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Targeting Consumers Who Are Willing to Pay More

for Environmentally Friendly Products

Presenter: Ivy ChangInstructor: Dr. Pi-Ying Hsu

Date: 2014/4/21

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Citation

Laroche, M., Bergeron, J., & Guido Barbaro-Forleo, G.

(2001). Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more

for environmentally friendly products. Journal of Consumer

Marketing, 18 (6), 503-520.

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Contents Introduction

Literature Review

Methodology

Results

Conclusion

Critiques and Suggestion

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Introduction

Background

Purpose of the study

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Background

Over the years, a majority of consumers have realized

that their purchasing behavior had a direct impact on

many ecological problems.

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Purpose of the study

To identify a profile of consumers who are likely to pay more for environmentally friendly products

To elaborate marketing strategies that arise from an improved understanding of the profile of this segment of consumers

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Literature Review Demographics

Knowledge

Values

Attitudes

Behavior

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Demographic characteristics

Recent studies found that females tend to be

more ecologically conscious than men .

(Banerjee & McKeage, 1994; McIntyre et al.,

1993)

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Demographic characteristics

Consumers with medium or high incomes would be

more likely to act in an ecologically compatible

manner due to their higher levels of education.

( Henion, 1972)

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Knowledge

Vining and Ebreo (1990), as well as Chan (1999),

have shown that knowledge about ecological issues

is a significant predictor of environmentally friendly

behavior.

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Values

Human values are desirable goals, varying in

importance, that serve as guiding principles in

people’s lives.

(Schwartz, 1994)

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Values

Individualism represents how much a person focuses

on his/her independent self.

(Triandis,1993)

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Values

Collectivism implies cooperation, helpfulness, and

consideration of the goals of the group relative to

the individual.

(Triandis,1993)

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Attitudes

Importance is simply whether consumers view

environmentally compatible behavior as important

to themselves or society as a whole.

(Amyx et al.,

1994)

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Attitudes

Inconvenience refers to how inconvenient it is

perceived for the individual to behave in an

ecologically favorable fashion.

(Amyx et al., 1994)

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Consumers’ behaviors

Stipulating that ecologically conscious consumers will

try to protect the environment in different ways

(Suchard & Polonski,

1991)

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Consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly

products

Demographics• Age• Gender• Income• Level of education• Employment • Home ownership• Marital status• Family size

Knowledge• Ecoliteracy

Values• Individualism• Collectivism• Security• Fun/Enjoyment

Behaviors• Considering environmental issues when

making a purchase• Recycling • Buying environmentally friendly products

Attitudes• Importance of being environmentally friendly• Inconvenience of being environmentally

friendly• Severity of environmental problems• Level of responsibility of corporations

Conceptual framework

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Methodology

Sample & Procedure

Data collection

Measures

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Sample & Procedure Location North- American city

Data collection Mostly on weekends and evenings

Distributed questionnaires 2,387 questionnaires

907 usable

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Structured non-disguised questionnaire

• Questions are listed in a pre-arranged order

• Respondents are told about the purpose of

collecting information

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MeasureStructured non-disguised questionnaire

Part I Ecoliteracy 7 questionsEx: Can you please tell me what this symbol means to you ?

Part II Attitude17 statements(9-point Likert Scale)

Ex: Recycling is important to save natural resources.

Part III Behavior 5 questions Ex: Using the blue or green box(bag) for recycling

Strongly disagree to Strongly agree

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MeasureStructured non-disguised questionnaire

Part IV Value10 items(9-point Likert Scale)

Ex: A sense of accomplishment, warm relationships with other

Part V Demographic characteristics Ex: Gender, age , income, education…

Very unimportant to very important

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Results

Females as being more environmentally concerned than

males

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Results

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Attitude are very good predictors of consumers’ willingness to spend more

for green products

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Conclusion

The major contributions of this study were the

investigation of the profile of consumers willing to pay

more for environmentally friendly products and the

subsequent discussion of the implications for marketers.

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CritiquesThis research relied on self-reported answers to measure consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

In reality

Conducting a similar study with respondents who actually and consciously paid higher prices for green products

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