The impact of personal values on attitude toward consequences of purchase and environmental commitment in green consumption

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Tran Que Khanh THE IMPACT OF PERSONAL VALUES ON ATTITUDE TOWARD CONSEQUENCES OF PURCHASE AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT IN GREEN CONSUMPTION MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Tran Que Khanh THE IMPACT OF PERSONAL VALUES ON ATTITUDE TOWARD CONSEQUENCES OF PURCHASE AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT IN GREEN CONSUMPTION ID: 22120126 MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) SUPERVIOR: Dr Le Nhat Hanh Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am forever grateful to so many individuals Without their support, I would have never completed this research I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Le Nhat Hanh, my supervisor, for her valuable suggestions, ideas and comments She has always encouraged me to finish my master program from the beginning to the end of my work I would like to extend my appreciation to the other members of committee for their contributions which helped me to improve this research Thank you to all of people who spent their time and effort for my survey Last but certainly not least, I am deeply appreciative of the endless love and good conditional support from my family to complete this work ABSTRACT Facing with environmental problems all over the world, more and more people turn their talk into walk In other words, consumers are not only concerned but also getting the idea of being greener According to this, by buying the ecologically friendly products, they want to reduce their impact of purchase on environment Hence, the aim of this research is to examie the impact of personal values on attitude toward consequences of purchase and environmental commitment in green consumption A convenience sampling method was employed In total, 150 Vietnamese consumer responses were collected and used for analysis to test the model The results show that people who commit with environment are collectivistic oriented; so these consumers usually pay attention to environmental consequences of their purchasing On the other hand, individualistic consumers are more likely not to be environmental commitment people because they are concern for themselves too much rather than others, included: welfares and society This study provides useful information for businesses who are developing ecofriendly products which are not only good for the environment but satisfy consumer’s personal needs also The result of this study might attract attention of consumer behavior researchers, as well as the firms that care about environmental commitment and pursue the green strategy Consumers who used to buy green products can be considered as informants in future research in order to explore the underlying reason why they buy the environmentally responsible products Key words personal values, consumer attitude, environmental commitment, green consumption TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION - 1.1 Research background - 1.2 Research problems - 1.3 Research objective - 1.4 Research methodology and scope 1.5 The significance of the study - 1.6 Research structure - CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 2.1The concept of personal values - 2.2 Value – attitude towards consequences of the purchase 2.3 Attitude toward consequences of purchase and environmental commitment - 12 2.4 The proposal model 13 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY - 15 3.1 Research design - 15 3.2 Sample size 15 3.3 Measurement 15 3.4 Research process 17 3.5 Data analysis method 19 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA RESULTS - 22 4.1 Sample characteristics 22 4.2 The reliability test: The Cronbach’s alpha test 23 4.3 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) 25 4.4 Multiple regression analysis (MRA) 27 4.4.1 MRA: to define the impact of collectivistic values and individualistic values on the attitude toward the individual consequences of the purchase - 28 4.4.2 MRA: to evaluate the impact of collectivistic values and individualistic values on the attitude toward the environmental consequences of the purchase 32 4.4.3 Multiple regression analysis: to justify the influence of the attitude toward the individual consequences of the purchase and the environmental consequences of the purchase on environmental commitment - 36 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS - 44 5.1 Discussion 44 5.2 Conclusion - 46 5.3 Managerial implications 46 5.4 Limitations and future research 48 References - 50 Appendix PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the important of being green to adapt to changing natural environment which are caused by human activities is demonstrated The situation of Vietnam is also mentioned in order to identify the same circumstances involved environmental problems that any countries on over the world are currently facing Moreover, factors influencing consumers’ motivation are briefly presented, as well as the relationship between them Last one, the purpose, method, significance and structure of this study are also introduced 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND Natural environment is extremely important to the survival and growth of all living on the Earth Unluckily, environment has been deteriorated by human through increasing utilization natural resources and worldwide consumption, because of the rapid economic growth (Chen & Chai, 2010) It leads to many negative results For example, global warming, depletion of stratospheric ozone layer, pollution of rivers and sea, light and noise pollution, acid rain and desertification, are consequences of environmental degradation, among other things (Ramlogan, 1997) All of them are called environmental problems which the world is currently facing Environmental problems have been concerned by more and more people But the underlying reasons why human begin to be environmental conscious are not the same due to different personal point of view about the human-nature relationship According to the first perspective, human depend on nature environment And the relationship between human beings and natural environment is interactive Human activities impact on environment, and then, in turn the environment, it will reactively affect to human being It represents the utilitarian view Beside, from ecologicalbalance perspectives, human, as well as water, land and etc are a part of a whole system in which each element must be balanced with each other It is a balanced PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT relationship Although personal point of views may be different from each other, helping the environmental problems society faces today is extremely necessary to human and nature also So therefore, some of consumers turn their talk into walk by buying ecologically friendly products or products from companies which commit with environment; because being green consumers is one of the ways which can reduce the impact on the environment In addition, people have not the same personal perspective as each other because of the differences in cognitions, as well as personal values All of them lead to their own behaviors Fraj and Martinez (2006) stated, “Values are considered as the criterion that individuals use to select and justify their actions” (p 134) In this way, there are many factors involved personal values that best explain consumers’ ecological behavior From the marketing point of view, business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are become the awareness of society nowadays On the other hand, understanding psychographic variables is very useful to companies for identifying the market segment, such as: the segment of consumers who commit with environment in this case It is also extremely important to facilitate business through diverse strategies To pioneer research into new green products is one of sample These new eco-friendly products are expected to be good for environment and serve for personal needs; because it is necessary to satisfy more and more consumers, not the ecological consumer segment only 1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEMS Comparing with developed countries, environmental topic in developing countries is nearly new, and environmental problems are concerned in recent years Vietnam is the developing country with an economic growth rate of about 5.5 percent and a population growth rate of about one percent annually In addition, Vietnam is an PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT under-investigated transition economy (Tsang, 2005), especially in the developing period and globalization, it is very necessity to aware of natural environment For the reason, environmental problems can be directly or indirectly linked not only to the patterns of production by industries but also to the patterns of consumption and behavior of consumers (Tsen et al., 2006) It is anticipated that if the consumers and producers continue irresponsible consumption and production, the environment will be worsen and worsen day by day More and more consumers have realized that and they have turned their environmental concern into action (Kangun et al., 1991) And