Consumer Attitudes towards Green Marketing Messages: Environmental versus Personal Benefits

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 21 ANZAM 2010 Consumer Attitudes towards Green Marketing Messages: Environmental versus Personal Benefits Meghann Woolley and Dr Martin Grimmer School of Management, University of Tasmania, Australia Martin.Grimmer@utas.edu.au meghannw@postoffice.utas.edu.au

2 ANZAM 2010 Page 2 of 21 Consumer Attitudes towards Green Marketing Messages: Environmental versus Personal Benefits ABSTRACT This study examined whether consumers purchase intentions were influenced by the type of green marketing communications message they were exposed to, and whether this effect was moderated by their level of green attitude. A sample of university students (N=171) were shown an ad stimulus promoting a neutral benefit, a personal benefit or a generic environmental benefit to environmental purchase behaviour. Participants purchase intention was measured along with their level of green attitude. Results showed that the level of environmental affect felt by participants moderated the effect of the ad stimuli. The findings demonstrate that purchase intention for green products is affected by consumers affect towards the environment; marketers of green products could therefore appeal to the emotionality of consumers. Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Green Policy, Social Marketing, Advertising Effectiveness It has increasingly been demanded by consumers and governments that organisations endeavour to act in a socially responsible manner (Bockman, Razzouk & Sirotnik 2009; Chan 1999; D Souza & Taghian 2005; Shrum, McCarty & Lowrey 1995). Organisations are more routinely being expected to make decisions that are in the best interests of not only themselves, or their shareholders, but society as a whole (Woolverton & Dimitri 2010). The issue of an organisation s impact on the environment is one of the factors that can be embedded in an organisation s approach to corporate social responsibility, and this matter has received much attention in the media and marketing literature in recent decades (ACCC 2008; Follows & Jobber 2000; Jay 1990; Rios, Martinez, Moreno & Soriano 2006). The green movement has emerged due to concerns over issue such as environmental degradation, global warming, and the under-use of renewable resources, and consumption habits, in particular, have been widely regarded as contributing to the problem (Chan 1999; Follows & Jobber 2000; Hartmann & Ibáñez 2006; Laroche, Bergeron & Barbaro-Forleo 2001; Tanner & Kast 2003). However, the green movement in marketing is not just a result of consumer demand, but also a realisation from organisations that a competitive advantage can be achieved through acting in a socially-responsible manner in terms of production methods, actual products, and post-purchase use behaviours such as recycling (D Souza, Taghian, Lamb & Peretiatkos 2006; Prothero, McDonagh & Dobscha 2010). Theoretically, consumers

3 Page 3 of 21 ANZAM should view green companies in a positive light and be more likely to consider purchasing from these companies (Mohr & Webb 2005). Developing an environmentally friendly or green product can, as a result, be a starting point for an organisation s adoption of green practices. However, creating and distributing a green product is not by itself sufficient to change the purchase behaviour of consumers (Bonini & Oppenheim 2008); there are a range of other factors that are likely to affect consumer decision-making. Indeed, there has been a significant amount of research conducted into understanding the factors that influence a consumer s decision to purchase a green product (e.g. Bonniface & Henley 2008; Chan 1999; D Souza et al. 2006; D Souza, Taghian & Khosla 2007; Follows & Jobber 2000; Hartmann & Ibáñez 2006; Laroche et al. 2001; Mohr & Webb 2005; Phau & Ong 2007; Tanner & Kast 2003). Research suggests that consumers may search for clues as to the environmentalism of product ranges: whether the company has an environmental corporate image, the information on labels, packaging choices, and also post-consumption options such as recycling (Biel & Grankvist 2010; D Souza et al. 2006; Phau & Ong 2007). Consumers form a perception of these cues based on various moderating factors such as values, attitudes, brand loyalty and brand trust. As such, some of the relevant research has focused on the relationship between the attitudes and behaviour of consumers and the influence of the marketing communications used for green products (Chan 1999; Follows & Jobber 2000; Laroche et al. 2001). Attitudes represent an enduring combination of emotional, behavioural and cognitive processes with respect to some part of a person s external environment. In a consumer context, they refer to a tendency to respond in a consistent way either favourably or unfavourably towards an attitude object such as a product (Crano & Prislin 2006; Quester, Neal, Pettigrew, Grimmer, Davis & Hawkins 2007). In relation to green attitudes specifically, a consumer may be segmented as having either highinvolvement environmental awareness or low-involvement environmental awareness. In general terms, a consumer s level of involvement refers to the extent to which they perceive there to be some personal

