Consumers and deregulation of the electricity market in Germany

Against the backcloth of EU regulation, this note looks at the “politics of necessity” regarding electricity provision in Germany. Electricity as a case is chosen because its provision has been undergoing a profound process of liberalisation and deregulation, and there is a considerable amount of experience with the chances and pitfalls of liberalisation in this sector. Secondly, electricity is a network industry and a natural monopoly subject to systematic market failure, which calls for regulation. The paper starts out with a closer look at the consumer as an actor in the regulation process, proposing a three-role model of the consumer as a market player, as a citizen, and as a micro-producer in households and networks. In these roles, consumers take on different social and political identities; they are affected differently by (de)regulation of essential services and have different options for reacting to quality and price issues. It then describes the legal state and the development of deregulation in the electricity sector in Germany. Selected empirical data are presented, and consumer policy implications are drawn.     

Gender differences in Egyptian consumers’ green purchase behaviour: the effects of environmental knowledge,concern and attitude

This study investigates the influence of three cognitive and attitudinal factors on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Using a large sample size (n = 1093), a survey has been developed and administered across Egypt. The findings from the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) confirm the influence of consumers’ ecological knowledge, concern and attitude on gender differences in green purchase behaviour. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that women appeared to be less aware of environmental issues compared with men. However, contrary to other studies conducted in the West, men showed more environmental concern and more positive outlook towards green purchase compared with women. The study discusses how the present findings may help policy makers and marketers alike to fine‐tune their environmental and marketing programmes.     

The effect of pro-environmental attitudes and eco-labelling information on green purchasing decisions in Australia

The main purpose of this study is to measure the effects of pro-environmental attitudes, knowledge, and eco-labeling information on green purchasing decisions. Data were collected from 400 undergraduate students studying at an Australian University. The findings suggest that pro-environmental attitude and eco-labeling information significantly affect green purchasing decisions. Eco-labeling, however, plays a more significant role in influencing green purchasing decisions. Finally, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

An environmental social marketing intervention among employees: assessing attitude and behaviour change

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of individual and organisational factors on two simultaneous environmental social marketing interventions (SmartPrint and heating/cooling) and types of behaviours (recycling, printing and heating/cooling), among employees of a British City Council. Using a quantitative methodology, in the form of a situated experiment, self-reported attitudes, perceptions of organisational support, self-reported behaviours and actual behaviours were measured before and after the interventions. The interventions generated significant changes in employees’ overall environmental behaviour, heating/cooling behaviour and in some perceptions of organisational support (support and incentives/rewards). Findings are used to detail recommendations for future campaigns aiming to improve organisations’ environmental performance and to drive enduring employee behavioural change.     

Can Social Marketing Segmentation Initiatives Be Used to Increase Household Electricity Conservation?

Australia is one of the highest per capita emitters of carbon dioxide in the world, therefore improving energy conservation efforts is important to Australia's economic, social, and environmental well-being. In such an environment, long-term policy changes to energy conservation are likely to be contentious, complex, and costly. In this context the use of a complementary social marketing segmentation framework to guide the intervention process could provide additional leverage for policy makers to facilitate short-term improvements, which are aligned with their longer-term goals. This article focuses on the application of market segmentation techniques as potential motivators to electricity conservation efforts in the existing context of residential users of electricity in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It investigates the impact of a range of hypothetical consequence incentive packages (i.e., financial reward and feedback frequency) on attitudes toward energy conservation using a cross-sectional survey of 188 respondents from metropolitan NSW residents. It is proposed that incentive packages for energy conservation campaigns will be most effective when targeted specifically to each of the environmental attitudes and beliefs segments.     

Determinants of environmentally responsible behaviours for greenhouse gas reduction

Canadian household consumption and driving behaviours are responsible for a significant portion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced across Canada. This paper examines and characterizes two sets of consumer behaviours, indoor GHG reduction behaviours and automobile GHG emissions, using data from a 2006 telephone survey of a representative random sample of 1002 Canadian households with cars. Two statistical models are used to analyse the impact of four groups of variables (environmental attitudes, policy opinions, automobile‐related indices and socio‐demographics) on GHG reduction at the household level. Results were obtained using ordered probit and Ordinary Least Squares regressions. Indoor GHG reduction behaviours were not correlated with automobile GHG emissions. Dominant factors increasing consumer GHG reduction behaviours both indoors and on the road were sense of personal responsibility and previous environmental activism. Canadians who least actively participate in GHG reduction activities were more likely to be living in the Prairie provinces and to be male.     

