Do altruistic and egoistic values influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards eco-friendly packaged products? An empirical investigation

Abstract

Increasing demand for products with eco-friendly packaging is an example of the environmental consciousness of customers. That consciousness forces companies not only to develop eco-friendly products, but also motivates practitioners and academicians to understand the eco-friendly buying behaviour of the customer. Yet in current literature, there is little discussion available where researchers talk about the influencing relationship of altruistic and egoistic values of customers on their attitudes and purchase intentions towards eco-friendly packaged products. Therefore, this work aims to build a structural model to establish the relationship between egoistic and altruistic values on customers’ attitudes and their intention to purchase products with eco-friendly packaging. With the help of a structured questionnaire, data from 227 young Indian customers was collected. An empirical investigation was carried out and the conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The analysis indicates that these values do influence purchase intention for products with eco-friendly packaging. However, altruistic value exerts greater influence than egoistic value. This research provides relevant findings about young consumers and their response to products with ecological packaging. These findings will assist marketers in reducing the environmental footprint caused by packaging materials, helping them to retain customers as a result. From the Asian perspective, the present research is among the early efforts towards understanding the significance of values (altruistic and egoistic) pertaining to products with ecological packaging.