4 ANZAM 2010 Page 4 of 21 3 relevance regarding the object in question (Zaichkowsky 1985). Therefore, a consumer with highinvolvement environmental awareness is one who is more likely to be socially conscious with regard to the environment; Follows & Jobber (2000) state that socially-conscious consumers are aware of, and take into account, the broader consequences and impact of their consumption. Conversely, a consumer with low-involvement environmental awareness would exhibit little or no concern for the environment when making purchase decisions. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) supports this assertion by suggesting that those with high involvement will base their decisions on the consumption object and be more likely to make use of cognitive information processes, thus more readily considering environmental aspects of the organisation or product (Petty, Cacioppo & Schumann 1983). On the other hand, those with low involvement are more likely to consider peripheral factors such as price, and place less relevance on environmental factors. Consumers level of involvement will consequently be determined by the strength of the values and attitudes they hold about the environment (Foxall, Goldsmith & Brown 1998; Li 1997). Despite the increased research interest in consumer attitudes and green consumption, it has been acknowledged that findings are often inconsistent and contradictory in terms of how attitudes affect or moderate environmental behaviour (Chan 1999; Hartmann & Ibáñez 2006; Laroche et al. 2001). Follows and Jobber (2000) point out that many studies have failed to differentiate between intention to purchase and actual purchase behaviour. Bonini and Oppenheim (2008) concede that barriers exist between verbal commitment to purchase and actual commitment, for reasons such as lack of awareness, negative perceptions towards green marketing and low availability of green products. Therefore, these two factors intention versus actual purchase behaviour must clearly be defined and measured separately, as they are likely to yield different results and interpretations (see also Pickett, Kangun & Grove 1993). Another issue in this type of research is the inconsistency in the methods used to define and measure different possible moderators of green purchase behaviour, such as attitudes and values (Chan 1999; Follows & Jobbers 2000). If attitudes are defined differently and subsequently measured using different techniques, results will likely vary. Chan (1999) suggests to avoid these discrepancies research

5 Page 5 of 21 ANZAM should be conducted which applies the tri-component attitude model. The tri-component attitude model considers an attitude to be made up of three components: cognition, affect and behaviour (or intention to behave) (Quester et al. 2007; Smith, Terry, Manstead & Louis 2008). Considering this model in research should allow for all the relevant attitudinal elements of a consumer to be more explicitly defined and measured and thus provide a much clearer picture of a consumer s decision moderators. A further factor that is likely to influence a consumer s decision to purchase a green product is the nature of the marketing communications message (D Souza et al. 2006). Some consumers may make a purchase decision based solely on a general environmental benefit promulgated in an advertisement for a product, such as reduced greenhouse gas emission, reducing landfill, and so forth. These people would generally be labelled as socially conscious consumers (Laroche et al. 2001). But there has also been some question as to whether consumers will respond more positively to green marketing messages if they can see some direct individual benefit to the purchase (Carlson, Grove & Kangun 1993; Nottage 2008; Phau & Ong 2007). Hartmann and Ibáñez (2006) propose that one of the main challenges facing marketers of green products is how to increase the consumer s perception of individual or personal benefits. They suggest the way to do this is to add emotional value to the product. Based on previous work (Bonniface & Henley 2008; Hartmann & Ibanez 2006; Phau & Ong 2007), it would appear that in order to influence purchase intention though the communications message, a consumer must feel they will get some return on the price they are paying either tangible (e.g. reduced cost) or intangible (e.g. personal satisfaction) and the perception of inconvenience must be minimised. Instances of personal benefits could thus include outcomes such as saving money through reducing energy use, avoiding penalties for un-environmental behaviour such as open fire chimney smoke or moral satisfaction for behaving in an environmentally positive manner (Kahneman & Knetsch 1992; Nottage 2008). The current research will capitalise on the opportunity to explore which green attitude factors, if any, affect purchase intentions of consumers when they are exposed to advertisements promoting different benefits to green purchase behaviour: personal or generically environmental. The effect of these