Consumers’ green commitment: indication of a postmodern lifestyle?

Green consumer behaviour is one of the key focuses of contemporary research on the sociology of consumption. The constant presence of environmental issues related to consumption and the changes consumer society has faced during the 20th century are presumed to reflect on present consumer behaviour. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, the postmodern elements of consumer society will be discussed; second, the study analyses to what extent these elements of postmodernism fit with the phenomenon of contemporary green consumerism. The empirical part utilizes Finnish consumer behaviour‐related data from 2003, which were analysed by applying various statistical methods. In this part, the study reports of the connection between lifestyle and green commitment. Lifestyle is measured by consumption styles and green commitment by certain environment‐related consumption choices. The results suggest that different lifestyles explain green commitment better than traditional socio‐economic background variables. The effect of postmodernism on green consumer behaviour is, thus, discussed.     

Environmental and Societal Positioning as Sources of Competitive Advantage in an Agricultural Firm

This research seeks to ascertain whether an agricultural firm's social and environmental positioning affects consumers' perceptions of the attributes of its products. Results showed that companies that are perceived to be more socially and environmentally conscious received better ratings for their produce in terms of quality and freshness. In addition, consumers reported that they would be willing to pay more for food grown by socially and environmentally conscious firms.     

The Contingency Effects of Supplier Influence Strategies and Their Implications for Retailer Cooperation

Abstract

The success of manufacturers' consumer marketing programs often hinges on whether they are implemented at the retail level. Manufacturers use various influence strategies to persuade retailers to adopt their marketing programs. We investigate how well those influence strategies shape the retailers' positive attitudes toward their suppliers' marketing programs. We find that the effectiveness of those influence strategies depends upon the extent of uncertainty in the retailers' market. We also find that the manufacturer's investment in specific assets to support its relationship with the retailer strongly affects the retailer's attitude toward the supplier's programs.     

绿色物流——物流业发展的当务之急

在我国社会主义市场经济提倡大生产大市场大消费,并建立与之相适应的现代物流的同时,创建我国的现代绿色物流,提倡高效节能、绿色环保,不仅是必要的,也是迫切的。这意味着未来的物流业将有一场激烈的竞争。我国物流业加紧发展绿色物流,是应对未来挑战和在竞争中占得先机的重要机遇。本文主要探讨作为经济活动的一部分,物流活动同样面临严峻的环境问题,倡导绿色物流成为物流业发展的当务之急。     

Extending the institutional environment: the impact of internal and external factors on the green behaviors of an individual

Similar to the adaptation and evolution of organizations, individual consumers must live and exist within similar environmental conditions. The research presented utilizes a quantitative study to examine a consumer’s environment and the subsequent impact on green behaviors. The results suggest that internal factors (i.e. interest, altruism, willingness to conduct research) are significant predictors of green behavior. An examination of the external factors (i.e. organizational influence, media influence, governmental influence) suggests that consumers face numerous outside influences and are unsure of whom to trust. A discussion of the theoretical implications, as well as the practical implications for boardrooms, is presented. Areas for future study and the limitations of the research are also identified.     

Exploring consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market: The role of consumers’ perceived readiness

Consumers’ awareness of green products has increased in the last few years, but studies show that the demand for green products has been stagnant. The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of consumers’ perceived readiness to be green and subsequently, how readiness to be green affects consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market, Indonesia. A total of 916 survey responses were collected in three universities, two major shopping malls and several housing areas in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings reveal that consumers’ attitude (ATT), subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), pro‐environmental self‐identity (PEI), ethical obligation and consumers’ readiness to be green are the determinants of intention to purchase green products. Consumers’ readiness to be green mediates the effects of ATT, PBC, PEI and perceived sense of responsibility on purchase intention. The study provides further insights into the discrepancy between professed positive attitudes towards the environment and the slow uptake of green behaviour in an emerging market.     

Determinants of knowledge management system adoption in health care

The demand for efficient knowledge management (KM) in health care is increasing because the complexity and scale of the knowledge generated from medical research and clinical practices have resulted in challenges of information overload and medical quality. These critical issues can be improved through the adoption of knowledge management systems (KMS). However, the adoption of technological innovations in health care demands an enhanced understanding of the lagged technology adoption status in the health care sector. This study uses empirical methods to investigate the determinants of KMS adoption on the basis of a national survey. Results suggest that KMS adoption is affected by organizational characteristics, KM enablers, and KMS characteristics. We emphasize that KMS adoption in health care is considerably complex because it largely depends on KM enablers and organizational characteristics and not solely on system characteristics. The implications of the findings for research and practice are outlined in this work.     

