Attitudes Towards Green Marketing

Joslyn Roth
Olha Shchadylo

May 20, 2015

Introduction

Lately, society has become more aware about the worsening environment and it has become a persistent public concern. The term green marketing came across in the late 1970s when the American Marketing Association held the first workshop on "Ecological Marketing” in 1975. Green marketing emerged as “marketing of products that are assumed to be environmentally safe". Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, sustainable packaging, as well as modifying advertising. As broad as green marketing is, it's very important to understand its benefits and challenges. The increased importance of green marketing is very simple and relies on the basic definition of economics. Economics is a study of how people use limited resources to satisfy their unlimited wants and needs. Unfortunately we do have limited resources, thus we need to find alternative ways in order to satisfy our needs and save the environment. Ultimately, green marketing looks at how marketing activities utilizes this limited resources, while satisfying consumer wants, both individuals and industry, as well as achieving selling objectives.
These environmental concerns have gotten businesses attention and to show support, companies started to modify their products for preservation of the environment. Businesses have been quick to accept concepts like environmental management systems, waste minimization, and have integrated environmental issues into organizational activities (Singh and Bansal, 2012). With buzzwords like sustainable energy, organic food, eco-friendly, and green products, businesses have increased their corporate commitments to reducing emissions through Carbon Disclosure Project's and Carbon Labeling exercises (Singh & Bansal, 2012). Companies apply a strategic approach to environmental parts of industry to create the possibility of changing consumer approval through new and green products. This can also create a competitive advantage and reduces the pressure of competition (Rahbar and Wahid, 2011).
Organizations and consumers should have accountability towards environmental issues and by buying green products, they contribute in this process. Although the reasons to partake in green activities are different, the green consumer has an important role in helping the environment. Generally, these consumers will not buy products that endanger human health, have associated risk during the production process, cause any serious damage to the environment, inflict serious damage to the environment during the production process, produce excess waste, are involved in the extraction of raw materials, damage endangered plant and animal species and/or a natural resources (Lee, 2008).
Certain studies have investigated the change in consumer’s behavior, where those who worry about the environment will indicate their concerns through different behaviors, such as checking the products they will purchase to ensure they are buying ethically (Suchard and Polonski, 1991). Green consumers believe that an individual consumer can be effective in environmental protection and can play a part in this alongside the government, businesses, and environmentalists. Through consumers’ purchasing decisions, they can reduce their impact on the environment and make a difference.
Consumers who are concerned with the environment and are knowledgeable about environmental issues when shopping try to purchase only eco-friendly products (Laroche, Bergeron & Barbaro-Farleo, 2001). Increasing pro-environmental concerns and awareness of eco-friendly products among consumers have resulted in their green buying behavior. Recent increase in the number of individuals who are willing to pay more for the eco-friendly suggests that the market for eco-friendly products is ever expanding (Laroche, Bergeron & Barbaro-Farleo, 2001).
Research Objectives
In this research paper, we will give information about the effect of green marketing on customers purchasing behaviors. We will discuss the effects of environmental awareness, green product concern, green product prices, and consumers’ demographic characters on the purchasing behavior of consumers and to determine if there is a significant relationship between them and the direction and level of this relationship, if any. There are six hypotheses, which are:
H1: There is a significant and positive relationship between environmental awareness and purchasing behavior of green product.
H2: There is a significant and positive relationship between consumers’ pro-environmental concern and green buying behavior.
H3: There is a negative relationship between Green Price and purchasing behavior of green product.
H4: There is no significant impact of age on the attitude of individuals toward green marketing.
H5: There is no significant difference between male and female individuals in their attitudes toward green marketing.
H6: There is a significant impact of education on the attitude of individuals toward green marketing.
Background Research

Environmental Awareness and Purchasing Green Product

A green product is recyclable, environment friendly, nontoxic, manufactured by natural ingredient and chemical having no negative impact on human being. Consumers always prefer to purchase green product of familiar and well known firms (Mohd.Suki, 2013). Awareness of green products influences the purchasing decision of consumers to buy environment friendly products. Also, awareness of green product play a very important role since it is impacting on the future of the environment. Consumer becomes more careful about environment preservation. According to all rules and regulation of environment safety for example Toyota Motor introduced environment technologies which are helpful in shaping hybrid cars (Delafrooz, 2014). A lot of companies start their business with eco-friendly products. For example, companies such as Method, Green Works, The Honest Company and many more use green advertisings to communicate with their green customers who prefer to purchase environment friendly goods or products. Those customers are traditional consumers who want to protect the environment. Companies use different modes and tools to promote the environment friendly product by offering different schemes and to reduce the prices of the green product company can get more benefits and enjoy the large share of market. A lot of consumers understand the credibility of a firm through its green product productions. Research shows that companies that promote green product, according to consumer behavior, are more sustainable in the market for competitions. Environment friendly product is becoming a market leader because more customer buy green product. Also, the demand of environmentally friendly goods is becoming higher and higher all around the world. Awareness of green product changes the purchasing behavior of consumer positively.
Green Price and Purchasing Green Product

