The determinants of green consumption: a study of socio-demographics factors as determinants

1.2 Determinants of green consumption

In this section the researcher is not going to develop a new theoretical model with all those factors, but rather she wants to use the existing literature in order to give an overview of «green buying determinants».

Green buying or consumption has been defined by Tina Mainieri (1997) as the «influence of environment concern on consumer behavior, it is the awareness about environment impact of products, specific environment belief of consumers, attitudes and demographic variables.» For others authors it is more complicated, green consumption can refers to various things. Firstly it can just refers to the act of «buying traded tea bags to organic meat» (Andrew Gilg, Stewart Barr, Nicholas Ford,

2005); or this behavior can be kind of paradox based on buying local in order to support local producers (Andrew Gilg, Stewart Barr, Nicholas Ford, 2005) or purchasing organically farmed produce based on ecological principles (B. Ilbery et al. 1999). In addition, according to the Korean ministry of environment, green buying refers to «purchasing products which are essential and environmentally-friendly». (Ministry of Environment; 2011) Therefore, green consumption definition's is discussed between researchers as it is not existing one unique definition.

Environmentally-friendly products, literally, refers to «earth-friendly or not harmful to the environment» ( Dictionary.com 21st Century Lexicon, 2003-2011). Generally it refers to a product that contributes to green living and permits to prevent air, water or land pollution (Daniel Holzer 2006).

Nevertheless, saying that is because of environmental concern that people are buying green products is too «restrictive», determinants can be far more complicated, that's why many studies have been conducted upon this area of research.

Environmental concern is seen as the most obvious determinant. However, researchers disagree on the way to explain this determinant. In fact, for some of them environmental concern has to be seen as an attitude (Souad H'Mida Ph.D, 2008). According to the author, consumers that have a strong environmental concern thought that the deterioration of the environment «represent serious problems facing the security of the world» whereas for people with a lower environmental concern, they think that problems will solve themselves. (Laroche et al., 2002, p.268) For others researchers, environmental concern is seen as an action or behavior (Kangand James 2007). According to them, it is the behavior which «aims at reducing human ecological footprint».

Many researchers agree to say that determinants of the consumption of green products could be due to cultural orientation like value, belief or norm, psychological, economical or socio-demographic factors (Cleveland et al., 2005; Stern, 2000). Multitude of factors could explain this behavior, depending on consumer's behavior and involvement with the product (Black et al, 1985;

Cleveland). Psychological, knowledge, attitudes, memory have also an effect on eco friendly buying product (Ricky Y. K. Chan 2001)

Moreover four categories of determinants have been defined which are the contextual factors, the attitudinal factors, the habits or routine and the personal capabilities (Johan Jansson and Agneta Marell 2010). According to Carmern Tanner and Sybill (2003), green consumer behavior could be explained because of three major determinants. Firstly they described the specific attitudes as a determinant. For them, it refers to the judgment about a product or a behavior rather than the measures of the environment concern. (Hines et al 1986/1987). The second one is the perceived effectiveness. It refers to the fact that consumers have to be sure that their behavior will have impact on the environment or will be effective in the environment fighting. Concerning this determinant, many researchers agree to say that most of the time a high level of perceived effectiveness is link to a high level of green consumerism (Kinnear et al 1974; Tucker 1980). And the last one is the personal norm. It refers to the feeling of moral obligation. According to the authors Carmern Tanner and Sybille Kast (2003), people tend to consume green product in order to have a good «conscience», because it is synonymous of good.

The cultural background of the consumer can also be seen as a determinant of green consumption. In fact, culture is seen as the «most fundamental determinant of a person's wants and behavior» (Management-Hub 2010). Cultural orientation is a powerful determinant, some researcher agree on the fact that it could be more important than the age or the gender for example, in situation «where economic growth and environmental exploitation are proven to be important». (Souad H'Mida Ph.D, 2008) Indeed, it appears that according to the country, people are not « prepared » willing to buy green products, due to a lack of green consciousness (Souad H'Mida, 2008) it is true for the American for example, where there is not a strong environmental consciousness. (Krause D. 1993)

Green knowledge has also been defined as a determinant for green consumption. Environmental knowledge refers to «general knowledge of facts, concepts and relationship concerning the natural environment and its major ecosystem«(Fryxell and lo 2003 p 45). In other words it is what people know about the environment. About that, Shahn and Holzer (1990) have described two types of environmental

knowledge abstract and concert. The first one refers to the concern about the environment issues, like the problem, causes, solutions etc. The second one, concrete, refers to behavioral knowledge that can be utilized by consumer. Hines et al (1987) added that the abstract knowledge is the most important when there is a difference between people that are consuming or not green product, the main explanation is knowledge.

Lastly, the attitude which is an important predictor behavior (kitchen and Reiling 2000). Neil Lessem and Ryan Vaughn (2010) have explained that there are no additional benefits of buying green products, and most of the time those kinds of products (green) are much more expensive. So they asked themselves the following question: Why do consumers buy green product? They found that in our society «green» mostly means «good». For them there is another type of motivation that is driving the consumption of the green products. More precisely, if a green product is easily and highly observable, consumers would buy this product in order to show that they are green consumers or a good person. For them the key point in green buying is the importance that the consumer is attaching to the environment.

Another determinant has been described, it is the price. Price could also be seen as a determinant for many researchers. In fact, price, quality and convenience can be competitive advantage in buying decision of green product (J. Ottman 1994). In addition, Catherine Roche et al. (2009) said that the price is not an obstacle of the buying decision of green product. Link to this idea, according to Michaelyn Erickson (2008) the «sales of green products in Europe are predicted to double by 2015» according to perceived benefits of those products, consumers are not paying attention to the price.