Investigation of the impact of experience and environmental knowledge on attitudes and behaviors of consumers’ conscious of the environment
Subject Areas : مدیریت ، برنامه ریزی و آموزش محیط زیستMahdi Farmani 1 , Mohammad Ghaffari 2 , Mostafa Zandi Nasab 3
1 - MSc, Business management department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Farabi Campus University of Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Farabi Campus University of Tehran, Iran *(Corresponding author)
3 - MSc, Business management department, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Farabi Campus University of Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Environmental knowledge, Environmental Attitud, Environmentalist, Environmental experience, Consumer behavior,
Abstract :
Background and Objective: In today's competitive market, companies are surely able to make competitive advantage and benefit from it in the long run, paying more attention to environmental issues. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of environmental knowledge on attitudes and behaviors of consumers’ conscious of the environment. Method: This research, is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of research method. The statistical population of this research includes all customers of Pegah Company throughout the country in January 2019. To this end, 384 samples were selected using available sampling method. In order to confirm the validity of the questionnaire, content validity, construct validity and convergent validity were examined. To assess the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 and LISREL 8.8 software. Finding: All research hypotheses were approved and the coefficient of determination of attitudes toward the environment and behavior of consumers’ conscious of the environment is 0/51 and 0/35. Discussion and Conclusion: The results of the research show that general environmental knowledge and Eco-friendly knowledge has a significant impact on attitudes toward the environment and environmental experience has a significant impact on attitudes and behaviors of conscious consumers toward environment. Also, attitudes toward environment has a significant impact on behavior of consumers’ conscious of the environment.
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- Tseng, S. C., & Hung, S. W. (2013). A framework identifying the gaps between customers’ expectations and their perceptions in green products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 174-184.
- Chen, Y. S. (2008). The driver of green innovation and green image–green core competence. Journal of business ethics, 81(3), 531-543.
- Yuksel, A., Yuksel, F., & Bilim, Y. (2010). Destination attachment: Effects on customer satisfaction and cognitive, affective and conative loyalty. Tourism management, 31(2), 274-284.
- Testa, F., Iraldo, F., Vaccari, A., & Ferrari, E. (2015). Why eco‐labels can be effective marketing tools: Evidence from a study on Italian consumers. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), 252-265.
- Thøgersen, J., Haugaard, P., & Olesen, A. (2010). Consumer responses to ecolabels. European Journal of Marketing, 44(11/12), 1787-1810.
- Brécard, D. (2017). Consumer misperception of eco-labels, green market structure and welfare. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 51(3), 340-364.
- Movahedi, R., Izadi, N., & Aliabadi, V. (2017). Estimating of Environmental Knowledge and Attitude and Its Relation-ship with Socio-Political Factors (Case Study: Agricultural Knowledge-Based Companies Staffs of Hamedan and Kermanshah). Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 5(2), 97-111.
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- Leire, C., & Thidell, Å. (2005). Product-related environmental information to guide consumer purchases–a review and analysis of research on perceptions, understanding and use among Nordic consumers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(10-11), 1061-1070.
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- Bougherara, D., & Combris, P. (2009). Eco-labelled food products: what are consumers paying for?. European review of agricultural economics, 36(3), 321-341.
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- Lu, A. C. C., Gursoy, D., & Del Chiappa, G. (2016). The influence of materialism on ecotourism attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Travel Research, 55(2), 176-189.
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- Roberts, J. A., & Bacon, D. R. (1997). Exploring the subtle relationships between environmental concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 40(1), 79-89.
- Antil, J. H., & Bennett, P. D. (1979). Construction and validation of a scale to measure socially responsible consumption behavior. The conserver society, 51, 51.
- Sabzehei, M. T., Gholipoor, S., & Adinevand, M. (2016). A survey of the relationship between environmental awareness, attitude and pro-environmental behavior of female students at qom university. Quarterly Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 4(4), 5-16. (In Persian)
- Najjarzadeh, M., Jafari, S., Jafari, N., & Rajabi, N. (2018). Tourist behavioral intentions in conservation of environment, environmental enowledge, tourist satisfaction, environmental attitude, perceived benefit. Quarterly Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 7(1), 127-142. (In Persian)
- Chan, R. Y. (2001). Determinants of Chinese consumers’ green purchase behavior. Psychology & marketing, 18(4), 389-413.
- Vicente-Molina, M. A., Fernández-Sáinz, A., & Izagirre-Olaizola, J. (2013). Environmental knowledge and other variables affecting pro-environmental behaviour: comparison of university students from emerging and advanced countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 61, 130-138.
- Ritter, A. M., Borchardt, M., Vaccaro, G. L., Pereira, G. M., & Almeida, F. (2015). Motivations for promoting the consumption of green products in an emerging country: exploring attitudes of Brazilian consumers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 507-520.
- Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610.
- Milfont, T. L., & Duckitt, J. (2010). The environmental attitudes inventory: A valid and reliable measure to assess the structure of environmental attitudes. Journal of environmental psychology, 30(1), 80-94.
