Abstract
The deterioration has started because of the rapid economic growth and
customer consumption pattern .The scarcity of the resources has become the
threat for the environment The increasing environmental problems has shifted
the focus of the government and industries towards green marketing and green
products. The objective of the study is to understand the feminist thinking
towards eco friendly products and to know the advantages and disadvantages of
the eco friendly products. The research
conducted was non-experimental, descriptive and quantitative research .The
sample size is 150.The stratified random sampling techniques was used in this
research. The feminist has different
attitude towards green purchase. Customers who are older lack interest towards
the green products.
Introduction
In recent years, terms like "going green" and
"eco-friendly" have become buzz words on talk shows, commercials and
product packaging. The term "eco-friendly" has been used for so many different
products and practices; its meaning is in danger of being lost. By
understanding the true meaning of eco-friendly, you can implement the practices
that will lead to healthier living for the planet and its inhabitants, big and
small. Eco-friendly literally means earth-friendly or not harmful to the
environment. This term most commonly refers to products that contribute to
green living or practices that help conserve resources like water and energy.
Eco-friendly products also prevent contributions to air, water and land
pollution. Feminist engage in eco-friendly habits or practices by being more
conscious of how to use resources.
The world is facing the most critical
problem the deterioration of the environment. The deterioration has started
because of the rapid economic growth and customer consumption pattern .The
scarcity of the resources has become the threat for the environment .The
importance of social needs has made the human beings to realize the conservation
of the environment. Green products are also considered as the safe products. It
is also known as ecological products or environmental friendly products. The Feminist consumers are aware and use the
products which are safe.
The increasing environmental problems have
shifted the focus of the government and industries towards green marketing and
green products. The feminist perspective
is that the Consumer’s initiatives are important without their efforts it will
be proved ineffective. They also believe each customer has different attitude towards green
purchase. Customers who are older lack interest towards the green products.
Companies have to start unified campaigning to create the awareness of the
green marketing. Legitimacy has to be practiced by the producers in order
create interest among the customers. Initially the organization has to incur
high cost later in the long run it will be more beneficiary.
Feminist agree that living the eco-friendly
life has some advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned earlier, one of the
disadvantages is that may have to forgo some of the more modern conveniences.
Not many, but the conveniences like fast foods and certain types of luxury
activities do little more than create a burden on the
environment.
One of the best examples is the idea of the personal car. While you may
realistically need a personal vehicle, you do not need one that gets poor gas
mileage or is made with luxury accessories or advanced electronics that are
impractical, and also consume vital natural resources.
Objective of the Study
·
To understand the feminist
thinking towards eco friendly products.
·
To know the advantages and
disadvantages of the eco friendly products.
·
To analyze the feminist
awareness towards the eco friendly
product
·
To study whether the feminist
attitude influence the buying behavior.
Review of the Literature
According
to American Marketing Association green marketing is defined on three perspective
first marketing of the product which are very safe to the environment, second
the development and marketing products have brought down the negative effect on
the physical environment and the third perspective is that organization produce
,promote ,package and reclaim products that is responsive to ecological
concern.
In the view of Ottman (1998) green product refers to the typically non
toxic, originally grown recycle, reusable not polluting the environmental and
safely package contain natural ingredients recycled content. D’Souza et
al.(2006) stated that the price is the attribute that consumers reflect on when
making a purchasing decision on green products .Consumers are less likely to
purchase green products. Consumers less likely to purchase green products if
they are more expensive.
Polonsky(1994) mentions the terms like phosphate free, recyclable
,refillable, ozone friendly and eco friendly are some of the things consumer
relate to green marketing .It is abroaden concept and can be applied consumer
goods ,Industrial goods and even services. In the view of Dodds et al.(1991)when
consumers are wishing to purchase a product are meant as purchase intention.
Also some factors that will influence the attitude of consumer to a product
will constitute to consumer purchase intention. When purchase intention is high
then the willingness of consumer to purchase specific product is also
higher.
Research Methodology
Based on the previously cited theoretical and empirical literatures,the
following hypothesis referring to the feminist perspective towards eco-friendly
products were proposed.
Hypothesis 1:
There is a significant difference between
perspective of feminist and awareness of eco friendly products.
Hypothesis 2:
There is a significant
difference between perspective of feminist and buying behavior of eco friendly
products.
Hypothesis 3:
There is no significant
relationship between perspective of feminist towards eco friendly products and
the sources of information regarding eco friendly products.
Sample and Data collection
The respondents are selected
from the Chennai city using convenient sampling techniques as it is less time
consuming .The sample size for the study is 150 and the feminist were chosen as
respondents and they have given responses in the considerable manner.
