Transition towards sustainability : adoption of eco-products among consumers

Hojnik, Jana (author), Ruzzier, Mitja (author), Konečnik Ruzzier, Maja (author)

Transition to sustainability is a long-term challenge which should also actively engage consumers, as consumption causes environmental stress. In order to understand how consumers adopt eco-products, we conducted an extensive literature review of green consumerism and presented findings of 47 previous research works. In addition, this study’s aim was to explore whether consumers remain only concerned about the environment or whether they actually make a difference. Moreover, we examined gender differences. Because the relationship between consumers’ environmental concern and purchase intention is not straightforward, we aimed to explore the effect of consumers’ environmental concern on their purchase intention. The purpose of this paper was to explore how consumers’ familiarity with and consciousness of eco-products and their perceived sense of environmental responsibility mediate the relationship between consumers’ environmental concern and their purchase intention. We used structural equation modeling to test the proposed conceptual model based on a sample of 705 Slovenian consumers. Our findings suggest that all the above-mentioned constructs mediate the relationship between consumers’ environmental concern and their purchase intention in relation to eco-products. However, consumers’ consciousness of eco-products has the greatest effect in channeling environmental concern into purchase intention of eco-products. In addition, the findings indicate that female consumers express greater environmental concern, consciousness of eco-products, and perceived environmental responsibility than male consumers. The paper concludes with policy and managerial implications, theoretical implications, limitations of the study, and future research directions based on the findings of consumers’ perspectives.

• Language: English
• Keywords: ecology, marketing, consumer behaviour, literature review, environmental concern, consumer’s familiarity with eco-products, consumer’s consciousness of eco-products, consumer’s perceived sense of environmental responsibility, purchase intention, green consumerism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2019
• Number of pages: 29 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 11, iss. 16, art. 4308
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-132859
• UDC: 339.138
• ISSN on article: 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su11164308
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25217766
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainability
• Shortened title: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2071-1050
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5324897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 09.08.2019

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: ekologija, trženje, vedenje potrošnikov

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: 1000-17-1988