A presentation at International Conference on Global Economic Growth and Sustainability November 20 & 21, 2015 SDMIMD, Mysore, Karnataka, India

1. By Ms. Manjula Mallya M
Assistant Professor
Department of Economics
Government First Grade College
Haleyangadi, Mangaluru
A STUDY ON GREEN CONSUMERISM
AWARENESS AND PRACTICES
AMONG WOMEN IN MANGALURU
CITY

2. •A green consumer is someone who is
environmentally and socially conscious, which
leads him/her to purchase products that are
eco-friendly.
•The terminology used in this area is varied, it
includes: Green consumerism, environmental
consumerism and ethical consumerism.
Introduction

3. What is the connection between women and the
environment in consumer research?
Statistics indicate that 80% of household shopping
is performed by women ( Berk 1988).Therefore,
environmentally-related purchase behaviour is left
primarily in the hands of the female consumer.

4. According to a large number of studies women are
greener than men in both their attitudes and
actions. In this context this paper deals with the
empirical findings related to attitudes and green
purchasing behaviour of women selected from the
Mangalore urban agglomeration of Karnataka
State.
The present research paper assesses women
consumers' pro-environmental concerns,
knowledge of environmental issues, awareness of
eco-friendly products, effects of income and
educational levels and any potential effect that
these factors may have on green buying behaviour
and on household green practices.

5. Objectives of the Study
•To categorize household as the primary locus of change
to bring about transformation in attitudes towards
environment.
•To analyze the influence factor in going green.
•To look upon the hurdles within green consumerism.
•To elucidate the link between consumer’s pro-
environmental attitudes and green
consumer behavior.
•To highlight significant differences in the environmental
attitudes when analyzed by demographic variables.

6. Sources of Data
•Primary and Secondary Data
•Primary data has been
collected through a structured
questionnaire, personal
interviews and observation.

7. •A survey approach was adopted
•Women with higher educational qualifications were
deliberately over-represented in the sample, to
achieve a statistically significant sample in urban
area.
•Around 50 women consumers of Mangalore city
were contacted and their responses were recorded
with the help of a structured questionnaire.

8. AGE
•60 per cent of the respondents belong to the age-
group of below 50 years.
• Only 12 per cent of the total respondents belong to
the age group of 50 and above.
INCOME
•The average annual income of 42 percent of the
respondents is in the income-group of 2-4 lakh
•The respondents whose annual income is above-5
lakh account for 38 per cent.

9. Education
•96 per cent of the respondents represent
higher educational background.
•Out of the total 50 respondents a majority
(84 per cent) belong to salaried class.

10. Likert Type- 5 point scale
Likert Type-3 point scale
Descriptive statistics
One way ANOVA Tables
and
Correlation techniques

11. SI.NO Environmental Issue Frequency Percent
1 Climate change 5 10
2 Global Warming 7 14
3 Food contamination
by pesticisides
29 58
4 Drinking water 5 10
5 Industrial pollution 1 2
6 Solid wastes 3 6
7 Ozone depletion 0 0
8 Air quality 0 0
9 Recycling issues 0 0
10 Radiation by cell
phones etc
0 0
TOTAL 50 100

12. II. Awareness of eco-friendly products
and green consumer practices.
An attempt was made to evaluate the respondents’ awareness about eco-friendly
products through LIKERT TYPE- 5 point scale questions
Most of the respondents agreed with the statements like
Environmental issues are an emergency issue ( Mean
Percentage 92.8)
Purchasing eco-friendly products will contribute to the
sustainable future ( Mean Percentage 88)
Going green could be a beneficial investment in the long
run. ( Mean Percentage 88)
I am aware of existence of eco-friendly products. (Mean
Percentage 88)

13. Contd..
•A Certain percentage of respondents also consider a product
green if it is marketed by a socially responsible company. This
fact could be exclusive of all other factors denoting that brand
or image of a company carries weight in the minds of
consumers while they make their purchase of green product.
•For questions like I feel trendy/fashionable when I purchase
eco-friendly products and Green practices allow me to save
money consumers moderately agreed.
•By the analysis it can be perceived that respondents have
moderate ecological consciousness in their behaviour (Over all
mean=3.83 Overall SD=0.77) and there is a need to enhance
the respondent’s ecologically conscious consumer behaviour by
which the consumers’ perceptions and attitudes can be
translated into buying behaviour.