Finding and Analysis
Table-1
|
S.No
|
Variable
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
|
|
1.
|
Age
|
18-25
|
48
|
32
|
|
26-35
|
44
|
29.3
|
||
|
36-45
|
37
|
24.62
|
||
|
>45
|
21
|
14
|
||
|
2.
|
Marital Status
|
Married
|
85
|
56.6
|
|
Unmarried
|
65
|
43.3
|
||
|
3.
|
Education
|
High school
|
2
|
1.3
|
|
Graduate
|
33
|
22
|
||
|
Post Graduate
|
38
|
25.3
|
||
|
Professionals
|
55
|
36.6
|
||
|
Doctorate
|
22
|
14.6
|
||
|
4.
|
Income(p.m)
|
>10,000
|
24
|
16
|
|
10001-20000
|
23
|
15.3
|
||
|
20001-30000
|
33
|
22
|
||
|
30001-40000
|
41
|
27.3
|
||
|
< 40000
|
29
|
19.3
|
||
As mentioned in the above table
the characteristic of the sample vary across age, marital status, education and
income. Finding also suggests that out of the respondents almost 90% have the
positive thinking towards the purchase of green products.
Data Analysis
Chi-Square Statistics (Test of
independence )has been used to understand if there is any dependence among the
demographic variables such as age income, marital status, education and
occupation and the awareness about eco-friendly products .The attempt also been
made to understand if there is any
influence of above said demographic variables on the respondent’s consideration
for buying decision of the eco friendly product.
The following table shows the result of chi-square analysis.
Table-2
|
Variable
|
p-value
|
Null hypothesis Accepted/ Rejected
|
|
|
Age
|
Awareness of eco friendly
products
|
0.315
|
Accepted
|
|
Marital Status
|
0.612
|
Accepted
|
|
|
Education
|
0.456
|
Accepted
|
|
|
Income(p.m)
|
0.562
|
Accepted
|
|
|
Age
|
consideration for buying
decision of the eco friendly product
|
0.026
|
Rejected
|
|
Marital Status
|
0.756
|
Accepted
|
|
|
Education
|
0.000
|
Rejected
|
|
|
Income(p.m)
|
0.197
|
Accepted
|
|
As it can be seen from the above
table that the awareness about eco friendly products is different from the
demographic variables such as age, marital status, education and income. It can
be inferred that the awareness is not confined across a specific age group.
It is quiet visible from test
results that the consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product shows
some dependency on age and education
while ,the marital status and income plays no significant role in the consideration for buying decision
of the eco friendly product.
Since ,chi-square statistics
just helps in identifying the dependence between two categorical variables in
order to understand and establish a definite relationship between the variables
;we can use binary logistics regression.
Binary Logistic Regression
Binary Logistic Regression has
been applied where the chi-square statistics
showed some dependence between the variables i.e,education and consideration
for buying decision of the eco friendly product. The result of an attempt to formulate a model using BLR is
not significant and the key regression coefficient shows very poor model fit.
Table-3
|
Cox&snell R Square
|
Nagelkerke R square
|
|
.014
|
.024
|
The
results signify there may be some dependence between the level of education and
the consideration for buying decision of the eco friendly product but the
relation between these two is not strong to convert in to a meaningful model.
Frequency table for source of information
Table-4
|
Source
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
|
Internet
|
103
|
68.7
|
|
Television
|
23
|
15.3
|
|
Radio
|
12
|
8
|
|
Educational Institution
|
8
|
5.3
|
|
Government commercials
|
4
|
2.6
|
|
Total
|
150
|
100
|
From the above table it can be analyzed that respondents source of
information regarding eco friendly product are more from Internet and
television with 68.7%and 15.3% respectively. This may be so because many of the
eco friendly product manufacturing companies are creating awareness among the
consumer by providing advertisements about their eco friendly products on
different medium.
Table-5
|
Variables
|
p-value
|
Null hypothesis Accepted /Rejected
|
|
Environmental concern and attitude
towards eco friendly product
|
0.000
|
Accepted
|
As it can be seen from the above
table that the null hypothesis has been accepted which implies that there is no
significant relationship between Feminist Environmental concern and attitude
towards eco friendly product and their attitude towards eco-friendly products.
Conclusion
The
research indicates that feminist
perspective is that the Consumer’s initiatives are important without
their efforts it will be proved ineffective. Finding also suggests that out of
the respondents almost 90% have the positive thinking towards the purchase of
green products. chi-square statistics just helps in identifying the dependence
between two categorical variables in order to understand and establish a
definite relationship between the variables ;we can use binary logistics
regression As it can be seen from the above table that the null hypothesis has
been accepted which implies that there is no significant relationship between
Feminist Environmental concern and attitude towards eco friendly product and
their attitude towards eco-friendly products.
Reference
America Marketing
Association1995,Dictionary viewed
January 2014,from http://www.ama,org/resources/pages/Dictonary
.aspx?.dletter=G
Othman M.N.(2000),Kesendaran
terhadap alam skital kaijian perbandingan diantara penggun Mulayudan cina di
Bandar,Malaysian Journal of consumers
and family economice,3,24-50.
Polonsky,M.J.andMitu–Wimsett,A.T.(eds)(1995),EnvironmentalMarketing
stratergies,practices,theory and research ,the Haworth press, Newyork, NY.
D’souza,C and Peetiatko.R(2002).The
nexus between industrialization and environment ,A casestudy on Indian
enterprises environmental management and health vol.13 No.1pp 80-97
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