Chapter IV
Conclusions and recommendations
4.1 Introduction
What are the main determinants of the demand for green
products? The answer of this question is really important since we could
observe in the recent past years, changes in our modes of consumption or
production in order to protect our natural environment, due to an increase in
public environmental concern.
Recently, the development of green marketing have unable
consumers to change their consumption habits due to their personal beliefs,
norms, environmental concern, perceived effectiveness etc.
However, not all consumers are considering themselves as
environmentally concerned and, are not consuming green products; mostly due to
a scepticism feeling against those products and against companies that are
delivering those products.
This part would present the conclusions of the obtained
results and give some for businesses recommendations in order to deal with
it.
The current study extends previous research about the
consumption of green products by incorporating personal and contextual
dimensions with the sociodemographics factors.
This study was design in order to give useful information about
green consumer.
4.2 Findings: analysis and discussion
The following discusses, interprets, and-where possible
explains the power of the socio-demographics factors. Non significant findings
are also discussed because of the importance these have in developing a
complete profile of green consumer.
4.2.1 Socio-economical factors, living condition and stores
types
The results are relevant: generally the socio-economical
characteristics don't permit to explain the consumption of green products. In
fact, the results have shown that the consumption of green products don't seem
to be facilitate by a specific consumer profile, which make their
identification more complicated.
Within the socio-economical characteristics only few seem to have
a small impact on green consumerism.
Firstly, gender appears to have a small effect on the
consumption of green products, this means that according to the gender, the
consumption tend to not be the same. Those results were surprising as the
researcher assumption tend to be not validated. Indeed, as women tend to do the
majority of the shopping (Goldman, Heath, and Smith 1991) the researcher first
though that woman tend to consume more green products than man. However it
seems that the difference is not really significant, at least for this study
and with this sample. In fact, some researchers have generally found that woman
tend to be «more willing to engage in the environmentally friendly
activities.» (Booi-Chen TAN*Teck-Chai LAU** 2009 ; Mainieri et al., 1997;
Straughan and Roberts, 1999). Moreover, Jennifer Grayson (2010) has revealed
that there is "small, but statistically significant" greater concern for women.
However the researcher said that "some other research does not find this
effect, and the effect of gender on environmental concern is somewhat
controversial in the academic literature in this area," (Jenifer Grayson 2010).
This reveals that the difference between men and women is not clear and easy to
define. Finally, those results were surprisingly as the researcher has thought
that it would be more significant, that it would appear clearly that women tend
to consume greener than men.
In addition, the level of income tends to not have an impact
on the consumption of green product. This reveals that the consumption of green
products is not link to the revenue of the consumer. Thus consumers tend to not
pay attention to the price when they are buying green products; as it was
explained by various authors (J. Ottman 1994; Roche C. 2008). That was a
surprising result as the researcher firstly assumed that green products are
perceived as more expensive, and as a consequence, are more consumed by
consumers which have a higher income. It appears that it is not a clear
barrier. This tends to show that people with a strong environmental motivation
/ intention are less sensitive to the price. This is in line with previous
studies that show «consumers who are concerned about the environment are
more willing to pay a premium for green products» (Tanner and Kast
2003).
Furthermore the findings provide little evidence that
difference in legal status,
education or employment status, have a
significant impact on the green purchases
behaviour, as it might be expected (once again this is
actually the case for this study).
The researcher has thought that a high level of education
could lead to a greater consumption of green products. In fact, the researcher
assumes that people with a greater educational level tend to be more informed
about environmental concern and green products. However, with the findings it
appears that the level of education doesn't permit to explain green
consumerism, this permit to reveal the increasing awareness about environmental
concern within the whole consumers. However, some studies have revealed that
the consumption of green products tend to be higher within people with a
greater income (Mark A. White. 2011). This tends to not be validated with this
sample and reveal that the level of education, as the gender, is mostly
discussed and still difficult to explain: it is not a clear determinant or a
clear barrier.
Those results are in line with various researches that have
shown that it is difficult to define a clear profile of green consumers
(Mcmilker 2008; Anderson 1974). Additionally, this could explain the
difficulties of defining precisely the determinants of green consumption and,
the important number of determinants that have been defined.
However, it appears that the place of shop have an impact on
the green purchase behaviour; in other words it seem that the consumption of
green product tend to be facilitated according to the place of shopping.
Indeed, the findings have shown that the respondents are mostly buying their
green products in supermarkets and organic stores. According to Tanner and Kast
(2003) «it is not surprising that what people buy is strongly related to
where they shop». Indeed in this study what was a surprise is that it
appears that supermarkets are not diminishing the intention to buy green
products. The researcher has firstly thought that people are willing to buy
green products in organic stores or farmer's market for example; due to the
specificity of those products those stores appear as more suitable than
supermarkets. However, according to the findings, supermarkets are the first
place of shop for green products; this can be explained due to the recent
development in the offer of green products by those stores. Nowadays, it is
easier to find green products in supermarkets. In fact, as it is the first
place where people are going to
shop (at least in this sample) the researcher has finally
found logical that this type of store have an impact on the consumption of
green products. However it appears that, in supermarkets, there is a particular
consideration for the production of food, but a moderate attention on other
product features that can affect sustainability (for example conservation,
packaging etc.) (Tanner and Kast 2003). As a result the development of green
products within supermarkets permits to increase organic products in term of
number to (sometimes) the detriment of the quality. (William Young 2008)
Additionally, the findings have revealed that the place of
living and the household size don't have a significant impact on the green
purchase behaviour. The researcher has first thought that consumers living in
suburbs or country sides were more willing to buy green products. However it
appears that there is no significant difference according to the place of
living; this could be explained due to the development of green products within
different types of stores (supermarkets, organic store) or farmer's market,
green products are widely available either in city center or suburbs, country
side etc.
According to the household size, the findings have revealed
that the green purchase is not directly determined by the household size. In
fact, the researcher has first thought that consumers of green products were
single or young couple with high level of income, but actually it seems that it
is not the case anymore. It is much more complicated as it appears that green
purchase behaviour doesn't depend of the household size. Some researches tend
to show that green purchasing behaviour could be influenced by the household
size and the legal status. Nowadays, the growth of green products is more and
more due to consumption by younger and family oriented group; according to
Stella Giani (2010), family contributes for example to 50% of the growth of
organic food. As a result, the researcher assumption is not validated and this
reveals the various «profiles» of green consumers.
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