Sustainable Marketing Practices and Sustainable Consumer Behaviour of Tertiary Students in South Africa

Abstract

The study at hand is an investigation of consumer behavior pertaining to sustainable marketing practices amongst tertiary students at selected universities in South Africa. A total of 2 02 questionnaires were used in data collection. The quantitative research method was used and data was collected using convenience sampling. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential analysis and SPSS version 24 and AMOS version 24 were utilised, respectively. For hypothesis testing structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted using the partial least square method in path analysis. The major findings of this study show that customer awareness of sustainability matters and sustainable marketing efforts are linked to sustainability behaviour. However, the level of knowledge and perceived sustainability benefits were neither positively nor significantly related to sustainability behaviour. The results have also shown that even though customers regard the knowledge of sustainability as important they have shown that they lack information because they still consume products which are regarded as harmful to the environment. Thus, the major recommendations are that marketers, policymakers, universities and all other institutions of education should support consumers with guidance and support regarding the knowledge on sustainable marketing practices while enhancing customers’ knowledge on sustainability and its associated benefits.