Factors Affecting Purchasing Decision Of Environmental Friendly Goods

Factors Affecting Purchasing Decision of Environmentally Friendly Goods
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Factors Affecting Purchasing Decision of Environmentally Friendly Goods
Environmental friendly behaviors are growing across industries as consumers become more conscious about sustainability and the environmental impact of the goods they purchase. Consumers’ conviction that their buying behaviors have an impact on the environment and social issues have led them to make purchasing decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. The global campaign to improve sustainable behaviors has created a sense of pride or guilt that translates to green purchases (Antonetti & Maklan, 2014). However, Joshi and Rahman (2015) present concerns due to the discrepancy between the customers that express positive attitudes towards environmental sustainability and actual green purchases. Research shows that approximately 67% of consumers express positive attitudes towards green consumption, but only 4% actually make green purchases (Doran, Hanss, & Larsen, 2015; Antonetti & Maklan, 2014; Grundey & Zaharia, 2008). The literature review will examine the factors affecting the purchasing decision of environmentally friendly goods; emotional condition, perceived consumer effectiveness, self-efficacy, planned behavior control, and neutralization.
Emotional Condition
The emotional condition of consumers is a psychological reason why buyers opt to shop eco-friendly products. Other factors include motivation, awareness, and belief (Khan & Larsson, 2012). As established, consumers’ emotion is affected by their perception of their role in effecting change. Antonetti and Maklan (2014) posit that pride and guilt are prevalent in every shopping episode, and have the capacity to regulate sustainable consumption by the customers via influencing their perception. The awareness of the adverse impact the deteriorating environment has on other people and organisms creates a sense of personal responsibility in environmental conservation (Kumar & Ghodeswar, 2015). Such awareness creates an emotional connection to environmental conservation and sustainable consumption trends. Such intrinsic concerns lead to interest in firms that are focused on the consumption of green products, environmental friendly manufacturers, and proactive engagement in environment conservation endeavors (Chen, Chen & Tung, 2018). Thus, the feelings of guilt and pride are associated with compliance or lack of compassion and belief of environmental concerns, which they can influence at an individual level as they make purchases.


Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Elements contributing to the emotional connection with environmental friendly purchases (Kumar & Ghodeswar, 2015).
To optimize the chances of green product purchases, there has to be a proper balance between the quality, functions, and its environmental, cost, social, and ethical components. This leads to the deduction that although consumers may rely on their belief systems to make a purchase and emotional impulses in a shopping episode, their decisions are not only affected by the availability of green products exclusively, but by their supply chain as a whole (Iravania, Zadehb, Mahroeian, Foroziac, & shafaruddind, 2012; Doran, Hanss, & Larsen, 2015). The sustainability of products is determined by its life cycle in its entirety from production to the disposal of its byproducts.
The Theory of Reasoned Action
The theory of reasoned action (TRA) holds that rationale in human beings is founded on some assumptions. Further, the theory posits that individuals have the cognitive ability to think before taking action and make a conscious decision about their behavioral options. The factors affecting individual behavior include social pressures that may drive them to take actions to remedy social concerns. Iravania et al. (2012) identify this as subjective norms. The consumers’ attitudes towards behavior also have a prominent impact on their purchasing behaviors. As established earlier, one’s conviction about a subject matter affects their perception of the respective norm and their consequent actions. Therefore, the relative balance between the consumer’s attitude and norms determines their intentions and the subsequent behavior.
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Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2: Factors determining a person’s behavior
Attitudes towards Behavior
The basic comprehension of in one’s mind examines whether the consequences of an action will be negative or positive. Consequently, people who have diverse attitudes towards different behaviors will have different attitudes towards different behaviors (Kumar & Ghodeswar, 2015; Anvar, 2014; Doran, Hanss, & Larsen, 2015). Thus, the attitude towards an action or object is founded on individual behavioral beliefs.
Environmental Consciousness
Social consciousness is demonstrated by individuals making environmentally friendly decisions that are aimed at preserving, conserving, and promoting the earth’s natural resources and society at large. People who engage in pro-social trends are likely to adopt pro-environmental behavior and seek better enlightenment with regards to environmental issues. Consequently, the correlation is positive between consciousness about the environment and eco-friendly decisions (Anvar, 2014). Thus, people who are environmentally responsible have better awareness of environmental issues and are likely to undertake a favorable purchase to the environment.
