SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE GREEN ATTITUDES OF CONSUMERS FROM DIFFERENT AGE GENERATIONS – INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Main Article Content

Krzysztof Błoński
Anna Dąbrowska
Liudmyla Shulhina


Keywords : organic consumption, consumer behavior, international comparisons, associations
Abstract

 Aim: To aim of this paper is to identify similarities and differences in the pro-environmental attitudes of consumers from different countries, as well as being representatives of different age cohorts. Methods: The analyses are based on the results of surveys conducted in four European countries (Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Poland). An international quantitative survey using the author’s survey questionnaire was conducted using the CAWI technique on a sample of a total of 2,566 respondents. Association rules, which are among the data mining tools used to build descriptive models, were used in the data analysis. Results: The results presented in this study allow us to distinguish patterns of behavior in terms of pro-environmental attitudes and actions, as well as similarities and differences by age and place of residence in this respect. Respondents from older age groups (i.e., ‘Baby Boomers’ and ‘Generation X’) are significantly more likely to declare taking pro-environmental actions than respondents from younger age groups (i.e., ‘Generation Y’ and ‘Generation Z’). The opposite situation can be observed in the case of negative answers regarding taking pro-environmental actions. Conclusions: The authors of the study believe that the study should be repeated to check whether the declared attitudes and behaviors are the result of a specific situation that differs from other periods (the study was carried out during a pandemic) or whether they are of a constant nature, allowing us to see differences in consumer behavior between age groups and countries. Another possible direction under considera­tion for further research is to analyze the undecided group in more detail in order to determine the reasons for this.

Article Details

How to Cite
Błoński, K., Dąbrowska, A., & Shulhina, L. (2023). SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE GREEN ATTITUDES OF CONSUMERS FROM DIFFERENT AGE GENERATIONS – INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS. Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Oeconomia, 22(4), 15–30. https://doi.org/10.22630/ASPE.2023.22.4.22
References

Agrawal, R., Imielinski, T., Swami, A. (1993). Mining as¬sociation rules between sets of items in large databases. ACM SIGMOD Record, 22(2), 207–216. https://doi. org/10.1145/170036.170072 (Crossref)

Akehurst, G., Afonso, C., Martins Gonçalves, H. (2012). Re-examining green purchase behaviour and the green con¬sumer profile: new evidences. Management Decision, 50, 972– 988. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211227726 (Crossref)

Alfredsson, E.C. (2004). „Green” consumption – no solu¬tion for climate change. Energy, 29(4), 513–524. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2003.10.013 (Crossref)

Antonetti, P., Maklan, S. (2016). Hippies, greenies, and tree huggers: how the ‘warmth’ stereotype hinders the adop¬tion of responsible brands. Psychology & Marketing, 33(10), 796–813. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20918 (Crossref)

Bailey, R. (2011). Deconsumption versus dematerialization. How to protect the environment by doing more with less. Re¬trieved from https://reason.com/2011/02/15/deconsumption -versus-demateria/#:~:text=Markowitz%20and%20 Bowerman%20define%20deconsumption%20simply% 20in%20terms,protect%20the%20natural%20world%20 from%20a%20rapacious%20humanity [accessed: 6.07.2023].

Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and Gen A explained. Retrieved from: https://us-only.kasasa.com/ [accessed: 08.07.2023]

Brin, S., Motwani, R., Ullman, J. D., Tsur, S. (1997). Dy¬namic itemset counting and implication rules for market basket data. ACM SIGMOD Record, 26(2), 255–264. https://doi.org/10.1145/253262.253325 (Crossref)

Brochado, A., Teiga, N., Oliveira-Brochado, F. (2017). The ecological conscious consumer behavior: are the activ-ists different? International Journal of Consumer Studies 41(3), 138–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12321 (Crossref)

Brough, A.R., Wilkie, J.E.B., Ma, J., Isaac, M.S., Gal, D. (2016). Is eco-friendly unmanly? The greenfeminine stereotype and its effect on sustainable consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 43 (4), 567–582. (Crossref)

Characteristics of Baby Boomers. Retrieved from www. marketing91.com/characteristics-of-baby-boomers /#Who-are-Baby-Boomers-why-they-are-called-Baby- Boomers [accessed: 06.07.2023].

