A STUDY ON FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS ECO FRIENDLY PRODUCTS WITH REFERENCE TO CHENNAI CITY

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1 International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 8, Issue 6, Nov Dec 2017, pp , Article ID: IJM_08_06_017 Available online at Journal Impact Factor (2016): (Calculated by GISI) ISSN Print: and ISSN Online: IAEME Publication A STUDY ON FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS ECO FRIENDLY PRODUCTS WITH REFERENCE TO CHENNAI CITY Princy Susan Selvakumari Research Scholar, R&D Centre, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore Tamilnadu, India Dr. N. Kannan Research Supervisor, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India ABSTRACT The deterioration has started because of the rapid economic growth and customer consumption pattern.the scarcity of the resources has become the threat for the environment The increasing environmental problems has shifted the focus of the government and industries towards green marketing and green products. The objective of the study is to understand the feminist thinking towards eco friendly products and to know the advantages and disadvantages of the eco friendly products. The research conducted was non-experimental, descriptive and quantitative research.the sample size is 150.The stratified random sampling techniques was used in this research. The feminist has different attitude towards green purchase. Customers who are older lack interest towards the green products. Cite this Article: Princy Susan Selvakumari and Dr. N. Kannan, A Study On Feminist Perspective Towards Eco Friendly Products With Reference To Chennai City. International Journal of Management, 8 (6), 2017, pp INTRODUCTION In recent years, terms like "going green" and "eco-friendly" have become buzz words on talk shows, commercials and product packaging. The term "eco-friendly" has been used for so many different products and practices; its meaning is in danger of being lost. By understanding the true meaning of eco-friendly, you can implement the practices that will lead to healthier living for the planet and its inhabitants, big and small. Eco-friendly literally means earth-friendly or not harmful to the environment. This term most commonly refers to products that contribute to green living or practices that help conserve resources like water and energy. Eco-friendly products also prevent contributions to air, water and land pollution. Feminist engage in ecofriendly habits or practices by being more conscious of how to use resources editor@iaeme.com

2 Princy Susan Selvakumari and Dr. N. Kannan The world is facing the most critical problem the deterioration of the environment. The deterioration has started because of the rapid economic growth and customer consumption pattern.the scarcity of the resources has become the threat for the environment.the importance of social needs has made the human beings to realize the conservation of the environment. Green products are also considered as the safe products. It is also known as ecological products or environmental friendly products. The Feminist consumers are aware and use the products which are safe. The increasing environmental problems have shifted the focus of the government and industries towards green marketing and green products. The feminist perspective is that the Consumer s initiatives are important without their efforts it will be proved ineffective. They also believe each customer has different attitude towards green purchase. Customers who are older lack interest towards the green products. Companies have to start unified campaigning to create the awareness of the green marketing. Legitimacy has to be practiced by the producers in order create interest among the customers. Initially the organization has to incur high cost later in the long run it will be more beneficiary. Feminist agree that living the eco-friendly life has some advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned earlier, one of the disadvantages is that may have to forgo some of the more modern conveniences. Not many, but the conveniences like fast foods and certain types of luxury activities do little more than create a burden on the environment. One of the best examples is the idea of the personal car. While you may realistically need a personal vehicle, you do not need one that gets poor gas mileage or is made with luxury accessories or advanced electronics that are impractical, and also consume vital natural resources. 2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY To understand the feminist thinking towards eco friendly products. To know the advantages and disadvantages of the eco friendly products. To analyze the feminist awareness towards the eco friendly product To study whether the feminist attitude influence the buying behavior. 3. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE According to American Marketing Association green marketing is defined on three perspective first marketing of the product which are very safe to the environment, second the development and marketing products have brought down the negative effect on the physical environment and the third perspective is that organization produce,promote,package and reclaim products that is responsive to ecological concern. In the view of Ottman (1998) green product refers to the typically non toxic, originally grown recycle, reusable not polluting the environmental and safely package contain natural ingredients recycled content. D Souza et al.(2006) stated that the price is the attribute that consumers reflect on when making a purchasing decision on green products.consumers are less likely to purchase green products. Consumers less likely to purchase green products if they are more expensive. Polonsky (1994) mentions the terms like phosphate free, recyclable,refillable, ozone friendly and eco friendly are some of the things consumer relate to green marketing.it is abroaden concept and can be applied consumer goods,industrial goods and even services. In the view of Dodds et al.(1991)when consumers are wishing to purchase a product are meant as purchase intention. Also some factors that will influence the attitude of consumer to a product will constitute to consumer purchase intention. When purchase intention is high then the willingness of consumer to purchase specific product is also higher editor@iaeme.com