Consumers who consider environmental challenges as a consequence of their personal expenditure are likely to be concerned about the environment and are likely to be driven to shop and use eco-friendly products. On the contrary, people who are not sensitive to environmental issues are less likely to make green purchases and care less about their decisions’ consequences (Anvar, 2014). As such, green or ecofriendly purchasing can be associated with a specific classification of socially conscious behavior. This can be explained by the fact that trends in behavior are directly related to one’s intention and concern for their action’s repercussions.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief that they have the ability to organize, plan, and implement activities that lead to the realization of the desired goal. Self-efficacy in the purchase of green products connotes consumer’s conviction that their choices of purchase have an impact on the environment (Antonetti & Maklan, 2014). Individuals who have an internal locus of control have a high degree of self-efficacy and are likely to adopt the green purchasing behavior, while entities who have an external locus of control have a low sense of self-efficacy and are less likely to make behavioral changes in their purchases towards more environmentally friendly trends.
There are tertiary forces that may affect the consumer’s self-efficacy, such as the prices of the products. Such effects are attributed to an increase in the discrepancy of consumers’ willingness compared to the recorded green purchase behavior. Green manufacturers generally charge extra for their environmentally-friendly goods, while consumers are highly sensitive about price points (Tan, Yeo, Goh, Chong & Cheah, 2014). Consumers are committed to the consumption of green products, but not at higher prices as compared to other products. Consequently, the high prices of environmentally friendly products have been reported as the main impediment to the consumption of green products.
Price Sensitivity
Buyers prefer normally priced goods in general and associate them with more value to price rather than green commodities. As a result, if the price of a green product is higher than the price they budgeted, it undermines the impact of their green attitude and growth of the attitude-behavior gap in environmental friendly purchasing (Chen, Chen, & Tung, 2018). Additionally, the limited availability or difficulty in getting environmental friendly products was identified as other key barriers. Consumers prefer goods that are readily available rather than spend time shopping for green products. The reluctance to take time searching for green and sustainable products indicates consumers’ preference for easily accessible products. Hence, the lack of availability and the inconvenience in the procurement of such products raises the gap between the positive attitude towards the consumption of green products and the actual behavior in the green purchase (Joshi & Rahman, 2015). While the limited access to green products is paired with the high price, consumers forego purchasing green products
Consumers’ sensitivity to fluctuation in price points to the critical role of price in the determination of a suitable balance in the management of these expectations. As established earlier, buyers are less likely to purchase conventional products if the purchase of green products means spending more. This signifies that environmental awareness and consciousness are not the primary determinants that promote the consumption of green products. How the price of eco-friendly goods compares to other products is an impactful determiner. Conversely, a study conducted among Korean, Malays, and Thais shows the existence of primarily environmentally conscious consumers. Such consumers do not mind paying a premium price for a green product (Joshi & Rahman, 2015; Maichum, Parichatnon & Peng, 2017). Therefore, there are two groups of environmental concern consumers: price sensitive and price insensitive.
Consequently, marketers play a critical role in the determination and driving consumers to purchase eco-friendly products. Doran, Hanss, and Larsen, (2015) conducted a study on the factors influencing customers’ decision to buy green products in Malaysia, evaluating the environmental benefit, consumer satisfaction, and comparative cost. The results suggested there is numerous influence on purchasing eco-friendly goods, but marketers can attract consumers to buy ecological products by applying diverse marketing strategies, orienting consumers to green products (Doran, Hanss, & Larsen, 2015).
Environmental Awareness
Bisschoff and Liebenberg (2016) define environmental awareness as “recognizing the effect of human conduct on the environment and to facilitate an ecological consciousness comprising a cognitive, comprehension based element and a non-cognitive, insight-based element.” Perception of the environment has a favorable influence on the purchase of green products and recycling (Tan et al., 2014; Govender & Govender, 2016). For example, eco-friendly purchases and using ecofriendly products signifies environmental consciousness and self-efficacy.
People with a high sense of self-efficacy may opt to use products manufactured with reclaimed and biodegradable materials. Such material includes recycled plastics or paper, energy-saver light bulbs, reclaimable containers (such as plastic beverage bottles), biodegradable cleansers, non-polluting, and aerosols that are not made with any artificial fragrance and/or pigments. Green initiatives in the service industry, such as green transport, green construction practices, and water fittings in plumbing in buildings and stadium, do not necessarily translate to more eco-friendly purchases (Vazifehdoust, Taleghani, Esmaeilpour, Nazari & Khadang, 2013; Martin, 2017). Such measures have been taken through government-driven policy in South African. It can be derived that highly cautious consumers and price-sensitive shoppers are unlikely to pay premium prices for eco-friendly goods. However, the availability of such goods is capable of advancing the long-term goal of conserving the environment.
The large population in India, with nearly a billion people, created more awareness, leading to the purchase of environmentally friendly products. This is not voluntary but essential because if the environmental concerns the country is facing are not addressed, the country is likely to face more serious challenges of climate change and environmental degradation (Sharma, 2015). The high population raises the cumulative rates of rampant garbage dumping in the streets up to 34%. This has resulted in the increase of street garbage sites, foul smell, destruction of the community’s aesthetic value as well as an increase in the land pollution (Johnstone & Tan, 2015; Sharma, 2015). This raises the concern of the implications of the statistics in the prosperity concern on how the community is taking care of the environment. Continuation of these trends would result in the neighborhoods being inhabitable.