- Dunlap, R. E., Van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). New trends in measuring environmental attitudes: measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP scale. Journal of social issues, 56(3), 425-442.
- Stren, P. C. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behaviour. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424.
- Byrne, B. M. (2013). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Psychology Press.
- Flamm, B. (2009). The impacts of environmental knowledge and attitudes on vehicle ownership and use. Transportation research part D: transport and environment, 14(4), 272-279.
- Onel, N., & Mukherjee, A. (2016). Consumer knowledge in pro-environmental behavior: An exploration of its antecedents and consequences. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 13(4), 328-352.
- Rajecki, D. W. (1982). Attitudes, themes and advances. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates Press.
- Mayer, F. S., & Frantz, C. M. (2004). The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature. Journal of environmental psychology, 24(4), 503-515.
- Hornibrook, S., May, C., & Fearne, A. (2015). Sustainable development and the consumer: Exploring the role of carbon labelling in retail supply chains. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), 266-276.
- Zsóka, Á., Szerényi, Z. M., Széchy, A., & Kocsis, T. (2013). Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 126-138.
- Javanmard, H., & Hoseini, S. (2013). Determining the relationship between store image, customer satisfaction, behavioral intention and short distance (case study in Shahvand chain super market of Tehran). Journal of Marketing Management, 8(20), 85-102. (In Persian)
- Bamberg, S., & Möser, G. (2007). Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour. Journal of environmental psychology, 27(1), 14-25.
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- Hsu, A. (2016). Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale University.[online] 2016 [cited 01 March 2016].
- Khan, S. N., & Mohsin, M. (2017). The power of emotional value: Exploring the effects of values on green product consumer choice behavior. Journal of cleaner production, 150, 65-74.
- Shrivastava, P., & Hart, S. (1995). Creating sustainable corporations. Business Strategy and the Environment, 4(3), 154-165.
- Tseng, S. C., & Hung, S. W. (2013). A framework identifying the gaps between customers’ expectations and their perceptions in green products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 174-184.
- Chen, Y. S. (2008). The driver of green innovation and green image–green core competence. Journal of business ethics, 81(3), 531-543.
- Yuksel, A., Yuksel, F., & Bilim, Y. (2010). Destination attachment: Effects on customer satisfaction and cognitive, affective and conative loyalty. Tourism management, 31(2), 274-284.
- Testa, F., Iraldo, F., Vaccari, A., & Ferrari, E. (2015). Why eco‐labels can be effective marketing tools: Evidence from a study on Italian consumers. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), 252-265.
- Thøgersen, J., Haugaard, P., & Olesen, A. (2010). Consumer responses to ecolabels. European Journal of Marketing, 44(11/12), 1787-1810.
- Brécard, D. (2017). Consumer misperception of eco-labels, green market structure and welfare. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 51(3), 340-364.
- Movahedi, R., Izadi, N., & Aliabadi, V. (2017). Estimating of Environmental Knowledge and Attitude and Its Relation-ship with Socio-Political Factors (Case Study: Agricultural Knowledge-Based Companies Staffs of Hamedan and Kermanshah). Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 5(2), 97-111.
- Dunlap, R., & Jones, R. (2002). Environmental concern: Conceptual and measurement issues. In Handbook of environmental sociology, ed. R. Dunlap and W. Michelson. London: Greenwood.
- Cherian, J., & Jacob, J. (2012). Green marketing: A study of consumers’ attitude towards environment friendly products. Asían social science, 8(12), 117.
- Leire, C., & Thidell, Å. (2005). Product-related environmental information to guide consumer purchases–a review and analysis of research on perceptions, understanding and use among Nordic consumers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(10-11), 1061-1070.
- Han, H., Hsu, L. T. J., Lee, J. S., & Sheu, C. (2011). Are lodging customers ready to go green? An examination of attitudes, demographics, and eco-friendly intentions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(2), 345-355.
- Fryxell, G. E., & Lo, C. W. (2003). The influence of environmental knowledge and values on managerial behaviours on behalf of the environment: An empirical examination of managers in China. Journal of business ethics, 46(1), 45-69.
- Polonsky, M. J., Vocino, A., Grau, S. L., Garma, R., & Ferdous, A. S. (2012). The impact of general and carbon-related environmental knowledge on attitudes and behavior of US consumers. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(3-4), 238-263.
- Barber, N., Taylor, C., & Strick, S. (2009). Wine consumers’ environmental knowledge and attitudes: Influence on willingness to purchase. International Journal of Wine Research, 1, 59-72.
- Thøgersen, J. (2000). Psychological determinants of paying attention to eco-labels in purchase decisions: Model development and multinational validation. Journal of Consumer Policy, 23(3), 285-313.
- Bougherara, D., & Combris, P. (2009). Eco-labelled food products: what are consumers paying for?. European review of agricultural economics, 36(3), 321-341.