Confronting the Reality of Climate Change. Retrieved from https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2018-09-26-IGEL-Climate-Change-Report.pdf [accessed: 06.07.2023]

Dąbrowska, A, Bylok, F., Janoś-Kresło, M., Kiełczewski, D., Ozimek, I. (2015), Kompetencje konsumentów. Innowacyjne zachowania. Zrównoważona konsumpcja (Consumer competencies. Innovative behavior. Sustain¬able consumption), PWE, Warszawa.

Dąbrowska, A., Janoś-Kresło, M. (2022), Społeczna od¬powiedzialność konsumenta w czasie pandemii. Bada¬nia międzynarodowe (Consumer social responsibility during a pandemic. An international study). Oficyna Wydawnicza SGH, Warszawa.

ElHaffar, G., Durif, F., Dubé, L. (2021). Towards closing the attitude-intention-behaviour gap in green consump¬tion: a narrative review of the literature and an overview of future research directions. Journal of Cleaner Pro¬duction, 275, 122556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro. 2020.122556 (Crossref)

Gilg, A., Barr, S., Ford, N. (2005). Green consumption or sustainable lifestyles? Identifying the sustainable con¬sumer. Journal Futures, 37(6), 481–504. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.futures.2004.10.016 (Crossref)

Gleima, M.R., Smith, J.S., Andrews, D., Cronin, J.J. Jr. (2013). Against the Green: a multi-method examination of the barriers to green consumption. Journal of Retail¬ing, 89(1), 44–61. (Crossref)

Goldstein, N.J., Cialdini, R.B., Grikevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint: using social norms to moti-vate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 472–482. (Crossref)

Gonçalves. H.M., Viegas, A. (2015). Explaining consumer use of renewable energy: determinants and gender and age moderator effects. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 25(3), 198–215. (Crossref)

Greener than you: Boomers, Gen X & Millennials score them¬selves on the environment (2018). Retrieved from https:// www.forbes.com/sites/josephcoughlin/2018/05/05/ greener-than-you-boomers-gen-x-millennials-score-themselves-on-the-environment/?sh=6e2765064d8b [accessed: 06.08.2022]

Grønhøj, A. (2006). Communication about consumption: a family process perspective on ‘green’ consumer prac¬tices. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 5(6), 491–503. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.198 (Crossref)

Haws, K.L., Winterich, K.P., Naylor, R.W. (2014). Seeing the world through GREEN-tinted glasses: green consumption values and responses to environmentally friendly products. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(3), 336–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2013.11.002 (Crossref)

Huang, Z., Lu, X., Duan, H. (2011). Mining association rules to support resource allocation in business process management. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(8), 9483–9490. (Crossref)

Jain, S, Kaur, G. (2006), Role of socio-demographics in segmenting and profiling green consumers: an explor¬atory study of consumers in India. Journal of Interna¬tional Consumer Marketing, 18(3), 107–146. https://doi. org/10.1300/J046v18n03_06 (Crossref)

Kamsu-Foguem, B., Rigal, F., Mauget, F. (2013). Mining association rules for the quality improvement of the pro-duction process. Expert systems with applications, 40(4), 1034–1045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.08.039 (Crossref)

Kryk, B. (2011). Konsumpcja zrównoważona a proeko¬logiczne style życia (Sustainable consumption vs. eco-friendly lifestyles). Studia i Materiały Polskiego Stowarzyszenia Zarządzania Wiedzą, 51, 206–218.

Larose, D.T. (2006). Odkrywanie wiedzy z danych. Wprow¬adzenie do eksploracji danych (Discovering knowl¬edge from data. An introduction to data mining). Wy¬dawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa.

Lisowski, R., Mamcarczyk, M., Proszowska, A., Soler-Porta, M. (2022). Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours of young adults in shaping the market offer in the interna¬tional dimension. International Entrepreneurship Review, 8(4), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.15678/IER.2022.0804.04 (Crossref)

Łapczyński, M. (2014). Analiza asocjacji i sekwencji w badaniach marketingowych (Association and sequence analysis in marketing research). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie, Kraków.