purchasing green products is a specific action among others Consumers express their value of environmental protection through goods and services they purchase However, generally, there are two reasons which interrelated motivate green purchase, included individual benefits which accrue directly to consumer and environmental benefits which accrue to environment The second reason is take account into environmental consequences, which is at best long-term and future-oriented But, it may in fact be rarely realized by almost consumers Organic foods are an example that consumers buy because of good for their own health rather than for environment (Bonini and Oppenheim, 2008) These consumers have a weaker green consumption value, and not actually commitment with environment For marketers, understanding factors driven consumer’s green purchase is one of the key in green strategies in order to satisfy customers and lead them being loyalty It is also useful in predicting consumer preference for environmentally friendly products According to Webster (1975), socially conscious consumer is defined as a consumer who takes public consequences into consideration of his or her private consumption Likewise, consumers who concern environment will evaluate environmental consequences associated with purchase decision In other words, these consumers commit to environment in consumption And the products they buy not PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT only meet their current needs, but also are good for environment Even they are willing to be inconvenienced in order to take more environmentally friendly actions Several studies have indicated that the environment concern of individuals have influenced their purchase behavior (Chan, 1996; Donaton and Fitzgerald, 1992; Kerr, 1990; Ottman, 1993; Schlossberg, 1992; Wall, 1995) Furthermore, a number of the studies have considered personal values to understand what motivate people to buy green products (Kim and Choi 2005; Kim, Choi and Rifon, 2009; Stern, Dietz, and Kalof, 1993) through environmental beliefs (McCarty and Shrum, 2001) or environmental attitude (Grunert and Juhl, 1995; Kim, 2011; Kim and Chung, 2011) However, little attention has been paid to customers who have actually commit to environment in consumption are primarily driven by separated attitude toward products, including individual’s personal consequences and environmental consequences These consequences can be seen as two group attitude which are affected by personal values So, the research question is: Do consumers concern for environment when they purchase products? In other words, they actually commit to environment in consumption? 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of personal values on the attitude toward consequences of purchase and environmental commitment in consumption 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE The research was conducted on consumers in Vietnam It centralizes all gathers and trading activities people come from different social level, as well as provinces and town in our country PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT This study just focused its scope on consumers who have already known about the ecologically friendly products, involved: green components, green process and less packing And it is well defined at the beginning of survey The researcher handled the collected data and performed them by applying data analysis tools (Microsoft Excel and SPSS) Next step, the author used Cronbach’s alpha to test the reliability of the scale; doing exploratory factor analysis to identify which item is belong to others and to group them into a fairy large set After that, the author used multiple regression analysis to check the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables 1.5 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY After this research, it is hopeful that its founding will play an important role in predicting environmental commitment in consumption in order to develop the suitable strategies to encourage, as well as educate consumers to choose and buy the ecofriendly products instead of the non-responsible alternative ones; and to research & develop more new green products which not only are friendly with environment but satisfy consumers also 1.6 RESEARCH STRUCTURE This thesis included five chapters  Chapter 1: Introduction In this chapter, the author presents the research background of the study, research problems, research objectives and the research structure  Chapter 2: Literature review and hypotheses This chapter presents the fundamental theories and concepts which invloved in The proposal model and