Environmentally conscious consumption: The role of retailers and peers as external influences

Environmentally conscious consumption is one of the key concerns in modern society generally, and increasingly among the consumer population. However, consumers often overstate their willingness to purchase environmentally conscious products, with global purchasing of these products relatively low. Much research has considered the role of drivers internal to an individual in making such consumption choices; however there is less knowledge as to how external influences may impact environmentally conscious consumption behaviour. As retailers increasingly strive to adopt and communicate their environmentally sustainable business practices, and encourage parallel consumer behavior, the question arises: what role do retailers play in influencing consumers’ environmentally conscious consumption? In this paper we investigate this notion, specifically how external influences (the retailer and peers) impact environmentally conscious behavior. We investigate this behavior in terms of two outcomes; sustainable consumption (direct costs) and willingness to accept environmental taxes (indirect costs). Our research demonstrates that retailers can influence consumers to be more environmentally conscious in their consumption, with retailer influence a stronger mediator than peers in this relationship. One important implication of this research is that retailers have the opportunity to shape environmentally conscious consumption if they adopt sustainable business practices.     

Sustainably sustaining (online) fashion consumption: Using influencers to promote sustainable (un)planned behaviour in Europe's millennials

This study explores if, how and through what channels millennials' sustainability values translate into action when it comes to fashion garments. By testing a research model on 448 European millennials, it contrasts extant theories of planned behaviour, finding that purchase intent is often guided by unintentional, non-linear processes wherein trust in intermediaries such as celebrity influencers, rather than the fashion retailers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach condition behaviour. For fashion retailers, it suggests the strategic use of influencers to (un)consciously market sustainable garments. Its novelty is built on sustainably sustaining fashion consumption in a post-pandemic world, characterised by increased online sales.     

Does environmentally responsible purchase intention matter for consumers? A predictive sustainable model developed through an empirical study

Rapidly increasing demand for eco-friendly products is an example of responsible purchasing intention of customers. That responsible behaviour forces businesses not only to understand their responsible purchase intention, but also helps them to sustainability in the market for the long term. In this regard, very little discussion is available in current literature, especially in the context of apparel product consumption. Therefore, to contribute to literature in this field, this work aims to build a predictive sustainable model through an empirical study to examine the relationships among different factors such as attitude, social norms, perceived behaviour control, environmental consciousness, willingness to pay (WTP) premium and consumer purchase intention for environmentally friendly apparels. The data of two hundred and thirty-two respondents were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). With the help of the findings, it can be concluded that Indian consumers are aware of green apparels, have a positive attitude to them and show a responsible purchase intention to protect the environment. This is in contrast to the old saying that Indians are price sensitive given the emergence of higher WTP premiums for green apparel products. Other factors such as subjective norms, perceived behaviour control and environmental consciousness are also positively affecting consumer purchase intention. From the study findings, retail managers can benefit through more focused strategies for environmental protection to make a reduction in apparel material while educating their consumers about green apparel.     

Importance of traceability for sustainable production: a cross‐country comparison

Traceability systems are becoming an important tool for tracking, monitoring and managing product flows through food supply chains. Traceability can be used as a method of certifying production, processing and nutritional credence attributes of food products. Environmentally sustainable production is a credence attribute that is gaining in importance in the eyes of consumers. In this research, the importance of traceability in verifying environmentally sustainable production practices is examined. The data were collected in online surveys related to consumer's perceptions and concerns about food safety, trust and reported behaviour related to meat consumption in three countries – Canada, the US and Japan. Determinants of traceability in verifying environmentally sustainable production practices include respondents' locus of control about food safety, food purchasing characteristics such as whether they normally buy organic products or shop at supermarkets and general traits such as worry and trust. In comparing across countries, there are significant differences in the interests in traceability to verify environmentally sustainable production practices and in the determinants of level of importance ascribed.     

Purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products: A conceptual framework and empirical study

Although there are some instances of prior research on the relationship between attitude and purchase intention for environmentally sustainable products, literature is scant about mediating role of attitude on the relationship between environmental knowledge and purchase intention for environmentally sustainable products. Following the theory of planned behaviour, this study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which provides several insights. First, the attitude towards environmentally sustainable products mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and purchase intention. Next, this mediated relationship is moderated by the environmental knowledge. Third, the subjective norm is not significantly related to the purchase intention - contrary to established findings - in a collectivistic culture considered in this study. And last but not the least, the direction of subjective norm as a moderator on relationship between environmental knowledge and attitude is not supported. The findings of this study offer some important guidance for marketing theory, retailing practices for environmentally sustainable products and public policy.     