Price always matters and we can agree that consumer purchasing decision is influenced by the price of a product. Of course, consumers always prefer to purchase or buy those products which have low prices as compare to other products. Incase to purchase those products or goods which are environmentally friendly goods or products that are more expensive as to compare to ordinary products which are harmful for health and environment. The community who wants to purchase the green product is small and willing to pay more for green product in premium price (Dunlap, 1991). Companies try to provide high quality product with low prices, but sometimes the prices of green product is high compared or relative to traditional environment friendly goods or products. Companies try to decrease its operational and production cost to provide low price green product and try to gain more or large share in the market (Manjunath, 2013). Lowering the price on the product is a good strategy for the company, especially when the demand for the product is price responsive. Though, there are a number of consumers who are willing to pay more for green products, especially when the product is increasing his/her satisfaction level regarding to environment (Bang, 2000).

Pro-Environmental Concern and Purchasing Green Product

Today, environmental or green marketing, a strategic marketing approach is a recent focus in business endeavors (Ottman, 1998). Increasing focus on environmental issues can be seen as an indication that pro-environmental concerns have emerged as a potential strategic concern for businesses (Polonsky & Kilbourne, 2005; Menon & Menon, 1997)
Green marketing is considered as one of the major trends in modern businesses. Environmental, ecological, or green marketing are similar terms used in literature. There are ways to use the environmental benefits of a product or service to promote sales.
Most researchers (Dunlap & Van Liere, 1978; Weigel & Weigel, 1978) relate pro-environmental concern to environmental protection. Pro-environmental concern is conceptualized as a general attitude that reflects the extent to which the consumer is worried about the threats to the environment (Alhassan, 2007). Recent studies suggest that the concern for the environmental problems is high (Mainieri et al., 1997). Marketers and researchers explored that pro-environmental concerns among consumers is predictive of their green buying behavior. This creates an opportunity for developing a green market by focusing on more educated consumers.
Demographics and Purchasing Green Product

The eco-friendly business can be represented by three waves of change among business organizations. First, in the 1960s, businesses focused on pollution control. Then, in the 1980’s, companies used the slogan “Doing well by doing good”, where companies found that they could reduce costs and enhance their reputations by taking a few proactive steps. Lastly, in the 1990s came phase three: “Green is green”. Companies recognized that environmental thinking can do more than improve the bottom line. They found it can help grow the top line through innovation, new markets and new business opportunities (Caroline Fisher, 2012). Companies want to better understand which factors influence consumers' behavior. Studies show that consumers have become relatively more aware and concerned about the environmental impacts of the products they buy. In fact, the green demographic crosses all age groups, all income levels and all education levels.
Let's discuss closely some demographic factors. First, we will start with age. Many studies were conducted about influence of the age on the purchasing of the green product. The result of them showed that the age groups were mixed. Some were showing that the younger crowd is more environmentally aware, while others show that older people are more likely to exhibit environmentally friendly behaviors. Second, the presence of children in the household was used as a demographic variable by two studies. Both found that people with children in their households were more likely to exhibit environmentally friendly behaviors. It is obvious all the parents want the best and the safest products for their children. Third factor is education. The most consistent results were found for education. Four studies found that those with a higher level of education were more likely to exhibit environmentally friendly behaviors, whereas one found no significant difference. Also, one of the factors is gender. Seven studies found that females were more likely to exhibit environmentally friendly behaviors. One study found that males were more likely to consume green health food products and one study found that gender was not significant. Another factor is income where some studies found no significant difference based on income in environmentally friendly behaviors.
Research Plan and Methodology

For the purpose of this study, both primary and secondary data sources of information were used. Journals, websites, and published books constituted the secondary sources of data collection. Our primary data was from the examination of data collected from a small convenience sample. We created a 15 question survey and sent it out to coworkers and acquaintances. The survey included general demographic questions such as age, gender, and education. The other questions were yes and no answers that measured general consumers’ knowledge about environmental issues, awareness of eco-friendly products, and their willingness to pay more for such products. Regression analysis and percentages were used to analyze the data collected.
Results

We received a total of 91 responses with 58% of respondents being females and 42% males with the majority being in the age range of 18 years old to 30 years old. 61% of respondents also have an undergraduate degree (Table 1).
The results indicate that a majority of sample respondents are aware of eco-friendly products and are knowledgeable about environmental related issues. Approximately 93% of responders stated that they have heard and are aware of eco-friendly products. Also, 89% were aware of the fact that purchasing eco-friendly products will contribute towards a sustainable future (Table 2).