6 ANZAM 2010 Page 6 of 21 5 different marketing communications stimuli will be examined according to whether the consumer displays a favourable green attitude at either a low, moderate or high level. It will be determined, therefore, whether consumer attitudes affective, cognitive and behavioural moderate the effect of these different green marketing communications. It is intended that this study will enhance understanding of the effectiveness of green marketing communications, and inform approaches to the development and promotion of green products (Lai, Cheng & Tang 2010). Research by Hartmann and Ibáñez (2006) and Kahneman and Knetsch (1992) suggests that consumers will respond more favourably to appeals to the personal benefit to an environmental purchase. Therefore, regardless of a consumer s attitude to the environment, the following hypothesis is proposed: H1: Participants will show a higher level of purchase intention when the communications message highlights the personal benefit of an environmentally friendly product rather than when the communications message highlights the generic environmental benefit of an environmentally friendly product. The second hypothesis was developed with two sub-hypotheses, based on a general consensus in the literature that attitudes are the most consistent explanatory factor in predicting consumers willingness to pay for green products (Tsen, Phang, Hasan & Buncha 2006: 51). This hypothesis also draws on the fact that while consumer purchase intention has been measured regarding environmental and non-environmental products (e.g. Follows & Jobber 2000), no study has yet attempted to determine the moderating affect of green attitudes on the purchase intention of consumers when exposed to green communication messages in either the context of a personal or a generically environmental benefit. H2: The impact of the green communications message on purchase intention will vary according to the level of green attitude of the participant, such that: H2a: H2b: Participants with a low green attitude will show higher purchase intention for a product that has a communications message that highlights the personal benefit rather than the generic environmental benefit of an environmentally friendly product. Participants with a high green attitude will show higher purchase intention for a product that has a communications message that highlights the generic environmental benefit rather than the personal benefit of an environmentally friendly product.

7 Page 7 of 21 ANZAM METHOD Research Design The study used a quasi-experimental research design, with two independent variables (IV) (green communications message and green attitude) and one dependent variable (DV) (purchase intention). The study thus employed a 3 (control group, personal and generic environmental benefit) x 3 (low, moderate and high green attitude) between-subjects factorial design (Neuman 2006). The between-subjects design meant that different participants were administered each of three different green communication messages. Three separate print advertisements were thus used, representing either neutral or no environmental benefit (control group), personal benefit to environmental behaviour (experimental group 1), or generic environmental benefit to environmental behaviour (experimental group 1). The product chosen for each of the advertisements was Mount Franklin water, as it is sold at all food outlets on the campus where the research was conducted, and thus should have been familiar to the participants and likely to be purchased relatively equally across the participant groups. The choice to employ a real product, as opposed to a hypothetical product, was also made as existing advertising material could be utilised. A manipulation check was conducted prior to data collection so as to ensure the proposed communications messages were perceived in the desired manner. This took place through a Facebook group where people were invited to join and rate seven different advertisement messages on a five-point scale of pure environmental to pure personal benefit. The advertisements in the manipulation check appeared in the same form as they would take for the study itself. Twenty-five people participated in this process, resulting in the following communication messages being rated as the most personal and the most environmental, respectively, for use in the experimental groups (see Figure 1): 1. Control Group: Australia s premium spring water (taken from the Mount Franklin website) 2. Experimental Group 1: Feel good: 100% Recyclable (Personal benefit) 3. Experimental Group 2: Reduce landfill: 100% Recyclable (Generic environmental benefit) Insert Figure 1 approximately here

