By Ms. Manjula Mallya M Assistant Professor Department of Economics Government First Grade College Haleyangadi, Mangaluru

A STUDY ON GREEN CONSUMERISM AWARENESS AND PRACTICES

AMONG WOMEN IN MANGALURU CITY

•A green consumer is someone who is environmentally and socially conscious, which leads him/her to purchase products that are eco-friendly.

•The terminology used in this area is varied, it includes: Green consumerism, environmental consumerism and ethical consumerism.

Introduction

Women and Green ConsumptionWhat is the connection between women and the environment in consumer research?

Statistics indicate that 80% of household shopping is performed by women ( Berk 1988).Therefore, environmentally-related purchase behaviour is left primarily in the hands of the female consumer.

Rationale of the studyAccording to a large number of studies women are greener than men in both their attitudes and actions. In this context this paper deals with the empirical findings related to attitudes and green purchasing behaviour of women selected from the Mangalore urban agglomeration of Karnataka State.

The present research paper assesses women consumers' pro-environmental concerns, knowledge of environmental issues, awareness of eco-friendly products, effects of income and educational levels and any potential effect that these factors may have on green buying behaviour and on household green practices.

Objectives of the Study•To categorize household as the primary locus of change to bring about transformation in attitudes towards environment.

•To analyze the influence factor in going green.

•To look upon the hurdles within green consumerism. •To elucidate the link between consumer’s pro-environmental attitudes and green consumer behavior.•To highlight significant differences in the environmental attitudes when analyzed by demographic variables.

Sources of Data•Primary and Secondary Data•Primary data has been collected through a structured questionnaire, personal interviews and observation.

•A survey approach was adopted

•Women with higher educational qualifications were deliberately over-represented in the sample, to achieve a statistically significant sample in urban area.

•Around 50 women consumers of Mangalore city were contacted and their responses were recorded with the help of a structured questionnaire.

AGE•60 per cent of the respondents belong to the age- group of below 50 years.

• Only 12 per cent of the total respondents belong to the age group of 50 and above.INCOME

•The average annual income of 42 percent of the respondents is in the income-group of 2-4 lakh

•The respondents whose annual income is above-5 lakh account for 38 per cent.

Education•96 per cent of the respondents represent higher educational background.

•Out of the total 50 respondents a majority (84 per cent) belong to salaried class.

Likert Type- 5 point scale

Likert Type-3 point scaleDescriptive statistics

One way ANOVA Tablesand

Correlation techniques

Results/Analysis I. Consumer Perceptions and Awareness

SI.NO Environmental Issue Frequency Percent

1 Climate change 5 102 Global Warming 7 14

3 Food contamination by pesticisides

29 58

4 Drinking water 5 105 Industrial pollution 1 2

6 Solid wastes 3 67 Ozone depletion 0 0

8 Air quality 0 09 Recycling issues 0 0

10 Radiation by cell phones etc

0 0

  TOTAL 50 100

II. Awareness of eco-friendly products and green consumer

practices.An attempt was made to evaluate the respondents’ awareness about eco-friendly products through LIKERT TYPE- 5 point scale questions

Most of the respondents agreed with the statements like

Environmental issues are an emergency issue ( Mean Percentage 92.8)

Purchasing eco-friendly products will contribute to the sustainable future ( Mean Percentage 88)

Going green could be a beneficial investment in the long run. ( Mean Percentage 88)

I am aware of existence of eco-friendly products. (Mean Percentage 88)

Contd..•A Certain percentage of respondents also consider a product green if it is marketed by a socially responsible company. This fact could be exclusive of all other factors denoting that brand or image of a company carries weight in the minds of consumers while they make their purchase of green product.

•For questions like I feel trendy/fashionable when I purchase eco-friendly products and Green practices allow me to save money consumers moderately agreed.

•By the analysis it can be perceived that respondents have moderate ecological consciousness in their behaviour (Over all mean=3.83 Overall SD=0.77) and there is a need to enhance the respondent’s ecologically conscious consumer behaviour by which the consumers’ perceptions and attitudes can be translated into buying behaviour.

III. Reasons for not buying the green products

48%

44%

40%

52%

68%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Too expensive

Companies cheatconsumers

No adequateknowledge

Lack of greenadvertising

Lack of availabilty

Series1

IV. Factors which influence consumers green buying.The three major factors which influence the consumers who buy green products are

Family

Friends and relatives

Internet and social media

It is surprising to note that the role of electronic media (TV & Radio) is negligible in influencing consumers towards green buying. News, Displays, Print , Circulars ,neighbours, Bill boards, clubs and associations have the least influence on buying of green products.

V. Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for eco-friendly products

76

24

Yes

No

How much are you willing to pay more?

28

52

14

6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

<5%

5-10%

10-20%

20-30%

Series1

VI. Consumer Intentions and Lifestyle measuresParticipants were given a list of environmental practices and asked to say how frequently they undertook each one.

Ways to conserve energy at home

95.6

74.4

61.2

48.8

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Turn off lights

Turn off electronics

Use of CFLs

Using sustainableenergy (eg, Solar)

Series1

This shows that there is a need for creating awareness among consumers regarding the use of sustainable energy appliances like solar.

68

74

70

76

88

0 20 40 60 80 100

Use double sided copies

Use reusable plates, cups, or utensils

Carry a reusable bottle

Avoid plastic packaging

Carry my own bag for shopping

Series1

Ways of reducing waste at home and office

VII. Ways of conserving water at home

52

92

60

28

90

4

0 20 40 60 80 100

Limit shower time

Turn off the sink while brushing,washing

Only wash full loads of laundry.