Becoming a tree when I will be dead? Why not! Generation X,Y and Z,and innovative green death practices

Within the theoretical field of ethical consumption, the study focuses on consumer behavior and innovative green death practices. While scarcely investigated in the marketing and consumer behavior research domains, at least four main reasons spur to consider the funeral industry as an interesting subject of enquiry: i) the sector boasts of a significant economic relevance; ii) it is extremely impactful from an environmental and social point of view; iii) it is witnessing interesting innovative processes in the direction of social and environmental sustainability; iv) consumer movements are rising all over the world asking for more sustainable death practices. Thus, adopting an augmented version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which includes individuals’ environmentally responsible consumption, and egoistic and altruistic environmental concern, the study investigates behavioral intention to adopt innovative green death practices (a green funeral) of people belonging to three different generations: X, Y, and Z. A purposive sample of 627 Italian people participated in an online the survey. Collected data were analyzed adopting an ordinal logit model. The results confirm the TPB predictive power also in the field of green funeral behavioral intention. Furthermore, environmentally responsible consumption and environmental concern – even though only in its altruistic component – positively influence behavioral intention, and generation exerts a moderating effect among the examined constructs. Overall, the research attempts to enrich the literature on ethical consumption by exploring the underinvestigated phenomenon of buying behavior of unsought and end-of-life products, that of green funerals, and provide managerial recommendations to funeral service sellers.     

Consumer understanding,perceptions and behaviours with regard to environmentally friendly packaging in a developing nation

There has been very little research conducted into sustainable consumption patterns, knowledge and attitudes in relation to environmentally friendly packaging in South Africa. Market research that has been conducted in relation to sustainable consumption has largely been based on overseas studies and is therefore limited in that its reflection of information is from a first world country perspective. Environmental knowledge has been found to impact environmentally friendly behaviour both directly and indirectly. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to investigate South African respondents' understanding (knowledge) and perceptions of environmentally friendly packaging as well as the extent to which they exhibited green behaviour with regard to environmentally friendly packaging activities such as reusing and recycling. The data gathered for this study were collected by means of a questionnaire distributed to respondents using snowball sampling through Facebook networks. The snowball sample required respondents to answer the questionnaire and pass it on to other Facebook users. The unique benefit of this study is that it is conducted in a developing nation where issues such as sustainable consumption are new and evolving. There is limited promotion or implementation of environmentally responsible practices by authorities or industry. South African consumers in this study were found to exhibit limited knowledge of what environmentally friendly packaging is, how to differentiate it from normal packaging, as well as its benefits. However, actions are even less evident with regard to environmentally friendly packaging. Recommendations of how to improve knowledge as well as facilitate purchase of environmentally friendly packaging are provided.     

Sustainable consumption and plastic packaging: Relationships among product involvement,perceived marketplace influence and choice behavior

This study examines the relationships among human value connotations (instrumental and terminal), product involvement, perceived marketplace influence, and choice behavior in the context of sustainable consumption. Data was collected from 612 urban Indian residents who regularly consume sustainable products, e.g., non-plastic packaging bags. The study operationalizes the partial least square structural equation modeling method in consort with the covariance-based structural equation modeling. The research demonstrates the direct impact of instrumental and terminal values on product involvement and the direct influence of product involvement on perceived marketplace influence towards plastic packaging-related choice behavior. It is pertinent to focus on both instrumental and terminal connotations of human values to augment product involvement for plastic packaging. Limited studies have examined the possible relationships between two distinct yet interconnected connotations of human values on product involvement and perceived marketplace influence in the context of sustainable consumption related to plastic packaging.     

Does sustainability really matter to consumers? Assessing the importance of online shop and apparel product attributes

Although there is a shift in consumers' consumption behavior towards more sustainable patterns across a variety of different contexts, sustainable apparel has still not become a mainstream trend despite the textile industry's excessive usage of valuable resources. Albeit extant research found different potential barriers elucidating why consumers hesitate to purchase such apparel, it remains unclear whether sustainability really matters to consumers in a clothing context and further, which aspects are of relevance during consumers' purchase decision. We thus conducted two studies with four best-worst scaling experiments in which 4,350 online shoppers assessed the importance of both conventional and sustainable apparel attributes, as well as sustainable apparel attributes only, and the willingness to pay for sustainable product attributes. We further inquired the importance of conventional as well as sustainable online shop attributes. Our findings indicate that conventional apparel attributes such as fit and comfort, price-performance ratio, and quality are of higher relevance to consumers than sustainable attributes. The most important sustainable apparel attributes are the garment's durability, fair wages and working conditions, as well as an environmentally friendly production process. Consumers also indicated to prefer the latter three attributes to a 20% discount. Moreover, consumers demand less as well as sustainable packaging, free returns, and discount campaigns. Our findings reveal a gender gap regarding green consumerism with female respondents assessing most sustainable attributes as more important than male respondents do.     