3 A Study On Feminist Perspective Towards Eco Friendly Products With Reference To Chennai City 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Based on the previously cited theoretical and empirical literatures, the following hypothesis referring to the feminist perspective towards eco-friendly products was proposed. Hypothesis 1: There is a significant difference between perspective of feminist and awareness of eco friendly products. Hypothesis 2: There is a significant difference between perspective of feminist and buying behavior of eco friendly products. Hypothesis 3: There is no significant relationship between perspective of feminist towards eco friendly products and the sources of information regarding eco friendly products. 5. SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION The respondents are selected from the Chennai city using convenient sampling techniques as it is less time consuming.the sample size for the study is 150 and the feminist were chosen as respondents and they have given responses in the considerable manner. 6. FINDING AND ANALYSIS Table 1 S.No Variable Frequency Percentage 1. Age > Marital Status Married Unmarried Education High school Graduate Post Graduate Professionals Doctorate Income(p.m) >10, < As mentioned in the above table the characteristic of the sample vary across age, marital status, education and income. Finding also suggests that out of the respondents almost 90% have the positive thinking towards the purchase of green products. 7. DATA ANALYSIS Chi-Square Statistics (Test of independence) has been used to understand if there is any dependence among the demographic variables such as age income, marital status, education and occupation and the awareness about eco-friendly products.the attempt also been made to editor@iaeme.com

4 Princy Susan Selvakumari and Dr. N. Kannan understand if there is any influence of above said demographic variables on the respondent s consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product. 8. THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS THE RESULT OF CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS. Table 2 Null hypothesis Variable p-value Accepted/ Rejected Age Accepted Marital Status Awareness of eco Accepted Education friendly products Accepted Income(p.m) Accepted Age Rejected consideration for Marital Status Accepted buying decision of the Education Rejected eco friendly product Income(p.m) Accepted As it can be seen from the above table that the awareness about eco friendly products is different from the demographic variables such as age, marital status, education and income. It can be inferred that the awareness is not confined across a specific age group. It is quiet visible from test results that the consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product shows some dependency on age and education while,the marital status and income plays no significant role in the consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product. Since,chi-square statistics just helps in identifying the dependence between two categorical variables in order to understand and establish a definite relationship between the variables ;we can use binary logistics regression. 9. BINARY LOGISTIC REGRESSION Binary Logistic Regression has been applied where the chi-square statistics showed some dependence between the variables i.e, education and consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product. The result of an attempt to formulate a model using BLR is not significant and the key regression coefficient shows very poor model fit. Table 3 Cox&snell R Square Nagelkerke R square The results signify there may be some dependence between the level of education and the consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product but the relation between these two is not strong to convert in to a meaningful model editor@iaeme.com

5 A Study On Feminist Perspective Towards Eco Friendly Products With Reference To Chennai City 10. FREQUENCY TABLE FOR SOURCE OF INFORMATION Table 4 Source Frequency Percentage Internet Television Radio 12 8 Educational Institution Government commercials Total From the above table it can be analyzed that respondents source of information regarding eco friendly product are more from Internet and television with 68.7%and 15.3% respectively. This may be so because many of the eco friendly product manufacturing companies are creating awareness among the consumer by providing advertisements about their eco friendly products on different medium. Table 5 Variables Environmental concern and attitude towards eco friendly product p-value Null hypothesis Accepted /Rejected Accepted As it can be seen from the above table that the null hypothesis has been accepted which implies that there is no significant relationship between Feminist Environmental concern and attitude towards eco friendly product and their attitude towards eco-friendly products. 11. CONCLUSION The research indicates that feminist perspective is that the Consumer s initiatives are important without their efforts it will be proved ineffective. Finding also suggests that out of the respondents almost 90% have the positive thinking towards the purchase of green products. chisquare statistics just helps in identifying the dependence between two categorical variables in order to understand and establish a definite relationship between the variables; we can use binary logistics regression As it can be seen from the above table that the null hypothesis has been accepted which implies that there is no significant relationship between Feminist Environmental concern and attitude towards eco friendly product and their attitude towards ecofriendly products editor@iaeme.com

6 Princy Susan Selvakumari and Dr. N. Kannan REFERENCE [1] America Marketing Association1995, Dictionary viewed January 2014, from [2] Othman M.N.(2000),Kesendaran terhadap alam skital kaijian perbandingan diantara penggun Mulayudan cina di Bandar, Malaysian Journal of consumers and family economice,3, [3] Polonsky,M.J. and Mitu Wimsett, A.T.(eds)(1995),Environmental Marketing stratergies, practices, theory and research,the Haworth press, Newyork, NY. [4] [2] D souza,c and Peetiatko.R(2002).The nexus between industrialization and environment, A case study on Indian enterprises environmental management and health vol.13 No.1pp 80-97; editor@iaeme.com