Green Consumerism Literary Submission
University of Waterloo
Faculty of Environment
ENBUS 306: Research Design
Literary Review and Submission on
Green Consumerism
Prepared By:
Wendy Ngai
Student ID: 20351676
3B Environment and Business
October 02, 2012
This literary submission will take on a systematic, convergent approach in focusing on five separate articles regarding green consumerism. The five peer-reviewed articles which have been selected for this paper have been placed in the appendix of this submission in the order in which they appear in the bibliography.
A key point which is continuously brought up within each article is that environmental consumerism is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society (Mazar and Zhong, 2009). Although there has been numerous research conducted on the increase of pro-social consumption patterns, there are, however, still major areas of interest which are yet to be explored, such as finding determinant factors which contribute towards green consumerism, discovering how these factors can be potentially quantified, and whether social demographic attributes are correlated to these pro-social consumer variables (Auger et. Al, 2003). The understanding behind such topics can be extremely beneficial for businesses who wish to gain more insight into what drives their consumers to make socially ethical product choices, so that they can subsequently produce and market goods and services which are more closely suited to their consumer’s needs (Auger et. Al, 2003).
Within these five peer articles, specific research questions which were addressed include: “What kind of consumer behaviours are responsive to green advertisement and green products?” (Haytko and Matulich, 2007), “Are there specific determinants and variables (social demographic attributes, personality traits, values, etc.) which lead to increased ‘green consumer’ habits?” (Mazar and Zhong, 2009), as well as “What extent do consumers value ethical attributes in order to commit to
Faculty of Environment
ENBUS 306: Research Design
Literary Review and Submission on
Green Consumerism
Prepared By:
Wendy Ngai
Student ID: 20351676
3B Environment and Business
October 02, 2012
This literary submission will take on a systematic, convergent approach in focusing on five separate articles regarding green consumerism. The five peer-reviewed articles which have been selected for this paper have been placed in the appendix of this submission in the order in which they appear in the bibliography.
A key point which is continuously brought up within each article is that environmental consumerism is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society (Mazar and Zhong, 2009). Although there has been numerous research conducted on the increase of pro-social consumption patterns, there are, however, still major areas of interest which are yet to be explored, such as finding determinant factors which contribute towards green consumerism, discovering how these factors can be potentially quantified, and whether social demographic attributes are correlated to these pro-social consumer variables (Auger et. Al, 2003). The understanding behind such topics can be extremely beneficial for businesses who wish to gain more insight into what drives their consumers to make socially ethical product choices, so that they can subsequently produce and market goods and services which are more closely suited to their consumer’s needs (Auger et. Al, 2003).
Within these five peer articles, specific research questions which were addressed include: “What kind of consumer behaviours are responsive to green advertisement and green products?” (Haytko and Matulich, 2007), “Are there specific determinants and variables (social demographic attributes, personality traits, values, etc.) which lead to increased ‘green consumer’ habits?” (Mazar and Zhong, 2009), as well as “What extent do consumers value ethical attributes in order to commit to
References: Auger, P., Burke, P., Devinney T.M., Louviere, J.J. (2003). What Will Consumers Pay for Social Product Features? Journal of Business Ethics. 42(3), 281-304. Haytko, D.L. & Matulich, E. (2007). Green Advertising and Environmentally Responsible Consumer Behaviors: Linkages Examined. Journal of Management and Marketing Research Mazar, N. & Zhong, C-B. (2009, August 27). Do Green Products Make Us Better People? Psychological Science. 21(4), 494-498. Shrum, L.J., McCarty, J.A., & Lowrey, T.M. (1995). Characteristics of the Green Consumer and Their Implications for Advertising Strategy. Journal of Advertising. 24(2), 71-82. Sparks, P. & Shepherd, R. (1992, December). Self-Identity and the Theory of Planned Behaviour: Assessing the role of Identification with “Green Consumerism”. Social Psychology Quarterly. 55(4), 388-389 Appendix - Journal Article Summaries Auger, P., Burke, P., Devinney T.M., Louviere, J.J. (2003). What Will Consumers Pay for Social Product Features? Journal of Business Ethics. 42(3), 281-304.