Using a low phosphate detergent

Reporting water leaks to plumber andget it rectified.

other (Please specify

Series1

VIII. Consumers’ pro-environmental concern and green buying behaviour

Some insights on respondents’ green purchasing behaviour.

82

44

64

50

58

66

0 20 40 60 80 100

Organically-grown fruits and vegetables

Recycled paper products

Health care products

Cosmetics

Cleaning products

Other household products( e.g. Bulbetc)

Series1

Most purchased/ Less purchased green products

IX.Consumer’s Actions, Attitudes and views towards environmental practices.

To measure environmental attitudes of the respondents, 15 statements were posed with the scale anchors always (3)............... Never (1)

When asked questions about economic and environmental concepts, most agreed that:

India’s environmental problems are threatening our health

India’s environmental problems are threatening the reputation of our country

•Environment will remain as long as human beings protect it

•A healthy environment is necessary for a healthy economy

•Environmental protection and economic development can go hand in hand.

They relatively less agreed with the statement: I will be perceived by others as “out-dated” if I do not support environmental protection (mean=2.34) . Overall mean is 2.58 this means consumers have a great sense of awareness of need for environmental protection.

Contd..

The responses to key indicator questions were combined to produce a “New Environmental Paradigm” (NPE) rating for each participant. The maximum obtainable score for the exercise is “46”, indicating complete agreement with positive environmental statements. The mean score was 41.34. This shows that consumers are having positive attitudes and views towards environmental protection.

Marks given by 50 respondents to 16 statements related to environment protection. (Maximum 46, minimum 18)

NPE Scores Frequency Per cent

34 2 4

36 4 8

37 1 2

39 3 6

40 6 12

41 10 20

42 6 12

43 5 10

44 2 4

45 8 16

46 3 6

Total 50 100

Additional Action Taken•Almost two-fifths (37%) were able to describe additional actions they had taken

• 63% could not

•The most commonly reported actions were planting trees, or other flora (33%), disposal of waste effectively (18%) and recycling water for gardening (17%).

Advanced Analysis: Multivariate Analysis

This section summarises the ANOVA analysis.ANOVA analysis at the 95% confidence level revealed that:•There is no significant difference between educational level and awareness that purchasing eco-friendly products can contribute to sustainable future. •There is no significant difference between people having different levels of annual income and their willingness to pay more •Internet and social media’s influence in green buying will be the same on consumers irrespective of their age

Contd..•There is significant difference between age groups and use of CFLs. It can also be concluded that consumers under the age of 40 are knowing the importance of CFL bulbs and they adopt this measure more frequently.

•There is significant difference between educational qualification and awareness of recycling facilities. Respondents with post graduation were more likely to say they would recycle more if there were convenient recycling facilities available.

•More younger people (Below 30) agree that lack of time prevents them from doing more to help the environment, while more older people disagree.

•Those who disagreed that a healthy environment is necessary for a healthy economy were more likely to have a higher education (Post graduation).

•Those who disagreed when asked if environmental protection and economic development can go hand in hand tend to have a lower educational level.

Correlation•There is significant positive correlation between annual income of the respondents and their willingness to pay more for eco-friendly products. (r=0.85)

•There is moderate positive correlation between educational qualifications and satisfaction with purchase decision of eco-friendly products. (r=0.45)

•There is weak positive correlation between age of the respondents and their opinion about conscious use of scarce resources. (r=0.22)

•There is negative correlation between age of the respondent and their concern towards deteriorating quality of India’s environment. (r= -0.55)

Breaking down barriers: Practical ImplicationsThis research provides a profile of women consumers of Mangalore city and identifies the gap that exists among the consumers green supporting behavior. Below are five steps for removing the hurdles between green thoughts and green acts.

Educate Consumers

Build Better Products

Be Honest

Offer More

Bring Products to the People 

Limitations & Further Research

•The sample size was very small and it was particularly collected from Mangalore city so there was geographical constraints too. These results, however, support a generally prevailing notion that more educated people tend to be green buyers and hence warrant a larger study conducted on a randomly selected sample.

•Future studies should explore and investigate all the internal (e.g. personality traits & value systems) and external factors (e.g. social, cultural, economical) affecting green consumer behaviour intention in Indian context.

Conclusion •This research is endowed with additional information in narrowing the research gap with regards to understanding women consumers' green awareness and their green purchasing behaviour. Findings could provide fruitful insights for environmental sustainability that enable marketers to prop up greener consumption behaviour among consumers.

•Findings from this work also suggest that Environmental concern is still not a strong motive for majority of these well-educated respondents to purchase eco-friendly products. This is in contrast with findings in other countries.

•Awareness among consumers that their buying choices can make a difference to the environment should be promoted to accelerate the consumption of eco-friendly products. (Ishaswini, 2010)

Contd…

•Consumers want eco-friendly products from green firms or companies which project their image as being green. The right mix of eco- friendly products and service, sales, marketing, PR and management expertise is needed to target and attract the consumers who may be willing to buy eco- friendly products. Green marketers should identify such segment of consumers and accordingly design and market products at suitable price levels. There is a scope for eco-friendly marketers to capture this market as it has long term scope& growth.

Contd…

One can only hope that change is the only thing that is constant, once we decide protecting our nature thereby ensuring our own safe future, and then the rest of it follows. The Green consumerism phenomenon has to be looked upon as a responsibility for all of us to make our society for our future generations to be worth living.

There is something Simple that you could do every single day…..

Just be a responsible Consumer Everyday !