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Why Consumers Buy Green

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Green Growth: Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy

Part of the book series: Greening of Industry Networks Studies ((GINS,volume 1))

Abstract

Increasingly, consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about the environment and reflecting this knowledge in their decisions to buy green products. While previous research on the topic has generally examined green consumption related to a single product label, numerous questions exist about why consumers choose various green products and services. We address these concerns by examining individuals’ actual green consumption as it relates to their trust of various sources to provide them with environmental information, environmental knowledge, and personal affect towards the environment. These relationships are studied for a sample of more than 1,200 UK residents using multiple regression techniques. We show that individuals’ total green consumption is related to their trust of various sources to provide them with environmental information, environmental knowledge, and personal affect towards the environment. These findings have important implications to policy-makers and businesses alike as greater efforts are made to encourage more widespread green consumption.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Scepticism does not necessarily stem from false claims. Peattie and Crane (2005) identified 5 main bad marketing practices leasing to customers distrust: PR used to discredit environmental criticisms; adding green claims to existing products to increase sales; being eco-friendly only when it leads to cost savings; creating new green products that are not wanted by customers and claiming green credentials while not doing more than complying with existing regulation.

  2. 2.

    While environmental consciousness can impact consumers’ purchasing decisions, questions remain about how sources of information play a role (Schlegelmilch et al. 1996). Information sources are particularly relevant in that while a growing number of consumers may be aware of the environmental impacts of their shopping choices, and showing interest in understanding how to choose more environmentally friendly items (Maciag and Hepting 2008), many customers still find difficult to buy green products. It is believed, however, that these same consumers may be more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products if trusted information sources were available (Young et al. 2010; Knott et al. 2008).

  3. 3.

    A general criticism of this work is that it is based on relatively unsophisticated empirical examinations, small samples (Sammer and Wüstenhagen 2006) or limited geographic scopes. As such, they are limited in their ability to offer generalizable findings. Generalizability of the results is particularly important since many more companies now market their products to other countries, and as such a more robust examination across multiple boundaries is needed (Lee 2008).

  4. 4.

    Related scholarship has considered how moral responsibility applies to environmental behavior, especially in terms of whether a person feels they cause the problem (Kaiser and Shimoda 1999). This research suggests that 55% of a person’s ecological behavior can be explained by what they term, a responsibility judgment (Kaiser and Shimoda 1999). However, personal affect differs from responsibility in that the latter implies a perceived moral commitment or expectation to address the concern, whereas the former refers to a more general state of concern in the absence of obligation.

  5. 5.

    It is important to note that in studying consumers’ green purchases, no demographic variable is without controversy. For instance, van Kempen et al. (2009) found empirical evidence that low income consumers may be ready to make pro-ethical choices in the market place, in part because more options are available. Other studies have found that education, gender, age, and country of origin had no statistical relationship with green purchasing (Markard and Truffer 2006). Similarly, Oates et al. (2008) report that demographic variables have inconclusive results in predicting green consumption. However, because of the mixed and inconclusive findings, we have included the most widely recognized demographic variables in our statistical models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Affairs, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 400, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA

    Nicole Darnall

  2. ESRC Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS), Cardiff University, 55 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK

    Cerys Ponting & Diego A. Vazquez-Brust

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  1. Nicole Darnall
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  2. Cerys Ponting
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  3. Diego A. Vazquez-Brust
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Correspondence to Nicole Darnall .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff University, BRASS, Parc Place 55, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, United Kingdom

    Diego A. Vazquez-Brust

  2. Clark University, Graduate School of Management, Main Street 950, Worcester, 01610-1477, Massachusetts, USA

    Joseph Sarkis

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Darnall, N., Ponting, C., Vazquez-Brust, D.A. (2012). Why Consumers Buy Green. In: Vazquez-Brust, D., Sarkis, J. (eds) Green Growth: Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4417-2_15

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