Abstract
The paper purpose is to investigate the green consumption behaviour of the Millennials generation. The paper aims to understand if all Italian Millennials are similar in terms of green consumption and if there are differences in adopting and consuming green products. As Millennials are considered the driving generation of the sustainable movement, thanks to their lifestyle and behaviours, our study tries to comprehend whether these consumers can be considered the leading “Green Generation”. We performed a cluster analysis, using the non-hierarchical method by applying the k-medium algorithm, segmenting Millennials. The segmentation was performed according to the reasons underlying and against green consumption. Then, green values and green consumer behaviour of the segments were analyzed. The results of our research reveal the existence of different clusters of Millennial consumers in terms of green attitude. Some confusion about green issues in the Millennials generation emerges, contrasting with the literature. Our results do not necessarily imply a negative attitude towards green values by Millennials, but different green attitudes among the clusters.
Highlights
Over the past decades, increasing attention has been paid to the future of the planet (Kim and Choi 2005; Synodinos and Bevan-Dye 2014)
In order to fill this gap, this paper aims at describing green consumer behaviour of the Millennials generation, in order to understand if Millennials can be considered as the “Green Generation.”
Different green attitudes and behaviours were evidenced by the high number of respondents included in the second cluster of “Surely not Green” (37%)
Summary
Over the past decades, increasing attention has been paid to the future of the planet (Kim and Choi 2005; Synodinos and Bevan-Dye 2014). Millennials are regularly considered the ones driving the sustainable movement with their lifestyle and behavioural changes (Sheahan 2005; Smith 2011; Hanson-Rasmussen and Lauver 2018). They are referred to as the “Green Generation”. UK sandwich chain Pret A Manager has three entirely vegetarian outlets, L’Oreal has recently launched its first vegan hair colour range, and Unilever rolled out its new brand “Love Beauty and Planet”, an eco and vegan-friendly brand using bottles made from recycled plastics This experience has been fruitful, as, in 2018, Unilever declared that its “sustainable living” brands grew faster than the other businesses, leading to 70% of its turnover growth. In order to fill this gap, this paper aims at describing green consumer behaviour of the Millennials generation, in order to understand if Millennials can be considered as the “Green Generation.” Thanks to a cluster analysis, this paper will try to answer to this research question: are all Millennials the same in terms of green consumption? Are there differences in terms of the adoption and consumption of green products?
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