines for managers, social marketers, and public policy makers on how to create and evaluate companies’ CSR campaigns. The results of this study contribute to the debate on how consumers respond to various CSR campaigns as well as the intended or unintended consequences of CSR in directing consumers’ attention away from the negative impacts businesses have on society.     

Finding the Right Shade of Green: The Effect of Advertising Appeal Type on Environmentally Friendly Consumption

There are two forms of advertising appeals for environmentally friendly products and policies: those that provide consumer benefit (e.g., cost savings) and those that provide societal benefit (e.g., lower emissions). This research examines the role of decision-making and consumption contexts on the efficacy of each appeal. The results of three studies indicate that in contexts where consumers experience heightened public accountability they are more responsive to other-benefit appeals, and in more private settings they favor self-benefit appeals. We replicate this finding across multiple samples, product categories, and consumption and decision-making contexts. Our findings reconcile previously conflicting research on the efficacy of either appeal type and provide guidance for marketers seeking to promote environmentally friendly consumption.     

Young consumers’ green purchase behaviour in an emerging market

Young consumers represent a powerful engine in the development of environmentally conscious population as well as a promising market for green products. Marketers and organizations are therefore increasingly developing strategic marketing campaigns and environmental education programmes that target the young consumer segment. This study aims to examine a number of rational, moral, emotional and self-identity factors that may facilitate or impede green purchase behaviour among young consumers in an emerging market, Vietnam. A paper-based survey was employed to collect data from university students, which yielded an effective sample of 289 respondents. Multivariate statistics revealed that most factors (i.e. knowledge, attitudes, personal norms, self-identity and perceived barriers) significantly affected consumer purchase of energy efficient appliances, except for subjective social norms and warm glow. From these findings, implications for marketers, policy-makers and other stakeholders engaged in promoting green products are discussed.     

Making the invisible,visible: Overcoming barriers to ESG performance with an ESG mindset

Improving corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance starts with recognizing that not every dollar of earnings is created equally, as some profit may be earned at the cost of damaging the environment or of harming stakeholder relationships. These costs are often invisible to corporate employees, as they are not recorded. To earn corporate profits that are environmentally and socially responsible, boards and CEOs must overcome two barriers: (1) the ESG issue-assessment barrier, which reflects an organization’s inability to fairly assess, prioritize, scope, and plan ESG initiatives that address the invisible environmental and social damage corporations cause, and (2) the shareholder-value barrier, which recognizes that corporate employees may resist implementing ESG initiatives owing to their entrenched belief that corporations must maximize shareholder returns. To overcome these two barriers, we propose an ESG mindset model that highlights the pitfalls relating to ESG issue assessment and to the common belief in maximizing shareholder value and then suggests tactics to overcome them. The benefits to corporations that successfully overcome the barriers and improve their corporate ESG performance are threefold: They (1) will be perceived as positively contributing to environmental and societal issues, and thereby (2) avoid accusations of greenwashing and (3) improve their standing with stakeholders.     

The Impact of Moral Emotions on Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This research was focused on investigating why some consumers might support cause-related marketing campaigns for reasons other than personal benefit by examining the influence of moral emotions and cultural orientation. The authors investigated the extent to which moral emotions operate differently across a cultural variable (US versus Korea) and an individual difference variable (self-construal). A survey method was utilised. Data were collected from a convenience sample of US (n = 180) and Korean (n = 191) undergraduates. Moral emotions significantly influenced purchase intention for a social-cause product. The influence of an ego-focused moral emotion (i.e., pride) on purchase intention was greater for US than Korean participants. The influence of another-focused moral emotion (i.e., guilt) on purchase intention was greater for high-interdependent participants than for low-interdependent participants. The findings of this research provide important and relevant implications to marketers and policy makers in developing persuasive messages and customer relationship programmes.     

Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors

This study examined whether it was possible to classify Australian public sector employees as either whistleblowers or non-reporting observers using personal and situational variables. The personal variables were demography (gender, public sector tenure, organisational tenure and age), work attitudes (job satisfaction, trust in management, whistleblowing propensity) and employee behaviour (organisational citizenship behaviour). The situational variables were perceived personal victimisation, fear of reprisals and perceived wrongdoing seriousness. These variables were used as predictors in a series of binary logistic regressions. It was possible to identify whistleblowers on the basis of individual initiative, whistleblowing propensity (individual and organisational), fear of reprisals, perceived wrongdoing seriousness and perceived personal victimisation. It was concluded that whistleblowers are not markedly dissimilar to non-reporting observers. Based on the two most influential variables (perceived personal victimisation and perceived wrongdoing seriousness), the average Australian public sector whistleblower is most likely to be an ordinary employee making a good faith attempt to stop what they perceived to be a serious wrongdoing that was initially identified through personal victimisation.     

Performance Effects of External Search Strategies in European Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises

There is little evidence regarding the performance impact of open innovation on small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), especially across different firm‐size categories and sectors. Using new survey data from 28 European countries, we specify ordered logit and generalized proportional odds models to explore how seven individual external search strategies (knowledge sources) affect SME innovation performance across different size categories and sectors. While we find some consistently positive effects, in particular from using customers as an external knowledge source, we also find that some search strategies may not be beneficial. These findings suggest managerial and policy implications.     