The importance of personal norms and situational expectancies to sustainable behaviors: The norm activation and situational expectancy-value theories

The turn towards sustainability is becoming more critical in every sector, but consumers' lifestyles and behaviors have been slow to transform. Therefore, based on the norm activation model and situational expectancy-value theory, this study investigated the importance of personal norms and the influences of situational factors on sustainable behaviors. A total of 1050 responses obtained through an online survey method were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL. The results revealed that situational factors, such as acceptability of policies, accessibility of facilities, sacrificeability of prices, and environmental activism, can either facilitate or hinder recycling practices and responsible consumption behaviors. Personal norms are a determinant for sustainable behavior. Future research can extend the findings of this study to compare the most and least sustainable states or countries to determine effective interventions for encouraging sustainable behaviors.     

Sustainability seen from the perspective of consumers

An important step in promoting sustainable consumption is to find out how consumers understand the concept of sustainability. In this paper, we report on a study among Norwegian consumers in which we explored their understanding of sustainability at two levels. First, we investigated consumers' understanding of the general sustainability concept; specifically, we studied how important the following five sustainability dimensions are in consumers' conception of sustainability: the environmental, social, economic, temporal and the developmental dimension. Second, we investigated how consumers' understanding of sustainability manifests itself in consumption decisions: We studied consumers' opinions about how important various attributes are for sustainable products and which product labels they consider indicative of sustainable products. We found that all five sustainability dimensions occurred as elements of consumers' understanding of the sustainability concept. The environmental dimension, the social dimension and the developmental dimension were particularly outstanding. With regard to attributes that are important for sustainable products, consumers placed high emphasis on recyclability of the packaging, fair payment of producers, low energy use and low carbon dioxide emissions during production and shipping. Humane animal treatment was also considered an important attribute of sustainable products. The product labels that were considered most indicative of sustainable products were the Nordic Swan and the Norwegian Debio label. Consumers' judgments of how indicative the labels are of sustainable products were related positively to familiarity with the labels.     

Changing the marketplace one behavior at a time: Perceived marketplace influence and sustainable consumption

This study introduces the construct of Perceived Marketplace Influence (PMI) and investigates its role in mediating the relationship between environmental concern and sustainable consumption behavior. A nationwide survey shows that Perceived Marketplace Influence plays an important role in mediating the relationship between concern and behavior, providing an explanation for prior inconsistencies in this relationship. Accordingly, Perceived Marketplace Influence plays a purposeful role in transforming environmental concern into behavior. This project extends previous research on the relationship between values, beliefs, and behavior by showing that one's perception of influence on the marketplace behavior of others significantly influences one's own marketplace behavior. Improved understanding of this relationship provides updated guidance to firms and policymakers for projecting and encouraging sustainable consumption behavior.     

How do crazy rich Asians perceive sustainable luxury? Investigating the determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price

Motivated by the increasing media coverage of environmental disasters and growing evidence of humans’ detrimental impacts on the natural environment, the key aim of this study was to examine consumer interest in buying sustainable luxury products. Rooted in the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory, a research framework incorporating pro-environmental self-identity (PSI), consumer pro-environmental values (CPV), engagement, and willingness to pay a premium price (WPP) was proposed. To better understand the sustainable behavior of consumers, this study modelled myopia as a personality trait that moderates the aforementioned relationships. Partial least squares path modelling (PLSPM) was employed to analyze data collected from 296 Chinese consumers who had purchased luxury fashion products. The results highlighted the influential role of CPV in shaping both consumer engagement and WPP, surpassing the impact of PSI. Also, the study established the positive effect of engagement on WPP and confirmed its mediating role in the relationship between CPV and WPP. The incorporation of myopia as a moderator further enhanced the explanatory power of the VBN theory in understanding sustainable consumption evaluations. The findings revealed that the positive links between PSI, CPV, engagement, and WPP were particularly pronounced among non-myopic consumers, suggesting that a clear vision of long-term consequences strengthens the connections between these constructs. These findings offer valuable insights to both academics and practitioners, particularly in the realm of luxury fashion brands within Chinese culture. They provide a foundation for designing targeted marketing communication strategies that effectively leverage and cultivate consumers' pro-environmental self-identities and values. By aligning brand messaging with these values, luxury fashion brands can enhance consumer engagement and foster a willingness to invest in sustainable products. Ultimately, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable consumption and offers practical implications for promoting environmentally responsible choices in the luxury fashion industry.     