14. 48%
44%
40%
52%
68%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Too expensive
Companies cheat
consumers
No adequate
knowledge
Lack of green
advertising
Lack of availabilty
Series1

15. IV. Factors which influence consumers green
buying.
The three major factors which influence the consumers who
buy green products are
Family
Friends and relatives
 Internet and social media
It is surprising to note that the role of electronic media (TV &
Radio) is negligible in influencing consumers towards green
buying. News, Displays, Print , Circulars ,neighbours, Bill
boards, clubs and associations have the least influence on
buying of green products.

16. V. Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for eco-
friendly products
76
24
Yes
No
How much are you willing
to pay more?
28
52
14
6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
<5%
5-10%
10-20%
20-30%
Series1

17. VI. Consumer Intentions and Lifestyle measures
Participants were given a list of environmental practices
and asked to say how frequently they undertook each
one.
Ways to conserve energy at home
95.6
74.4
61.2
48.8
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Turn off lights
Turn off electronics
Use of CFLs
Using sustainable
energy (eg, Solar)
Series1
This shows that there is a need for creating awareness among consumers
regarding the use of sustainable energy appliances like solar.

18. 68
74
70
76
88
0 20 40 60 80 100
Use double sided copies
Use reusable plates, cups, or utensils
Carry a reusable bottle
Avoid plastic packaging
Carry my own bag for shopping
Series1
Ways of reducing waste at home and office
VII. Ways of conserving water at home
52
92
60
28
90
4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Limit shower time
Turn off the sink while brushing,
washing
Only wash full loads of laundry.
Using a low phosphate detergent
Reporting water leaks to plumber and
get it rectified.
other (Please specify
Series1

19. VIII. Consumers’ pro-environmental concern and green buying
behaviour
Some insights on respondents’ green purchasing behaviour.
82
44
64
50
58
66
0 20 40 60 80 100
Organically-grown fruits and vegetables
Recycled paper products
Health care products
Cosmetics
Cleaning products
Other household products( e.g. Bulb
etc)
Series1
Most purchased/ Less purchased green products

20. IX.Consumer’s Actions, Attitudes and views towards environmental
practices.
To measure environmental attitudes of the respondents, 15 statements were posed
with the scale anchors always (3)............... Never (1)
When asked questions about economic and environmental concepts,
most agreed that:
India’s environmental problems are threatening our health
India’s environmental problems are threatening the reputation
of our country
•Environment will remain as long as human beings protect it
•A healthy environment is necessary for a healthy economy
•Environmental protection and economic development can go
hand in hand.

21. They relatively less agreed with the statement: I will be
perceived by others as “out-dated” if I do not support
environmental protection (mean=2.34) . Overall mean is 2.58
this means consumers have a great sense of awareness of need
for environmental protection.
Contd..
The responses to key indicator questions were
combined to produce a “New Environmental
Paradigm” (NPE) rating for each participant. The
maximum obtainable score for the exercise is “46”,
indicating complete agreement with positive
environmental statements. The mean score was
41.34. This shows that consumers are having
positive attitudes and views towards environmental
protection.

22. Marks given by 50 respondents to 16 statements related to
environment protection. (Maximum 46, minimum 18)
NPE Scores Frequency Per cent
34 2 4
36 4 8
37 1 2
39 3 6
40 6 12
41 10 20
42 6 12
43 5 10
44 2 4
45 8 16
46 3 6
Total 50 100

23. Additional Action Taken
•Almost two-fifths (37%) were able to describe
additional actions they had taken
• 63% could not
•The most commonly reported actions were
planting trees, or other flora (33%), disposal of
waste effectively (18%) and recycling water for
gardening (17%).