Responsibility and Brand Advertising in the Alcoholic Beverage Market: The Modeling of Normative Drinking Behavior

This review compares alcoholic beverage advertising, responsibility advertising, and media advocacy; considers their actual and desired impacts; describes and evaluates the controversy surrounding industry-sponsored responsibility campaigns; and identifies a number of issues that would benefit from additional research. Results indicate that alcoholic beverage advertising does not exert a material influence on total consumption or abuse, but models normative drinking behavior, and thus may actually inhibit alcohol misuse. Industry-sponsored responsibility efforts, like those sponsored by government and nonprofits, appear to affect desired changes, are perceived to be similar to government and nonprofit efforts, model desired drinking behaviors, and may be more effective with heavier drinkers.     

A cross-country study of consumer innovativeness and technological service innovation

The current literature suggests that the concept of consumer innovativeness is universally applicable. Innovators are believed to be novelty seekers and risk takers independent of their national identity, and therefore to be attracted to similar characteristics of an innovation across most countries. However, research in intercultural marketing has shown that cultural norms and values have varying influences on the adoption of innovation, a finding that seems to contradict the assumption that the relationship between consumer innovativeness and adoption of innovation is universally uniform. This research investigates the effects of consumer innovativeness on attitude toward a service-based innovation across three European countries. The results of a multi-group structural equation modeling show that the relationship between consumer innovativeness and attitude toward innovation varies across the three dimensions of perceived novelty, perceived value, and perceived risk.     

Internal and external barriers to eco‐conscious apparel acquisition

Apparel consumption is a contributing cause of environmental change, and environmental integrity requires the encouragement of eco‐conscious apparel acquisition. Unfortunately, among consumers, there is limited engagement in this behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to expand the knowledge base of eco‐conscious apparel consumption and question the limited participation by identifying barriers that constrain consumers. This study used a qualitative approach to collect and analyse data from 26 eco‐conscious consumers. Data collection for the study occurred through semi‐structured interviews. Results indicate that consumers find it difficult to engage in eco‐conscious apparel acquisition on a consistent basis because a number of barriers stand in the way. These barriers include knowledge and attitudes about environmentally preferable apparel, availability of environmentally preferable apparel, economic resources, retail environments and societal norms. Consequently, the implication is that strategies intending to encourage eco‐conscious apparel acquisition should include a focus on diminishing these barriers.     

Communicating a company's positive impact on society—Can plausible explanations secure authenticity?

Organizations could prosper by delivering products and services that make society a better place. However, they face the challenge of successfully communicating what they contribute to society, especially if their contributions are closely related to their core business activities. The thin line between genuine societal engagement and the pursuit of profitability may feed society's increasing skepticism about the genuineness of organizations' care for societal issues. This study addresses the question of how a for-profit organization can successfully communicate what it intends to contribute to society while still coming across as authentic. If customers can explain the organization's envisaged societal contributions in terms of characteristics of the organization, they can see more clearly how its contributions fit the organization and will perceive the organization as more authentic. Perceived authenticity, in turn, increases customer loyalty and perceived fit enhances stakeholders' attitudes toward the organization's societal engagement.     

Empirical regularity in academic research productivity patterns in marketing

In any academic discipline, published articles in their respective journals represent “production units” of scientific knowledge, and bibliometric distributions reflect the patterns in this productivity across authors or “producers”. We use a comprehensive data set from 11 leading marketing journals to examine whether there is any empirical regularity in the patterns of research productivity in the marketing literature. Our results present strong evidence that there is indeed a distinct empirical regularity. It is the so-called generalized Lotka's Law of patterns in scientific productivity: the number of authors publishing n papers is approximately 1/n^c of those publishing one paper. We find the empirically estimated value of the exponent c to be 2.05 for the overall bibliometric data across the leading marketing journals. For individual journals, the estimated values of c range from 2.15 to 2.83, with lower values indicating higher authorship concentration levels. We also find that variations in authorship concentration levels across journals and over time are driven by a journal's maturity, its topical focus, its attractiveness as a publication outlet, the characteristics of its review process, and the extent of author collaboration present in the journal. We discuss the general implications of our findings.     

Go green: how to influence the perceived effectiveness of a green product?

Across two studies, this research elucidates on which green messages in advertising are most effective in influencing the perceived effectiveness of green products by examining the moderating role of environmental consciousness. This study further considers a mechanism underlying the interaction between green messages and environmental consciousness on brand attitude with the perceived effectiveness of green products. The results show that when environmentally conscious individuals are exposed to abstract and distant temporal messages, they will report greater perceptions of a green product's effectiveness and brand attitude than for concrete and proximal temporal messages. In contrast, less environmentally conscious respondents will not have different responses to the abstract/concrete and distant/proximal temporal messages. Furthermore, the perceived effectiveness of a green product mediates the interaction between green messages and environmental consciousness for predicting brand attitudes. With an understanding of how environmentally conscious individuals evaluate green advertising, marketers can better understand how to promote their green products more effectively.