Consciousness for fair consumption: conceptualization,scale development and empirical validation

Sustainable consumption means that consumers act in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Compared with the vast amount of studies concerning environmentally conscious consumer behaviour, relatively little is known about socially conscious consumption. The present paper focuses on fair consumption as an important aspect of social consumption. In our study, consciousness for fair consumption (CFC) is defined as a latent disposition of consumers to prefer products that are produced and traded in compliance with fair labour and business practices. A scale to measure CFC was conceptualized and tested in three independent empirical studies. Two studies were conducted at European universities (2010 and 2012) and used 352 and 362 undergraduate business students respectively. The third study, conducted in 2011, used 141 employees at a European university. The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the new CFC scale across samples. While being moderately related to other aspects of sustainable consumption such as ecological concern and moral reasoning, CFC was significantly distinct from those concepts. Most importantly, it was established that the CFC, as measured by the new CFC scale, is a strong determinant of consumption of fair trade products that has been neglected in existing research.     

Sustainable tourist behaviour – a discussion of opportunities for change

Research shows that despite their declared positive attitudes towards sustainable tourism, only a few tourists act accordingly by buying responsible tourism products, choosing environmentally friendly transportation or behaving responsibly towards destination communities. The low support from customers is one of the main barriers for progress towards sustainable tourism. One reason can be that existing initiatives are missing customers' attention, discouraging industry and governments to continue promoting sustainable tourism. Positive attempts to encourage sustainable consumption in other sectors indicate that specific barriers may reside in the nature of tourist choices. Taking a critical look at tourism research and literature, this article examines the interplay between reasons for tourists' choice of products and services, and environmental motivations. After identifying possible gaps that may explain current failures to stimulate responsible tourist choices, the article concludes by discussing the implications for the effectiveness of informative and awareness‐raising tools aimed to facilitate the shift towards responsible tourist behaviour and actions.     

Are consumers sensitive to large retailers' sustainable practices? A semiotic analysis in the French context

This paper seeks to discover consumer perceptions related to the adoption of sustainable transport practices by the French large retail industry. Using 20 semi-structured interviews and the semiotic square method, this research sheds light on a set of structured postures of consumers' perceptions according to a semantic axis: conjunction vs. disjunction. The recourse to a socio-semiotic reading here favours a deeper comprehension of the question of consumers' trust in large retailers. It proposes a typology of four distinct virtual strategies responding to the diverse consumer perceptions brought to light: persuasion, rejection, suspicion, and alignment. This leads to a discussion of the strategies offered by different large retailers to meet their consumers' perceptions and expectations. Lastly, the results outline the importance of deploying targeted communication and of aligning sustainable transport practices in accordance with the identified consumer postures.     

Escaping the green prison: Entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for sustainable development

While entrepreneurial activity has been an important force for social and ecological sustainability; its efficacy is dependent upon the nature of market incentives. This limitation is sometimes explained by the metaphor of the prisoner's dilemma, which we term the green prison. In this prison, entrepreneurs are compelled to environmentally degrading behavior due to the divergence between individual rewards and collective goals for sustainable development. Entrepreneurs, however, can escape from the green prison by altering or creating the institutions—norms, property rights, and legislation—that establish the incentives of competitive games. We provide a variety of evidence of such entrepreneurial action and discuss its implications for theory and practice.     

Price matching and product differentiation strategies considering showrooming

Showrooming, a phenomenon in which customers use brick-and-mortar stores to assess products and then purchase them from online retailers (o-retailers) for lower prices, is considered a great threat to traditional retailers (t-retailers). To combat showrooming, many t-retailers have executed price matching which enables customers to pay o-retailers' lower prices for the identical product. To avoid direct competition with t-retailers who execute price matching, many o-retailers have begun to sell differentiated products from t-retailers, which weakens the information advantage to customers from practicing showrooming. Motivated by these observations, we construct a duopoly game, where a t-retailer and an o-retailer sell products in a same category, to study the profitabilities of product differentiation and price matching in the context of showrooming. The results show that in the scenario without price matching, the o-retailer is likely to benefit from product differentiation only when the o-retailer's differentiated product is more popular with customers than the t-retailer's product. However, in the price matching scenario, the o-retailer also has the opportunity to benefit from product differentiation when the o-retailer's differentiated product is less popular with customers than the t-retailer's product, and product differentiation can be a win-win strategy for the two retailers under certain conditions. Considering the o-retailer's product differentiation decision, the t-retailer is only likely to execute price matching if the non-digital attributes of the product category sold by two retailers are not very obvious.