hypotheses are also presented in this chapter PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix B: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) Kính chào Anh/Chị, Tôi tên Trần Quế Khanh, học viên cao học Viện đào tạo quốc tế ISB trường Đại học Kinh tế TP Hồ Chí Minh Tơi thực đề tài nghiên cứu "Sự cam kết khách hàng với môi trường tiêu dùng" Việt Nam Tôi mong Anh/Chị dành chút thời gian trả lời phiếu khảo sát bên Sự tham gia Anh/Chị có giá trị q trình phân tích góp phần thành cơng cho nghiên cứu Xin yên tâm thông tin Anh/Chị bảo mật có thơng tin tổng hợp báo cáo công bố Trong trình thực phiếu khảo sát này, Anh/Chị có thắc mắc nào, xin vui lòng liên hệ với qua email: tranquekhanh@gmail.com Xin chân thành cám ơn giúp đỡ Anh/Chị Sản phẩm xanh (Green Products) sản phẩm xem thân thiện với môi trường sinh thái, bao gồm: - hạn chế sử dụng lượng/lãng phí nước q trình sản xuất (green processes) - thành phần tự nhiên tái chế (green components) - hạn chế bao bì đóng gói bao bì tự hủy/có thể tái chế (less packing) Hướng dẫn thực khảo sát: Chọn (khoanh tròn/ đánh chéo) vào ô tương ứng với mức độ đồng ý Anh/ Chị phát biểu: 1: Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT 2: Khơng đồng ý 3: Trung lập / Khơng có ý kiến 4: Đồng ý 5: Hoàn toàn đồng ý đồng ý Hồn tồn Đồng ý Khơng ý kiến Trung lập/ Không đồng ý Câu hỏi T không đồng ý ST Hồn tồn Phần chính: Tơi làm việc chăm cho mục tiêu nhóm, khơng dẫn đến công 5 5 5 nhận cá nhân Tôi người hợp tác tham gia hoạt động nhóm Tơi sẵn sàng giúp đỡ người khác họ cần giúp đỡ Những việc làm tốt cho hầu hết người nhóm, chí cá nhân tơi nhận Tôi chia sẻ với người khác Tôi nhất, khác với người khác nhiều khía cạnh Tơi cạnh tranh với người khác Tôi làm việc cách độc lập với người khác Nếu sản phẩm xanh không phù hợp với nhu cầu tôi, chọn sản phẩm thay khác PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT 10 Nếu sản phẩm xanh không thuận tiện cho sử dụng, chọn sản phẩm thay khác 11 5 5 5 5 5 Nếu sản phẩm xanh khơng có nhiều kích cỡ cho tơi chọn lựa, tơi chọn sản phẩm thay khác 12 Điều quan trọng với sản phẩm sử dụng không gây hại cho môi trường 13 Tôi xem xét tác động tiềm ảnh hưởng đến mơi trường, đưa định mua hàng nhiều lựa chọn 14 Thói quen mua hàng tơi bị ảnh hưởng mối quan tâm môi trường 15 Tôi sẵn sàng bất tiện để có hành động thân thiện mơi trường 16 Tơi muốn mua sản phẩm xanh tương lai, đắt sản phẩm thay loại 17 Tôi muốn giới thiệu sản phẩm xanh cho bạn bè người khác 18 Tơi nói điều tích cực sản phẩm xanh cho người khác 19 Tơi khuyến khích người khác mua sản phẩm xanh Thơng tin cá nhân: Giới tính: ฀ Nam ฀ Nữ PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Tuổi tác: ฀ Dưới 18 tuổi ฀ Từ 18 – 25 tuổi ฀ Từ 26 – 35 tuổi ฀ Từ 36 – 45 tuổi ฀ Trên 45 tuổi Trình độ học vấn: ฀ Dưới Trung học phổ thông ฀ Trung học phổ thông/ Trung cấp nghề ฀ Cử nhân cao đẳng/ đại học ฀ Cao học Nghề nghiệp tại: ฀ Sinh viên/ học sinh ฀ Giáo viên/ giảng viên/ Cán ngành giáo dục ฀ Nhân viên/ Quản lý ngành nghề khác ฀ Khác Thu nhập hàng tháng (ĐVT: triệu đồng/ tháng) ฀ Dưới triệu đồng/ tháng ฀ Từ – 10 triệu đồng/ tháng ฀ Trên 10 triệu đồng/ tháng Chân thành cám ơn hợp tác Anh/ Chị/ Bạn PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix C: Results of Reliability test for Collectivistic Values (CV) Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Cronbach's Alpha Standardized Items 871 871 Inter-Item Correlation Matrix CV1 CV2 CV3 CV4 CV1 CV2 CV3 CV4 CV5 1.000 543 543 619 607 543 1.000 635 560 611 543 635 1.000 641 481 N of Items CV5 619 560 641 1.000 511 607 611 481 511 1.000 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / Mean Minimum Maximum Range Minimum Variance Item Means Item Variances Inter-Item Covariances Inter-Item Correlations CV1 CV2 CV3 CV4 CV5 3.732 819 3.560 793 3.967 906 407 113 1.114 1.142 032 002 5 470 385 525 140 1.363 002 575 481 641 160 1.331 003 Scale Mean if Item Deleted 15.100 14.787 14.693 15.067 14.993 Mean 18.660 N of Items Item-Total Statistics Corrected Scale Variance Item-Total if Item Deleted Correlation 8.668 701 8.907 713 8.979 696 8.935 709 9.107 665 Scale Statistics Variance Std Deviation 13.501 3.6744 N of Items Squared Cronbach's Multiple Alpha if Item Correlation Deleted 513 843 537 840 530 844 529 841 484 851 PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix D: Results of Reliability test for Individualistic Values (IV) Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items Cronbach's Alpha 803 N of Items 804 Inter-Item Correlation Matrix IV1 IV2 IV3 IV1 IV2 IV3 1.000 565 607 565 1.000 560 607 560 1.000 Summary Item Statistics Mean Item Means Item Variances Inter-Item Covariances Inter-Item Correlations IV1 IV2 IV3 