- Taufique, K. M. R., Siwar, C., Talib, B., Sarah, F. H., & Chamhuri, N. (2014). Synthesis of constructs for modeling consumers’ understanding and perception of eco-labels. Sustainability, 6(4), 2176-2200.
- Duerden, M. D., & Witt, P. A. (2010). The impact of direct and indirect experiences on the development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 379-392.
- Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?. Environmental education research, 8(3), 239-260.
- Lu, A. C. C., Gursoy, D., & Del Chiappa, G. (2016). The influence of materialism on ecotourism attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Travel Research, 55(2), 176-189.
- Azizi, M., Mahdizadeh, H., & Shobeiri, S. M. (2012). A study on Ilam housewives’ environmental approach. Human & Environment, 10(22), 77-87. [In Persian]
- Bamberg, S. (2003). How does environmental concern influence specific environmentally related behaviors? A new answer to an old question. Journal of environmental psychology, 23(1), 21-32.
- Cheah, I., & Phau, I. (2011). Attitudes towards environmentally friendly products: The influence of ecoliteracy, interpersonal influence and value orientation. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 29(5), 452-472.
- Steg, L., & Vlek, C. (2009). Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: An integrative review and research agenda. Journal of environmental psychology, 29(3), 309-317.
- Albayrak, T., Caber, M., Moutinho, L., & Herstein, R. (2011). The influence of skepticism on green purchase behavior. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(13).
- Roberts, J. A. (1996). Green consumers in the 1990s: profile and implications for advertising. Journal of business research, 36(3), 217-231.
- Lee, D. (2004). Promoting green purchasing to consumers in Korea. In 1st International Conference on Green Purchasing, Sendai.
- Tilikidou, I., Adamson, I., & Sarmaniotis, C. (2002). The measurement instrument of ecologically conscious consumer behavior. MEDIT, 1(4), 46-53.
- Roberts, J. A., & Bacon, D. R. (1997). Exploring the subtle relationships between environmental concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 40(1), 79-89.
- Antil, J. H., & Bennett, P. D. (1979). Construction and validation of a scale to measure socially responsible consumption behavior. The conserver society, 51, 51.
- Sabzehei, M. T., Gholipoor, S., & Adinevand, M. (2016). A survey of the relationship between environmental awareness, attitude and pro-environmental behavior of female students at qom university. Quarterly Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 4(4), 5-16. (In Persian)
- Najjarzadeh, M., Jafari, S., Jafari, N., & Rajabi, N. (2018). Tourist behavioral intentions in conservation of environment, environmental enowledge, tourist satisfaction, environmental attitude, perceived benefit. Quarterly Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 7(1), 127-142. (In Persian)
- Chan, R. Y. (2001). Determinants of Chinese consumers’ green purchase behavior. Psychology & marketing, 18(4), 389-413.
- Vicente-Molina, M. A., Fernández-Sáinz, A., & Izagirre-Olaizola, J. (2013). Environmental knowledge and other variables affecting pro-environmental behaviour: comparison of university students from emerging and advanced countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 61, 130-138.
- Ritter, A. M., Borchardt, M., Vaccaro, G. L., Pereira, G. M., & Almeida, F. (2015). Motivations for promoting the consumption of green products in an emerging country: exploring attitudes of Brazilian consumers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 507-520.
- Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610.
- Milfont, T. L., & Duckitt, J. (2010). The environmental attitudes inventory: A valid and reliable measure to assess the structure of environmental attitudes. Journal of environmental psychology, 30(1), 80-94.
- Dunlap, R. E., Van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). New trends in measuring environmental attitudes: measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP scale. Journal of social issues, 56(3), 425-442.
- Stren, P. C. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behaviour. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424.
- Byrne, B. M. (2013). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Psychology Press.
- Flamm, B. (2009). The impacts of environmental knowledge and attitudes on vehicle ownership and use. Transportation research part D: transport and environment, 14(4), 272-279.
- Onel, N., & Mukherjee, A. (2016). Consumer knowledge in pro-environmental behavior: An exploration of its antecedents and consequences. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 13(4), 328-352.
- Rajecki, D. W. (1982). Attitudes, themes and advances. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates Press.
- Mayer, F. S., & Frantz, C. M. (2004). The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature. Journal of environmental psychology, 24(4), 503-515.
- Hornibrook, S., May, C., & Fearne, A. (2015). Sustainable development and the consumer: Exploring the role of carbon labelling in retail supply chains. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), 266-276.
- Zsóka, Á., Szerényi, Z. M., Széchy, A., & Kocsis, T. (2013). Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 126-138.
- Javanmard, H., & Hoseini, S. (2013). Determining the relationship between store image, customer satisfaction, behavioral intention and short distance (case study in Shahvand chain super market of Tehran). Journal of Marketing Management, 8(20), 85-102. (In Persian)
- Bamberg, S., & Möser, G. (2007). Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour. Journal of environmental psychology, 27(1), 14-25.