8 ANZAM 2010 Page 8 of 21 7 Participants The 171 participants in this research were university students enrolled in a Bachelor of Business degree. The three communications message conditions were administered at three different lectures. Overlap in student participation was minimized by the selection of subjects in the first, second and third year of the degree, for which each subject was a prerequisite for the one following. There were 40 participants in the control group, 58 participants in experimental group one and 73 participants in experimental group two. The age range was 18 to 50 years, with a mean of 22 years; 52.7% were female, and 75.6% were single and had never been married. See Table 1 for participant characteristics for each of the three groups. Insert Table 1 approximately here Survey Instrument and Procedure The survey instrument had three components. The first required participants to view the advertisement for their relevant group and then indicate their purchase intention using a five-point Likert scale from very unlikely to very likely. As an additional manipulation check, they were also asked to indicate their perception of the benefit of the communication message, using the same scale as above. The second component of the survey was designed to measure participants green attitudes. Eight questions for each of the three attitudinal factors affect, past behaviour and knowledge were asked. The affect and past behaviour questions were based on an ecology scale series of questions first developed by Moloney and Ward (1973) and updated and condensed by Chan (1999). Some questions were further altered to ensure they were language-appropriate and also relevant to the participants (e.g. an affect question was changed to focus on logging and forestry). Knowledge questions were sourced from a survey used by Mohr, Eroglu and Scholder-Ellen (1998), and from two Australian websites (Australian Government Website 2009; Clean Up Australia Day Website 2009).

9 Page 9 of 21 ANZAM The eight affect questions were measured on a five-point likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Negatively-worded questions were reversed in the final coding of the data to allow the total points for this attitude component to be averaged for each participant. The higher the average score for a participant, the higher they ranked on affective environmental concern. The eight past behaviour questions were asked in true/false format. A true answer indicated a higher environmental concern and was coded as one, while a false answer was coded as zero. Again, negatively-worded questions were reversed. The total score reached in this section was the strength of environmental concern as indicated by past behaviour. The eight knowledge questions were each answered using a multiple choice format and the final measure was the number of correct answers given. The scores from the three attitudinal components were added together to obtain an overall green attitude score for each participant. Participants were then split, based on percentiles, into three evenly-sized groups, producing 55, 53 and 52 participants respectively in the low, medium and high green attitude groups. To allow for further specific analysis of the data, the individual scores for each of the three attitude components were also split according to three equivalent percentile groups that identified those with low, medium or high affect towards the environment, past environmental behaviour, and environmental knowledge. Cronbach's alpha was calculated for the affect and past behaviour scales, resulting in scores of 0.78 and 0.68 respectively. The environmental affect scale was thus above the 0.7 threshold generally advocated (Nunnally 1978); the past behaviour scale was below the threshold yet still above the level that is considered acceptable (0.6) for newly-developed or revised scales (Hair, Anderson, Tatham & Black 1998). No reliability measure was required for environmental knowledge as no internal consistency was expected for the eight multiple choice questions. The final component of the survey asked participants to provide basic demographic data. The surveys, and accompanying cover letter explaining the research, were handed to all students present in the selected lectures. Participants were instructed to view the advertisement (one of the three

