Economics and Business
Quarterly Reviews
ISSN 2775-9237 (Online)
Published: 17 November 2021
Towards Sustainable Consumption: Driving Forces behind Bangladeshi Consumers’ Behavior
Sanju Karmokar, Kamrul Hasan, Md. Ayatullah Khan, Kazi Humayun Kabir
Khulna University (Bangladesh), The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Download Full-Text Pdf
10.31014/aior.1992.04.04.389
Pages: 12-22
Keywords: Sustainable Consumption, Driving Forces, Bangladeshi Consumers’ Behavior
Abstract
If stakeholders, service providers, and social systems adopt sustainable consumption behavior and regulate the production and consumption cycle, they may be facilitated to accomplish sustainable development with environmental and socioeconomic advantages. However, the purpose of this study was to look at the driving forces that influence consumer behavior in Bangladesh in terms of sustainable consumption. A quantitative survey was conducted among 384 participants aged 18 years and having minimum higher secondary educational qualifications. The data were collected from Khulna City Corporation of Bangladesh through a structured interview schedule using the convenience sampling technique. The results reported that environmental concern of the participants was found to be the top-ranked driving force and perceived environmental knowledge of the participants was the lowliest ranked driving force behind the consumers’ behavior towards sustainable consumption. Alongside, attitude towards eco-friendly products, perceived consumer effectiveness and sustainable consumption intention were found to be the second, third and fourth ranked driving forces, respectively. The authors hope and anticipate that the findings of this paper will give critical information to relevant authorities and policymakers in order to develop market research and management policies and strategies.
References
Akehurst, G., Afonso, C., & Gonçalves, H. M. (2012). Re‐examining green purchase behaviour and the green consumer profile: new evidences. Management Decision. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211227726
Banglapedia. (2014). Khulna City Corporation. Asiatic Society. Retrieved October 13 from http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Khulna_City_Corporation
Bartels, J., & Hoogendam, K. (2011). The role of social identity and attitudes toward sustainability brands in buying behaviors for organic products. Journal of Brand Management, 18(9), 697-708. https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2011.3
Bonini, S., & Oppenheim, J. (2008). Cultivating the green consumer. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 6(4), 56-61.
Bougherara, D., & Combris, P. (2009). Eco-labelled food products: what are consumers paying for? European review of agricultural economics, 36(3), 321-341. https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbp023
Carrete, L., Castaño, R., Felix, R., Centeno, E., & González, E. (2012). Green consumer behavior in an emerging economy: confusion, credibility, and compatibility. Journal of consumer marketing, 29(7), 470-481. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211274983
Chan, R. Y. (2001). Determinants of Chinese consumers' green purchase behavior. Psychology & marketing, 18(4), 389-413. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.1013
Chen, T. B., & Chai, L. T. (2010). Attitude towards the environment and green products: Consumers’ perspective. Management science and engineering, 4(2), 27-39. https://doi.org/10.3968/j.mse.1913035X20100402.002
Corporation, K. C. (2019). About KCC/Basic Statistics. Retrieved October 13 from http://www.khulnacity.org/Content/index.php?page=About_KCC&Y2o&pid=30
Dagher, G., & Itani, O. (2012). The influence of environmental attitude, environmental concern and social influence on green purchasing behavior. Review of Business Research, 12(2), 104-111.
Dagher, G. K., & Itani, O. (2014). Factors influencing green purchasing behaviour: Empirical evidence from the Lebanese consumers. Journal of Consumer Behaviour,13(3), 188-195. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1482
Datta, S. K. (2011). Pro-environmental concern influencing green buying: A study on Indian consumers. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(6), 124-133.
Ertz, M., Karakas, F., & Sarigöllü, E. (2016). Exploring pro-environmental behaviors of consumers: An analysis of contextual factors, attitude, and behaviors. Journal of Business Research, 69(10), 3971-3980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.06.010
Haron, S. A., Paim, L., & Yahaya, N. (2005). Towards sustainable consumption: an examination of environmental knowledge among Malaysians. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 29(5), 426-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2005.00460.x
Hossain, M. S. (2018). Professed Factors Influencing Environmentally Sustainable Household Consumer Behavior: Bangladesh Perspective. International Journal of Business Society, 2(8), 54-64.