Maheswari, B.U., Sujatha, R. (2023). Understanding consumer behavior using market basket analysis. [In:] A. Mansurali, P.M. Jeyanthi (eds.), Marketing analytics: a machine learning approach. https://doi. org/10.1201/9781003300632 (Crossref)

Mintel 2030 Global Consumer Trends. Retrieved from https:// www.mintel.com/press-centre/social-and-lifestyle/mintel -2030-global-consumer-trends [accessed: 06.08.2022]

Moser, A.K. (2015). Thinking green, buying green? Driv¬ers of pro-environmental purchasing behavior. Journal o Consumer Marketing, 32(3), 167–175. http://dx.doi. org/10.1108/JCM-10-2014-1179 (Crossref)

Neale, A. (2015). Zrównoważona konsumpcja. Źródła koncepcji i jej zastosowanie (Sustainable consump¬tion. Sources of the concept and its application). Prace Geograficzne, 141, 141–158. https://doi.org/10.4467/20 833113PG.15.014.4066

Pagiaslis, A., Krontalis, A.K. (2014). Green consumption be¬havior antecedents: environmental concern, knowledge, and beliefs. Psychology and Marketing, 31(5), 335–348. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20698 (Crossref)

Patrzałek, W. (2019). Dekonsumpcja: Motywy. Cele. Funkcje (Deconsumption: Motives. Objectives. Func-tions). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu, Wrocław.

Patrzałek, W. (2022). Konwestycja jako forma dekonsumpcji (Conquest as a form of deconsumption). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu, Wrocław.

Peattie, K. (2010). Green consumption: behaviour and norms. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 35, 195– –228. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-032609 -094328 (Crossref)

Peluso, A. M., Pichierri, M., Pino, G. (2021). Age-related effects on environmentally sustainable purchases at the time of COVID-19: Evidence from Italy. Journal of Re¬tailing and Consumer Services, 60, 102443. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102443 (Crossref)

Roberts, J.A. (1996). Green consumers in the 1990s: profile and implications for advertising. Journal of Business Research, 36, 217–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/0148- 2963(95)00150-6 (Crossref)

Roose, K. (2014). The sharing economy isn’t about trust, it’s about desperation. New York Magazine, 24.04. Re-trieved from https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2014/04/ sharing-economy-is-about-desperation.html [accessed: 07.07.2023].

Semprebon, E., Mantovani, D., Demczuk, R., Souto Maior, C., Vilasanti, V. (2018). Green consumption: a network analysis in marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37 (1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-12-2017-0352 (Crossref)

Sobczyk, G. (2014). Współczesna konsumpcja – nowe trendy na polskim rynku (Contemporary consumption – new trends on the Polish market). Zeszyty Naukowe WSEI seria Ekonomia, 9(2), 87–104.

Straughan, R.D., Roberts, J.A. (1999). Environmen¬tal segmentation alternatives: a look at green con¬sumer behaviour in the new millennium. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16, 558–575. https://doi. org/10.1108/07363769910297506 (Crossref)

Testa, F., Pretner, G., Iovino, R., Bianchi, G., Tessitore, S., Iraldo, F. (2021). Drivers to green consumption: a systematic review. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23, 4826–4880. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10668-020-00844-5 (Crossref)

The generations defined. Retrieved from https://mccrindle. com.au/article/topic/demographics/the-generations-de¬fined/ [accessed: 16.12.2023]

White, K., Hardisty, D.J., Habib, R. (2019). Consumer Behav¬ior. The Elusive Green Consumer. Harward Business Re¬view, July-August. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/07/ the-elusive-green-consumer [accessed: 06.07.2023]

Wikipedia. Generation timeline. Retrieved from: https:// en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Generation_timeline.svg [accessed: 16.12.2023]

Wilczak, A. (2016). Dekonsumpcja jako przejaw odpowied¬zialnej postawy i styl życia konsumenta w świetle analizy jakościowej (Deconsumption as a manifestation of respon¬sible attitude and consumer lifestyle in the light of qualita-tive analysis). Handel Wewnętrzny, 3(362), 388–402.

Yadav, R., Pathak, G.S. (2017). Determinants of consum¬ers’ green purchase behavior in a developing nation: applying and extending the theory of planned behavior. Ecological Economics, 134, 114–122. (Crossref)

Yusoff, W.F.W., Kian, T.S. (2013). Generation differences in work motivation: from developing country perspective. International Journal of Economy, Management and So¬cial Sciences, 2(4), 97–103.

Zhao, G., Geng, Y., Sun, H., Tian, X., Chen, W., Wu, D. (2020). Mapping the knowledge of green consump¬tion: a meta-analysis. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(36), 44937–44950. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11356-020-11029-y (Crossref)

Zhao, H., Gao, Q., Wu, Y., Wang, Y., Zhu, X. (2014). What affects green consumer behavior in China? A case study from Qingdao. Journal of Cleaner Production, 63, 143– –151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.05.021 (Crossref)

Statistics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.