Consumers are increasingly concerned about the negative environmental implications of purchasing goods, which in turn shape their behaviour. Yet, there are indications that consumers do not always act on these concerns, causing an attitude–behaviour gap. For consumers to make ecologically responsible purchases, they need relevant product environmental information. Therefore, marketers and firms are increasingly integrating more detailed environmental information in their offerings, including eco-labels with externally validated information. This study integrates consumers’ knowledge and trust in eco-labels with their environmental knowledge to determine how these affect pro-environmental consumer behaviour (PECB). The findings suggest environmental and eco-label knowledge is positively associated with attitudes towards the environment, and that positive environmental attitudes and trust in eco-labels affect PECB. This implies that firms, policy-makers and accreditation organisations (i.e. labelling) can educate consumers about eco-labels and the environment to increase PECB. Such strategies will also build consumer knowledge and trust in eco-labels, necessary for facilitating PECB.
Discusses stakeholder theory (ST) in the context of developing environmental marketing strategy. ST has not been utilized extensively in the marketing literature. Discusses how environmental marketing strategy can be improved by following the four‐step stakeholder management process. This process involves: identifying the relevant stakeholder groups; determining the stake of each group; determining how effectively the “expectations” of each group are met; and developing corporate objectives and priorities that consider the stakeholder′s interests. Through understanding and attempting to socialize key stakeholders, environmental marketing strategy can be made more effective. Provides some examples of the stakeholder socialization process.
Global warming and carbon emissions have gained international attention. However, it would appear that consumers are still unclear about what it encompasses and how it relates to their individual behaviour. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as a guiding framework, this study presents a structural equation model that tests the relationships between carbon and environmental knowledge, environmental attitude and behaviour using a sample of US consumers. The findings of the research suggest that a positive relationship was found between general and carbon-specific knowledge, attitude towards the environment, and general and carbon-specific behaviours. Therefore, general and carbon-specific environmental behaviours are related and may be driven by general attitudes and knowledge (i.e. both carbon-specific and general environmental knowledge). The implications of the study would suggest that marketers, working in tandem with government policymakers, need to focus efforts on developing consumers' knowledge about specific sub-issues, such as global warming. However, additional research needs to be undertaken to develop marketing communication that accurately reflects the environmental impact of consumption behaviour, thereby allowing for considered consumption.
1 February 1998 in Journal of Organizational Change Management
Concern for the environment is gathering in importance within organisations and it is increasingly becoming part of organisational strategic agendas. Within that dynamic, organisations are seeking mechanisms through which environmental concerns are championed and fostered. In this paper, we argue that entrepreneurialism can be an effective such mechanism. But we further argue that this will be predicated on taking a different view of the basis of entrepreneurial behaviour, one that is based on various dimensions of commitment. We posit a model of environmental entrepreneurship and discuss the organisational implications of the model.