More than half of respondents stated they did not consider the effect on the environment while purchasing general day to day products and they do not consider if packages are designed to be recycled before making a purchase. A slightly higher proportion of respondents stated that labeling a product as eco-friendly would change their choice of purchase; while 83% said they have considered buying eco-friendly products (Table 3).
Just over 75% of respondents said they did not agree that the price of eco-friendly products is supposed to be higher. Yet, a little under half (45%) said they are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products, but the majority said they are only willing to pay less than 5% more for eco-friendly products (Table 4).
Based off Table 5, the hypothesis H1 was rejected, which states there is a significant and positive relationship between environmental awareness and purchasing behavior of green product. In our results from the survey, we found that of the 15 people who said they don’t buy green products; only 2 people said they are not aware of green products. This shows that the majority of people, from our survey, are aware of green products, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they buy green products.
Based on Table 6, the hypothesis H2 was accepted, which states there is a significant and positive relationship between consumers’ pro-environmental concern and green buying behavior. From our survey results, we found that consumers who are concerned with the environment are more likely to purchase green products.
Based off Table 7, the hypothesis H3 was accepted, which states there is a negative relationship between green price and purchasing behavior of green product. Of the 15 people who said they do not buy or consider buying green products, 14 of them said they do not think green products should cost more. This shows that almost all of our respondents, who don’t think they should pay more for green products, don’t buy them.
Based off Table 8 and Table 9, hypothesis’ H4 and H5 were accepted. They state there is no significant impact of age on the attitude of individuals toward green marketing and there is no significant difference between male and female individuals in their attitudes toward green marketing. Our data shows that it doesn’t matter what gender or age someone is and whether they buy green products or not.
Based off Table 10, hypothesis H6 was rejected, which states there is a significant impact of education on the attitude of individuals toward green marketing. Our results show that education has no impact on whether the individual buys green products or not. Of the 15 people who said they do not buy or consider buying green products, only 3 of them have a high school education. 80% of the people who don’t buy or consider buying green products have an undergraduate or postgraduate degree.
Conclusion with Marketing Implications

Green marketing is a tool for protecting the environment for the future generations, since there are significant indications that environmental issues will grow in importance over the coming years and will require redesign and reengineering of existing products in many businesses. Green marketing has a positive impact on environmental safety and for companies to survive in this market; they need to go green in all aspect of their business. Consumers who are concerned about their impact on the environment want to identify themselves with companies that are green.
Our research examines the influence of consumers' environmental concerns, awareness of green product, and price and brand image on their purchasing decision of green products. From our research we found that gender, age, and education did not have an impact on whether the customers decide to buy green or not. That concludes that marketers cannot target a certain age, gender or education level. However, marketers should emphasize on providing clear and easy information about green products in order to get people more familiar with an eco-friendly approach. Also, provide a vibrant green message that would attract more attention to the society and make sure that the consumers can differentiate between green and non-green products. Marketers have to make sure that their products are high quality with competitive prices as consumers are not always willing to pay premium prices for green products. Since the summer session is very short, we could only collect a small convenience sample from people around the same area. Further research, with a bigger sample, would be recommended especially at different geographical areas.

Appendix

Table 1. Descriptive Characteristics | | | | Frequency | Percentage (%) | Gender | | | Male | 38 | 41.76% | Female | 53 | 58.24% | Education | | | High School | 11 | 12.09% | Undergraduate | 56 | 61.54% | Postgraduate | 24 | 26.37% | Age | | | 18-30 | 36 | 39.56% | 31-45 | 35 | 38.46% | 45 and above | 20 | 21.98% |

Table 2. Consumers' Awareness and Knowledge of Eco-Friendly Products | | | | Frequency | Percentage (%) | Have you heard about eco-friendly products? | | | Yes | 86 | 95.56% | No | 4 | 4.44% | Are you aware of any such products? | | | Yes | 85 | 93.41% | No | 6 | 6.59% | Are you aware that purchasing eco-friendly | | | products will contribute to the sustainable future? | | | Yes | 81 | 89.01% | No | 10 | 10.99% |