The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship in Germany

This paper explains individual start-up activities on the basis of both person-related characteristics and the regional context. The analysis is based upon micro data from the GEM adult population survey. Both individual and regional variables have an influence on the decision to become self-employed. There are considerable differences between nascent opportunity entrepreneurship and nascent necessity entrepreneurship. Whereas the results for opportunity entrepreneurship are in line with theoretical predictions the factors influencing necessity entrepreneurship are far more difficult to determine. The most significant change between 2001 and 2003/2004 is the reversal of the influence of a change in the regional rate of unemployment on nascent entrepreneurship activities.      

Consumers’ evaluations of the efficiency of actions to improve environmental quality: A comparative study between Brazil and China

There is a gap in our knowledge about environmentally conscious consumers in industrialized economies and the desire to achieve sustainable economies. Given that most aspects of consumer behaviour are culture bound, this paper contributes by comparing consumers’ evaluations of the efficiency of actions to improve environmental quality in two of the most promising industrializing consumer societies: Brazil and China. The proposed conceptual framework includes environmental concerns, perceived consumer effectiveness, green attitudes, green behaviours and external motivators as constructs to explain the perception of efficient environmental support. Field research was conducted in Brazil with 1,149 respondents, and in China with 632 respondents to test the model. The results suggested that the belief that environmental quality can be improved is directly associated with consumers’ internal and external motivators. However, cultural traits drove important differences in the evaluation of the efficiency of such improvements. Specifically, Chinese people tended to rely on collective leadership to create the conditions necessary for improving environmental quality, while they remained concerned with the current status. In contrast, Brazilians accepted more personal responsibility for the results, although they face important constraints, such as the availability of products.     

谈我国未来绿色环保、高性能的防腐涂料

根据我国防腐涂料已成业界关注的热点,本文提出了选择合适防腐涂料以降低涂装成本提高涂膜寿命;介绍了防腐涂料的新品种;并指出了我国防腐涂料的发展趋势.     

我国企业构建绿色营销体系的障碍因素分析

企业绿色营销的实施是一项复杂的系统工程,是可持续发展战略的必然要求。本文阐述了企业绿色营销体系,分析了阻碍我国企业建立绿色营销体系的因素,提出建立绿色营销体系的基本策略。     

Impediments to Adoption of Green Products: An ISM Analysis

During the last decades of the twentieth century, industry and business leaders have recognized the importance of incorporating environmental sustainability in their business practices. This has resulted in emergence of new concepts such as green marketing and green consumerism. Over the years, various studies have explored the concept of green consumer behavior and have listed out factors that work as either barriers or enablers to consumer adoption of environmentally sustainable products. The present study identifies such barriers from the available body of literature and tries to construct a model using ISM (Interpretive Structural Modeling) to show how these different barriers interact and affect the consumer decision making regarding green products.     

Consumer acceptance of a revolutionary technology-driven product: The role of adoption in the industrial design development

Understanding how consumers adopt a state of the art product is important for the development and marketing of innovative products. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that affect consumer intentions to use a revolutionary technology-driven product (RTP). The research integrates two innovation adoption models, the Unified Technology Acceptance and Utilization Theory (UTAUT) and the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model with two antecedents of consumer characteristics: consumer innovativeness and perceived value of a new product. The study examines consumer responses to an unfamiliar product, the TEASER which is a conceptual digital cookbook that offers taste sampling, thereby providing an online food-tasting experience. Consumers who are prone to innovativeness and who perceive value in a RTP’s aesthetics are able to discern the conditions that support their intent to use such a product. The resulting model expands the UTAUT and TTF theories by showing that UTAUT variables mediate between the variables of TTF and adoption intentions. These results support the need for nonlinear industrial development processes involving consumers.     

沈阳饭店业实施绿色营销的困境与对策分析

沈阳市饭店业绿色营销起步较晚,对绿色营销的实施还存在很多不足。政府应培育绿色市场环境,适度政策倾斜,加快饭店业的立法,充分发挥饭店协会的作用,促进沈阳市饭店业有效地实施绿色营销。沈阳市饭店业应提高饭店的绿色营销意识,开展绿色促销活动,推出绿色食品,提供绿色服务。