Jain, S. K., & Kaur, G. (2006). Role of socio-demographics in segmenting and profiling green consumers: an exploratory study of consumers in India. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 18(3), 107-146. https://doi.org/10.1300/J046v18n03_06
Jaiswal, D., & Singh, B. (2018). Toward sustainable consumption: Investigating the determinants of green buying behaviour of Indian consumers. Business Strategy & Development, 1(1), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.12
Joshi, Y., & Rahman, Z. (2015). Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future research directions. International Strategic management review, 3(1-2), 128-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ism.2015.04.001
Kanchanapibul, M., Lacka, E., Wang, X., & Chan, H. K. (2014). An empirical investigation of green purchase behaviour among the young generation. Journal of Cleaner Production,66, 528-536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.062
Kang, J., Liu, C., & Kim, S. H. (2013). Environmentally sustainable textile and apparel consumption: the role of consumer knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness and perceived personal relevance. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 37(4), 442-452. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12013
Kim, Y. (2011). Understanding green purchase: The influence of collectivism, personal values and environmental attitudes, and the moderating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness. Seoul Journal of Business, 17(1), 65-92.
Kim, Y., & Choi, S. M. (2005). Antecedents of green purchase behavior: An examination of collectivism, environmental concern, and PCE. ACR North American Advances, 32, 592-599.
Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of marketing, 75(4), 132-135. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.75.4.132
Kumar, B., Manrai, A. K., & Manrai, L. A. (2017). Purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products: A conceptual framework and empirical study. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 34, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.09.004
Lai, C. K., & Cheng, E. W. (2016). Green purchase behavior of undergraduate students in Hong Kong. The Social Science Journal, 53(1), 67-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2015.11.003
Laroche, M., Bergeron, J., & Barbaro‐Forleo, G. (2001). Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. Journal of consumer marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000006155
Lee, K. (2008). Opportunities for green marketing: young consumers. Marketing intelligence & planning. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810902839
Mostafa, M. M. (2006). Antecedents of Egyptian consumers' green purchase intentions: A hierarchical multivariate regression model. Journal of International Consumer Marketing,19(2), 97-126. https://doi.org/10.1300/J046v19n02_06
Mostafa, M. M. (2007a). Gender differences in Egyptian consumers’ green purchase behaviour: the effects of environmental knowledge, concern and attitude. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 31(3), 220-229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2006.00523.x
Mostafa, M. M. (2007b). A hierarchical analysis of the green consciousness of the Egyptian consumer. Psychology & marketing, 24(5), 445-473. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20168
Naing, L., Winn, T., & Rusli, B. (2006). Practical issues in calculating the sample size for prevalence studies. Archives of orofacial Sciences, 1, 9-14.
Newton, P., & Meyer, D. (2013). Exploring the attitudes-action gap in household resource consumption: does “environmental lifestyle” segmentation align with consumer behaviour? Sustainability, 5(3), 1211-1233. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5031211
Ottman, J. A. (2011). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools and inspiration of sustainable branding. Greenleaf Publishing Ltd.
Paul, J., Modi, A., & Patel, J. (2016). Predicting green product consumption using theory of planned behavior and reasoned action. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 29, 123-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.11.006
Peattie, K. (2010). Green consumption: behavior and norms. Annual review of environment and resources, 35, 195–228. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-032609-094328
Programme, U. N. D. (2018). About Bangladesh. Retrieved October 13 from https://www.bd.undp.org/content/bangladesh/en/home/countryinfo/
Tan, B.-C. (2011). The roles of knowledge, threat, and PCE on green purchase behaviour. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(12), 14. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v6n12p14
Vermillion, L. J., & Peart, J. (2010). Green marketing: Making sense of the situation. Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Marketing Studies. Proceedings,
Wang, P., Liu, Q., & Qi, Y. (2014). Factors influencing sustainable consumption behaviors: a survey of the rural residents in China. Journal of Cleaner Production,63, 152-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.05.007
Weber, T., Baier, K., & Willers, C. (2015). Sustainable (green) food and purchase intention–an analysis of influence factors. International journal on advanced science, engineering and information technology, 5(4), 311-313.
Wei, C. F., Chiang, C. T., Kou, T. C., & Lee, B. C. (2017). Toward sustainable livelihoods: Investigating the drivers of purchase behavior for green products. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(5), 626-639. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1942
Yadav, R., & Pathak, G. S. (2016). Young consumers' intention towards buying green products in a developing nation: Extending the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 732-739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.120