24. Advanced Analysis: Multivariate Analysis
This section summarises the ANOVA analysis.
ANOVA analysis at the 95% confidence level revealed that:
•There is no significant difference between educational level
and awareness that purchasing eco-friendly products can
contribute to sustainable future.
•There is no significant difference between people having
different levels of annual income and their willingness to pay
more
•Internet and social media’s influence in green buying will be
the same on consumers irrespective of their age

25. Contd..
•There is significant difference between age groups and use of CFLs. It
can also be concluded that consumers under the age of 40 are knowing
the importance of CFL bulbs and they adopt this measure more
frequently.
•There is significant difference between educational qualification and
awareness of recycling facilities. Respondents with post graduation were
more likely to say they would recycle more if there were convenient
recycling facilities available.
•More younger people (Below 30) agree that lack of time prevents them
from doing more to help the environment, while more older people
disagree.
•Those who disagreed that a healthy environment is necessary for a
healthy economy were more likely to have a higher education (Post
graduation).
•Those who disagreed when asked if environmental protection and
economic development can go hand in hand tend to have a lower
educational level.

26. Correlation
•There is significant positive correlation between annual
income of the respondents and their willingness to pay more
for eco-friendly products. (r=0.85)
•There is moderate positive correlation between educational
qualifications and satisfaction with purchase decision of eco-
friendly products. (r=0.45)
•There is weak positive correlation between age of the
respondents and their opinion about conscious use of scarce
resources. (r=0.22)
•There is negative correlation between age of the respondent
and their concern towards deteriorating quality of India’s
environment. (r= -0.55)

27. Breaking down barriers: Practical Implications
This research provides a profile of women consumers of
Mangalore city and identifies the gap that exists among
the consumers green supporting behavior.
Below are five steps for removing the hurdles between green
thoughts and green acts.
 Educate Consumers
Build Better Products
Be Honest
Offer More
Bring Products to the People

28. Limitations & Further Research
•The sample size was very small and it was particularly
collected from Mangalore city so there was geographical
constraints too. These results, however, support a generally
prevailing notion that more educated people tend to be green
buyers and hence warrant a larger study conducted on a
randomly selected sample.
•Future studies should explore and investigate all the internal
(e.g. personality traits & value systems) and external factors
(e.g. social, cultural, economical) affecting green consumer
behaviour intention in Indian context.

29. Conclusion
•This research is endowed with additional information in
narrowing the research gap with regards to understanding
women consumers' green awareness and their green purchasing
behaviour. Findings could provide fruitful insights for
environmental sustainability that enable marketers to prop up
greener consumption behaviour among consumers.
•Findings from this work also suggest that Environmental
concern is still not a strong motive for majority of these well-
educated respondents to purchase eco-friendly products. This is
in contrast with findings in other countries.
•Awareness among consumers that their buying choices can
make a difference to the environment should be promoted to
accelerate the consumption of eco-friendly products. (Ishaswini,
2010)

30. Contd…
•Consumers want eco-friendly products from green firms or
companies which project their image as being green. The
right mix of eco- friendly products and service, sales,
marketing, PR and management expertise is needed to
target and attract the consumers who may be willing to buy
eco- friendly products. Green marketers should identify
such segment of consumers and accordingly design and
market products at suitable price levels. There is a scope for
eco-friendly marketers to capture this market as it has long
term scope& growth.

31. Contd…
One can only hope that change is the only thing that
is constant, once we decide protecting our nature
thereby ensuring our own safe future, and then the
rest of it follows. The Green consumerism
phenomenon has to be looked upon as a
responsibility for all of us to make our society for our
future generations to be worth living.

32. There is something
Simple that you could
do every single day…..
Just be a responsible
Consumer Everyday !