A study on consumers perception for green products: An empirical study from India

Dr Sabita Mahapatra

doi:10.24297/ijmit.v7i1.715

Abstract

The last three decades have seen a progressive increase in worldwide environmental consciousness due to rising evidence of environmental problems. Environmental protection is increasingly becoming a necessity and part of a bigger agenda in the urbanising world of developing countries. Given the increasing deterioration of the environment, India as a developing country need to prevent pollution and preserve its natural resources. Environmental attitudes constitute a significant part of environmental consciousness. Therefore, this paper empirically investigates the attitude of Indian consumers towards the environment in general. A survey was developed and administered across India. A total of 162 Indian consumers responded completed the questionnaire. The present paper made an attempt to understand the factor that influences environment conscious behaviour for green products. The finding of the study would help government to better understand consumers' environment conscious behaviour, for developing effective environmental policies required to reinforce green purchase. Moreover, companies will have insight about how to profile green consumers in India, to develop effective messages that will functionally and emotionally appeal to their target customers.

Highlights

The 1990s have been identified as the ‘decade of the environment’ (Brown and Wahlers, 1998) or as ‘the Earth decade’ (McDaniel and Rylander, 1993)
Laroche et al (2001) argue that consumer attitudes towards the environment are very good predictors of their willing to pay for green products
Descriptive analysis indicated the demographic profile of the respondents, their perceptions and factors that influence their perception and willingness to pay for green products

Summary

Introduction

The 1990s have been identified as the ‘decade of the environment’ (Brown and Wahlers, 1998) or as ‘the Earth decade’ (McDaniel and Rylander, 1993) During this decade, social and environmental concerns assumed great importance for consumer purchasing decisions (Menon et al, 1999). Consumers need to be responsive to reduce environmental damage through the consumption of environmental friendly products This has an impact on marketers of consumer products (Peattie, 1992; 1995; Ottman, 1998; Paladino, 2005; Abdul-Muhmin, 2007). To enhance awareness about the environmental impacts of products, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India (GoI) had initiated a scheme in 1991, which basically was a scheme of labeling eco-friendly products (Challa, 2008). Environmental consciousness influences decision making behaviour (Shen et al, 2005)

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Conclusion