10 ANZAM 2010 Page 10 of 21 9 developed) which was projected at the front of the lecture theatre, and to then fill in the survey. Upon completion, the surveys were handed directly back to the researcher. RESULTS To ensure the participants perceived the ad stimuli in the desired manner, a manipulation check was conducted. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a statistically significant difference in how the three advertisements were perceived in terms of type of benefit (F(2,168)=9.328, p<.001). This difference was in the desired direction, with LSD post-hoc testing showing that the generic environmental benefit advertisement differed significantly from the personal benefit advertisement. Subsequent analyses were conducted using a two-way ANOVA, with green communications message and green attitude as the IVs and purchase intention as the DV. Cell sizes for the interaction of the two IV s, together with the mean purchase intention for each group, is shown in Table 2. Cell sizes met the minimum of ten recommended by Keppel (1982) to ensure stable results. Levene s test for homogeneity of variance was not significant (F(8,151)=.846, p>.05), therefore, the assumption of homogeneity of variance was met. Insert Table 2 approximately here No statistically significant results were found. The main effect for type of green communication message was not significant (F(2,151)=.312, p>.05), and nor was the interaction between green communication message and green attitude (F(4,151)=.327, p>.05). Thus, the three different green communication messages did not produce any differences in terms of purchase intention, and nor did the level of participants green attitude moderate their impact. As a result, it was decided to look at the three attitude components separately as possible moderators. A two-way ANOVA was subsequently conducted with level of environmental affect low, medium and high substituted for overall green attitude. Cell sizes for the interaction of the two IV s,

11 Page 11 of 21 ANZAM together with the mean purchase intention for each group, is shown in Table 3. All cell sizes apart from those categorised as having high environmental affect in control group met the minimum of ten recommended by Keppel (1982) to ensure stable results. As this only occurred for one cell this was not thought to be of great concern, and ANOVA is robust to modest violations of assumptions. Levene s test for homogeneity of variance was not significant (F(8,150)=1.265, p>.05), therefore, the assumption of homogeneity of was met. Insert Table 3 approximately here A statistically significant interaction was found between type of green communication message and level of environmental affect (F(8,150)=3.18, p<.02). Therefore, environmental affect acted as a moderator for the impact of the three different green communication messages on purchase intention. As can be seen in Figure 2, participants with low environmental affect showed higher purchase intention for the personal benefit message over the generic environmental benefit message. Participants with high environmental affect, conversely, showed higher purchase intention for the generic environmental benefit message over the personal benefit message. Participants in the control group did not show a systematic pattern in purchase intention as moderated by environmental affect. Insert Figure 2 approximately here Analyses of the other two attitude components past environmental behaviour and environmental knowledge produced no significant results. DISCUSSION The aim of this study was to examine whether consumers purchase intentions were influenced by the type of green marketing communications message they were exposed to, and whether this effect was moderated by their level of green attitude. The first hypothesis, that participants will show greater

12 ANZAM 2010 Page 12 of purchase intention when the communications message highlights the personal benefit of an environmentally friendly product rather than the generic environmental benefit, was not supported. There was no significant difference, in terms of purchase intention for Mount Franklin water, between the types of marketing communications messages to which the participants were exposed. This result contradicts assertions by Hartmann and Ibáñez (2006) and Kahneman and Knetsch (1992), who suggested that consumers will be more likely to act in an environmentally friendly manner if they could gain moral satisfaction, or can see the personal benefit, from doing so. Perhaps the use of a low-involvement product in this study was a factor in this result; it is possible that consumers may pay more attention to the personal moral satisfaction gained from the purchase of a high-involvement green product. On the other hand, it may actually be the case that consumers, all else being equal, are now as persuaded by environmental messages as they are personal messages. It is also possible that the experimental stimuli were not sufficiently powerful, by themselves, to differentiate personal versus environmental benefits. The second hypothesis, that the response to different green communication messages would be moderated by participants level of green attitude, was partially supported. The overall green attitude of participants did not moderate the impact of the green communication messages on purchase intention of Mount Franklin. However, when participants level of environmental affect was examined by itself as a moderator, the hypothesis was supported. Participants with a high level of environmental affect showed greater purchase intention when a generic environmental message was highlighted; whereas, those with a low level environmental affect showed greater purchase intention when a personal message was highlighted. This result was not found for past environmental behaviour or environmental knowledge. These findings support the assertion made earlier that the nature of the attitude-behaviour relationship in terms of green marketing is complex. Bonniface and Henley (2008) state that the key to promoting change in consumers green attitudes and behaviours has not yet been conclusively discovered. The current results suggest that while a consumer may have a high level of environmental knowledge or have displayed pro-environmental behaviour in the past, there still needs to be an attraction to completing