Consequently, consumers in India have a better understanding of why it is essential to rely on ecologically friendly products. The Indian government has also taken proactive measures towards improving environmental awareness and improving the consumption and production of environmentally friendly products (Laheri, Dangi, & Vohra, 2014). In countries like the USA where climatic changes are as dire as in India, they also have made progress in creating awareness on the consumption of the ecological products. In a study conducted by Chen, Chen, and Tung (2018), they reported that 73% of American consumers buy green products, 93% and 77% of them are improving conserving energy and water, respectively. Further, the study reported that in 2007, 62% of British adults agreed that consumers were more environmentally aware as compared to the previous year (Chen, Chen, & Tung, 2018).
Perceived Consumer Effectiveness
Intrinsic concerns lead to interests in firms that are oriented towards the consumption of eco-friendly products, environmental friendly manufacturers, and proactive engagement in environment conservation endeavors (Govender & Govender, 2016). According to Antonetti and Maklan (2014), this argument suggests that we observe negative and positive emotions, with regard to sustainable behavior. As a result, the assumption that the perceived consumer’s emotional experience is implicitly controlled by the information about a consumer agency must be made (Wymer & Polonsky, 2015). Thus, the feelings of guilt and pride are associated with compliance or lack thereof, with their compassion and belief of environmental concerns, which they can influence at an individual level as they make purchases (Young, Hwang, McDonald & Oates, 2009). The management of these challenges makes it possible to meet the expectations of the community (Kumar & Ghodeswar, 2015). The management of these challenges makes it possible to meet the challenges associated with the development of eco-friendly purchase behavior. Biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage would help in forwarding the degradable waste to fertilizer firms and non-biodegradable waste to recycling firms (Dagher & Itani, 2014).
Assessments evaluating the causative reasons as well as get a recommendation of the desired cognitive engagement with respect to green purchases to point to external influences. People render their thoughts based on the research and draw a good understanding of the problems the challenge posed to the future of the environment (Michaud & Llerena, 2010; Heo & Muralidharan, 2017). Majority of the people with an external locus of control attribute environmental challenges to negligence by the government to set up a functional and effective environmental program (Larsson & Arif Khan, 2011). Thus, the formulation of Green products promotion program would improve the consumption of green products. The goals and objectives of the program would be to improve the manufacture, distribution, and the purchase of green products
External Locus of Control Attributes
As identified earlier, normative beliefs are founded on the perception of external expectations. External locus of control means that people formulate the beliefs that determine their actions based on the judgment of their peers of requirements by external forces. The government has formulated different policies and regulations aimed to continually improve the development and consumption of eco-friendly goods. Individuals who have an extrinsic locus of control interest in the conservation of the environment are convinced that the environment is a responsibility of the government (Miller, 2017). Thus, the government plays a primary role in environmental protection. In the example given about India, the behavioral conduct of the consumers is determined by the government by persuading people to use green products, through laws and promoting public understanding aimed at fostering consumer’s consciousness about the relationship between their consumption habits and their environmental implications. Other extrinsic forces that influence the management of these challenges include media exposure and social influence.
The role of the government, in this case, operates in the third tier of the TPB, which is the perceived behavioral control. Chen, Chen, and Teng (2017) define the role of government in this regard, as “consumers believe that environmental protection is a governmental duty.” The imposition of legislation dictates the nature of production methods, disposal of garbage, government support through subsidies, and the imposition of fines on entities who violate environmental conservation codes (Jaiswal & Singh, 2018). Such measures are meant to improve the adoption and practice of environmentally friendly practices among people whose beliefs are normative with regard to environmental degradation and consumerism.
The media also plays a critical role in managing the expectations of people with an extrinsic locus of control. By sharing environmental protection concerns, the media propagates objective and subjective knowledge with the public (Kaur & Bhatia, 2018). Consequently, the media affects people with both an internal and external locus of control (Raza, Umer, Qazi & Makhdoom, 2017). Individuals who have an extrinsic control can buy green products based on subject knowledge gathered from such media presentation while intrinsic people obtain objective knowledge that is creating concern for the environmental challenges, leading to a change in the consumer purchase behavior.
Different organizations establish their concerns about environmental issues using various strategies. Green advertising is prominent among organizations and is used as a marketing tool. Cher, Cher, and Teng (2017) establish that eco-marketing has the power to transform consumers’ perception of environmental issues and consequent green consumption. As a result, consumers who were initially unwilling to pay more for eco-friendly products in the past are currently more wi...