2nd International Conference On Advances in Management & Economics February 02-03, 2013

Title of the paper: Insights into Consumers Green Behaviour An Empirical study

Key Stakeholders
the green organisation the green consumer the green policies government & regulations aka

Research Objectives
To understand the intensity of green behaviour exhibited by consumers and categorize them accordingly. Identify differences, if any, between green consumer categories in terms of behaviors, attitudes and demographics. To find out the level of awareness of eco friendly products To study the influence of demographic variables on the level of awareness of select eco-friendly products

Methodology
The research was both exploratory and descriptive in nature The study required the researcher to rely mainly on the primary data drawn from 1500 respondents from various parts of the Maharashtra state. The primary data was collected with the help of a questionnaire which was divided into 3 parts where: Part I of the questionnaire seeks personal information, about the respondent Part II of the questionnaire lays emphasis on General environmental concern among the consumers & Part III of the questionnaire captures the green buying behaviour of the consumers, awareness level of green products, perception towards green products, drives to buy or not to buy green products, sources of information for green products and factors for considering green vs. conventional products

Major Findings
Intensity of Green Behaviour
The respondents were categorized into 4 categories on the basis of the intensity of the green behaviour exhibited by them. Front Runner Greens:
High Environment concern Holds that each individuals needs to contribute to the betterment of env. Government have big role to play to bring-in some order. Uses most of the green products

Catching-up Greens:
Equally concerned about env. & suggest a collective action by all stakeholders Currently use some of the green products and slowly moving towards being totally green

Aspirant Greens:
Have fairly favourable outlook towards environment Although they are aware of green products but are yet to buy any They are not sure about their cost effectiveness and performance of green products.

Negator Greens:
These respondents feel that economic development is accompanied with environmental problems. They feel that the environmental concern shown by the companies is a sales gimmick and hype They dont feel that green products are any better than the other products.

Respondent Profile
Female respondents are almost equal to the male respondents Majority of respondents lie in the age bracket of 31 to 40 followed by above 40 Graduates were in majority forming 47% of the sample size 36% respondents earn between INR 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 per annum Almost half the respondents are self-employed 55% respondents are married.

Respondent Profile
The green consumer consists of higher ratio of female consumers as against the male consumers. Within green consumers, the catching-up greens consists of higher percentage of females. It is interesting to note that the catching-up greens are a younger lot as compared to the front runner greens. The front-runner greens are older, more educated and more affluent lot as compared to catching-up greens.

The front runner greens are majority males lying in the age group of 31-40 and above having annual income of more that 3,00,000. Majority of respondents are self employed and are married.
The catching-up greens are led by females. The majority of respondent is graduate and lies in the age group of 31 and above. The aspirant and negator greens have male majority. 50% of the negator greens have lower income levels as compared with aspirant greens. Aspirants are more educated than the negator. The ratio of married to single is almost the same in both the categories.

Front runner V/s Catching-up

Reasons for buying green products: Catching-up greens segment is more impulse and curiosity driven in nature while deciding about buying the green products whereas the Front runner greens segment is more organised and tends to take planned approach towards buying the green products.

Cont
Perception towards Green Products:
Majority of both, the Front runner greens and Catching- up greens perceive that the green products are essentially the products made of recyclable or re-usable material/packaging, Energy-efficient/uses renewable sources of energy and have more of natural / organic ingredients. However as compared to catching-up greens more number of front runner greens attach the green products to a socially responsible company and green certifications. This displays The higher level of information availability with front runner greens

Cont
Sources of information of green products:
The product labels, word-of-mouth, TV advertisements and Print media are the predominant source of information for green products. A significantly higher number of Front runner greens refer to non-mass media Like specialized reports & green blogs and online forums. This displays higher information Seeking behaviour of Front runner greens

Cont
In store behaviour:
It was observed that while at the store, green consumers tend to compare green and conventional products.

A significant number of catching-up greens said that their decision to purchase is influenced by the price variability between the green & conventional product. This is further substantiated by the statement that green products are not on topof-their-mind agenda while at store by 14% catching-up greens. Contrary to this, 29% front runner greens said that they look only for green products.

Cont
Factors for considering green vs. Conventional Products:
The researcher further explored the aspects that the green consumers look for while comparing the green and conventional products. This question was answered by only such green consumers who are pro comparison (as indicated by their in-store behaviour). This makes 43% front runner greens and 72% catching-up greens eligible to answer. The green consumers hold that the green product must be superior or at least at par with the conventional product. Safety, health & quality are the top three concerns of both categories of green consumers while evaluating green vs. conventional products.

Cont
Level Of Awareness Eco Friendly Products:
The researcher was curious to find out the level of awareness of the green consumers on the following product categories:
Apparel
Cleaning

Food Stationary
Food Stationary

Home Appliances Personal Care

Home Appliances Personal Care

Home Dcor Lighting

Home Dcor Lighting

It was observed that the majority of consumers were aware of lightning (83%), personal care (76%), home appliances (79%) and food products (73%)

Influence of demographic variables on the level of awareness of select eco-friendly products

The researcher wanted to understand if demographic variables influence the level of awareness of lightning, personal care, home appliances and food category products. It was found that: gender, education and occupation significantly influence the awareness of lightning products. for personal care products, the influencing variables are gender and education. only the income variable influences the awareness of home appliance products. The food category is significantly influenced by education and income variables.

Useful highlights
Changing mindset of consumers hence more receptive to the idea of green. The new green consumer is more educated, young and affluent. The major sources of information of green products are comprised of product labels, print media, word-of-mouth and advertisements & infomercials. Majority of non-green consumers have quoted the reasons of nonavailability, price and performance for not buying green products. Most of the catching up greens are impulse buyers and visibility of the green products at the stores attracts them to buy them. Safety, health & quality are the top three concerns of both categories of green consumers while evaluating green vs. conventional products. The study shows that some select demographical variables have greater influence on select green products.

Future Research
The researcher is desirous of studying the green behaviour exhibited by Indian organisations and explore their motivations of going green.

Thank You