13 Page 13 of 21 ANZAM the behaviour (see Biel & Grankvist 2010). Follows and Jobber (2000) propose that the decision to purchase will rest on the perceived tangible individual benefits for the consumer, such as convenience and cost. The results of the current study, however, point to the decision being affected by an intangible affective association with the green communication message. Perhaps a potential answer to the quandary of Bonniface and Henley (2008) is that consumers environmental affect holds the key to changing behaviour. Affect is arguably an important contributor to consumer involvement (Izard 2009; Martin, O'Neill, Hubbard & Palmer 2008; Thomson, MacInnes & Park 2005). If the aim is to influence consumers to purchase environmentally-friendly products, then affect may be the best starting point in order to achieve this. And the principle of cognitive consistency suggests that a change to one attitude component should lead to a change in the others (Smith et al. 2008). The significance of the affective attitudinal component also directs advice to marketers to appeal to the emotionality of consumers when considering communications messages. This study has demonstrated the usefulness of adopting the tri-component attitude model in research into green consumer attitudes (Quester et al. 2007). Operationalisation of the three attitude components, as well as overall green attitude, was facilitated, and this approach has allowed for a clearer picture to emerge of consumer decision-making with regard to green purchases. The use of this model also acknowledges the possibility that the other attitude components, or overall green attitude, may still act as moderators under different research designs. The main limitation of the research, that is, the use of a convenient student sample, was in part addressed by the choice of a product with which the participants should have been familiar. Nevertheless, a more diverse sample would be recommended in further work. As indicated earlier, the use of a lowinvolvement product may have limited the power of the research design, and future research could investigate the impact of a high-involvement product under similar conditions. The current study has demonstrated that there is more research to be done on the effect of green communication messages in marketing, and has suggested the usefulness of the tri-component attitude model in such research.

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17 Page 17 of 21 ANZAM Table 1. Sample Characteristics Demographic Data Control Group (n=40) Experimental Group 1 (n=58) Experimental Group 2 (n=73) Age Range Mean Age (SD) (3.73) (5.36) (3.89) Male 38% 53% 47% Female 62% 47% 53%

18 ANZAM 2010 Page 18 of Control Group Experimental Group 1: Personal Benefit Experimental Group 2: Generic Environmental Benefit Figure 1. Green Communication Messages

19 Page 19 of 21 ANZAM Table 2. Cell Size, Means and Standard Deviations for Type of Green Communication Message and Green Attitude Green Comm. Environmental Control Personal Green Attitude Level Low Med High Low Med High Low Med High N Mean Purchase Intention (SD) 3.37 (1.12) 3.38 (1.20) 3.64 (1.18) 3.59 (1.06) 3.64 (1.29) 3.50 (1.58) 3.58 (1.22) 3.19 (1.38) 3.35 (0.93)

20 ANZAM 2010 Page 20 of Table 3. Cell Size, Means and Standard Deviations for Type of Green Communication Message and Environmental Affect Green Comm. Environmental Neutral Personal Affect Level Low Med High Low Med High Low Med High N Mean Purchase Intention (SD) 3.00 (1.23) 3.59 (1.10) 3.79 (0.89) 3.67 (1.05) 3.13 (1.36) 4.25 (1.04) 3.71 (1.10) 3.43 (1.06) 3.00 (1.36)

21 Page 21 of 21 ANZAM Environmental Affect Low Purchase Intention Med High Control Personal Environmental Group Benefit Benefit Green Communication Message Figure 2. Interaction of Green Communication Message and Level of Environmental Affect