Table 3. Consumers' pro-environmental concern and green buying behavior | | | | Frequency | Percentage (%) | Do you consider your effect on the environment as a | | | consumer before purchasing general day to day products? | | | Yes | 39 | 42.86% | No | 52 | 57.14% | Do you consider if the product and its package are designed | | | to be recycled before making a purchase? | | | Yes | 26 | 28.57% | No | 65 | 71.43% | If the product is eco-labeled, would this information | | | change your choice of purchase? | | | Yes | 54 | 59.34% | No | 37 | 40.66% | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly | | | products available in the market? | | | Yes | 75 | 83.33% | No | 15 | 16.67% |

Table 4. Consumers' willingness to pay for eco-friendly products | | | | Frequency | Percentage (%) | Do you agree that the price of eco-friendly | | | products are supposed to be higher? | | | Yes | 22 | 24.18% | No | 69 | 75.82% | Are you willing to pay more for eco-friendly products? | | | Yes | 41 | 45.05% | No | 50 | 54.95% | How much are you willing to pay more for eco-friendly products? | | | <5% | 67 | 74.44% | 5-10% | 22 | 24.44% | 10-20% | 1 | 1.11% |

Table 5. Hypothesis 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.4120978 | | | | | | R Square | 0.1698246 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | 0.1604967 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.2881454 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 1.5116252 | 1.5116252 | 18.2062553 | 4.9343E-05 | | Residual | 89 | 7.3894737 | 0.0830278 | | | | Total | 90 | 8.9010989 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 0.6 | 0.0743988 | 8.0646427 | 3.2011E-12 | 0.4521711 | 0.747828895 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.3473684 | 0.0814104 | 4.2668789 | 4.9343E-05 | 0.18560764 | 0.509129201 |

Table 6. Hypothesis 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.20519567 | | | | | | R Square | 0.04210526 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | 0.0313424 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.48975307 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 0.93834586 | 0.938346 | 3.912088 | 0.0510334 | | Residual | 89 | 21.3473684 | 0.239858 | | | | Total | 90 | 22.2857143 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 0.2 | 0.1264537 | 1.581607 | 0.117287 | -0.0512608 | 0.45126081 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.27368421 | 0.13837111 | 1.9779 | 0.051033 | -0.0012562 | 0.54862467 |

Table 7. Hypothesis 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.3427693 | | | | | | R Square | 0.1174908 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | 0.107575 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.4726295 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 2.6467708 | 2.64677 | 11.84880703 | 0.000881106 | | Residual | 89 | 19.880702 | 0.22338 | | | | Total | 90 | 22.527473 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 0.0666667 | 0.1220324 | 0.5463 | 0.586224658 | -0.175809152 | 0.30914249 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.4596491 | 0.1335332 | 3.44221 | 0.000881106 | 0.194321581 | 0.72497666 |

Table 8. Hypothesis 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.05279 | | | | | | R Square | 0.00279 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | -0.00842 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.77197 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 0.148216696 | 0.148217 | 0.248711 | 0.61921448 | | Residual | 89 | 53.03859649 | 0.595939 | | | | Total | 90 | 53.18681319 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 1.73333 | 0.199322065 | 8.696144 | 1.6E-13 | 1.33728464 | 2.129382 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.10877 | 0.218106837 | 0.498709 | 0.619214 | -0.32460171 | 0.542146 |

Table 9. Hypothesis 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.1643301 | | | | | | R Square | 0.0270044 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | 0.0160719 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.4918917 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 0.5976576 | 0.597657606 | 2.470094124 | 0.119579482 | | Residual | 89 | 21.534211 | 0.241957422 | | | | Total | 90 | 22.131868 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 1.4 | 0.1270059 | 11.02311127 | 2.53652E-18 | 1.147642012 | 1.652357988 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.2184211 | 0.1389753 | 1.571653309 | 0.119579482 | -0.057719987 | 0.494562092 |

Table 10. Hypothesis 6 | Column1 | Column2 | Column3 | Column4 | Column5 | Column6 | | | | | | | | Regression Statistics | | | | | | Multiple R | 0.0070109 | | | | | | R Square | 4.915E-05 | | | | | | Adjusted R Square | -0.0111862 | | | | | | Standard Error | 0.610224 | | | | | | Observations | 91 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ANOVA | | | | | | | | df | SS | MS | F | Significance F | | Regression | 1 | 0.00162907 | 0.001629 | 0.004375 | 0.94741269 | | Residual | 89 | 33.1412281 | 0.372373 | | | | Total | 90 | 33.1428571 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Coefficients | Standard Error | t Stat | P-value | Lower 95% | Upper 95% | Intercept | 2.1333333 | 0.15755916 | 13.53989 | 2.49E-23 | 1.82026663 | 2.4464 | Have you bought or considered buying eco-friendly products available in the market? | 0.0114035 | 0.17240806 | 0.066143 | 0.947413 | -0.33116763 | 0.3539747 |

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