Minimum Maximum Range Maximum / Minimum Variance N of Items 3.340 1.580 3.280 1.457 3.447 1.733 167 276 1.051 1.190 009 020 3 911 841 995 154 1.183 005 577 560 607 047 1.084 001 Scale Mean if Item Deleted 6.740 6.727 6.573 Item-Total Statistics Corrected Scale Variance Item-Total if Item Deleted Correlation 4.690 664 5.274 627 4.985 660 Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 10.020 10.208 3.1949 Squared Cronbach's Multiple Alpha if Item Correlation Deleted 442 717 393 755 437 720 PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix E: Results of Reliability test for Individual Consequences of Purchase (ICP) Cronbach's Alpha 858 Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 858 Inter-Item Correlation Matrix ICP1 ICP2 ICP3 ICP1 1.000 679 641 ICP2 679 1.000 686 ICP3 641 686 1.000 Summary Item Statistics Mean Item Means Item Variances Inter-Item Covariances Inter-Item Correlations Minimum Maximum Range Variance N of Items 3.311 1.537 3.113 1.507 3.460 1.564 347 057 1.111 1.038 032 001 3 1.027 994 1.053 058 1.059 001 669 641 686 045 1.070 000 Item-Total Statistics Corrected Scale Mean if Scale Variance Item-Total Item Deleted if Item Deleted Correlation ICP1 ICP2 ICP3 Maximum / Minimum 6.473 6.573 6.820 5.177 5.092 5.115 719 754 724 Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 9.933 10.774 3.2824 Squared Multiple Correlation 520 568 527 Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 813 781 809 PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix F: Results of Reliability test for Environmental Consequences of Purchase (ECP) Cronbach's Alpha 882 ECP1 ECP2 ECP3 ECP4 Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 883 Inter-Item Correlation Matrix ECP1 ECP2 ECP3 1.000 624 600 624 1.000 698 600 698 1.000 656 649 692 ECP4 656 649 692 1.000 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / Minimum Variance Mean Minimum Maximum Range Item Means Item Variances Inter-Item Covariances Inter-Item Correlations 3.382 1.010 3.200 883 3.700 1.159 500 276 1.156 1.313 048 014 4 659 550 728 177 1.322 004 653 600 698 098 1.163 001 Item-Total Statistics Corrected Scale Mean if Scale Variance Item-Total Item Deleted if Item Deleted Correlation ECP1 ECP2 ECP3 ECP4 N of Items 9.827 10.187 10.327 10.240 7.433 6.878 7.040 6.573 Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 13.527 11.942 3.4558 708 750 762 763 Squared Multiple Correlation 508 571 594 587 Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 863 847 842 843 PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix G: Results of Reliability test for Environmental Commitment (EC) Cronbach's Alpha 877 EC1 EC2 EC3 EC4 Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 878 Inter-Item Correlation Matrix EC1 EC2 EC3 1.000 656 549 656 1.000 648 549 648 1.000 635 699 667 EC4 635 699 667 1.000 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / Mean Minimum Maximum Range Minimum Variance Item Means Item Variances Inter-Item Covariances Inter-Item Correlations 3.637 828 3.573 743 3.680 904 107 161 1.030 1.217 003 004 4 530 473 572 099 1.209 001 642 549 699 151 1.275 002 Item-Total Statistics Corrected Scale Mean if Scale Variance Item-Total Item Deleted if Item Deleted Correlation EC1 EC2 EC3 EC4 N of Items 10.973 10.933 10.867 10.867 5.637 5.499 5.781 5.740 694 774 703 772 Scale Statistics Mean Variance Std Deviation N of Items 14.547 9.672 3.1100 Squared Multiple Correlation 496 600 514 599 Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 859 826 854 828 PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix H: Histogram, Normal Regression & Scatter plot of Dependent Variable: Individual consequences of the purchase PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix I: Histogram, Normal Regression & Scatter plot of Dependent Variable: Environmental consequences of the purchase PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT Appendix J: Histogram, Normal Regression & Scatter plot of Dependent Variable: Environmental commitment PERSONAL VALUE-ATTITUDE-ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT ... toward the environmental consequences of the purchase The last time was to justify the influence of the attitude toward the individual consequences of the purchase and the environmental consequences. .. purchase on environment Hence, the aim of this research is to examie the impact of personal values on attitude toward consequences of purchase and environmental commitment in green consumption. .. both the environmental consequences and the individual consequences of the purchase were linked to environmental commitment in consumption The outcome of purchasing decision between the green