Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior to Purchase Sustainable Cosmetic Products in a German Context

Abstract

In today's markets, corporate social responsibility is a new consumer expectation. Organizations across all industries are trying to meet these expectations by building a positive reputation and sending a signal to their stakeholders. However, consumers’ environmental behavior is not always the result of their positive attitudes towards environmental issues. Potentially, their environmentally friendly attitudes are contradicted by their actual behavior. This means that people, who have positive attitudes about sustainable products and state that they would purchase them, may not actually buy them after all. In addition, consumers often do not wish to spend more money on buying sustainably, even if they have higher expectations towards sustainable products or companies. Further research is therefore needed to explain the gap between consumer awareness and actual purchasing behavior. In several contexts, environmentally friendly consumption, called sustainable consumption, has been explained by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), such as when buying food or apparel. Sustainable consumption often results from planned decisions rather than hedonic reasons.

Perceptions of ethical cosmetics: Health behaviors during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Consumers believe that using responsible cosmetics will protect the environment for future generations (Brückel & Schneider, 2019).…”

“…Consumers believe that using responsible cosmetics will protect the environment for future generations (Brückel & Schneider, 2019). According to Bhattacharya and Sen (2004), one of the main behavioral outcomes of CSR activities is the willingness of consumers to speak positively about companies engaged in responsible activities.…”

“…According to Singhal and Malik (2018), the low level of knowledge and trust in responsible products remains an obstacle to their widespread adoption, and consumers still need to be educated (Jaiswal & Kant, 2018). However, there is a contradiction between consumers' positive attitudes towards the environment and their actual behavior, as some of them consider ethical products to be too expensive or to bring no real benefits (Brückel & Schneider, 2019).…”

“…According to Singhal and Malik (2018), the low level of knowledge and trust in responsible products remains an obstacle to their widespread adoption, and consumers still need to be educated (Jaiswal & Kant, 2018). However, there is a contradiction between consumers' positive attitudes towards the environment and their actual behavior, as some of them consider ethical products to be too expensive or to bring no real benefits (Brückel & Schneider, 2019). Indeed, previous research has shown that in terms of attributes influencing the purchase of responsible cosmetics, price (Liobikiene & Bernatoniene, 2017; Singhal & Malik, 2018) or quality (Matić & Puh, 2016) are key factors.…”

“…For example, contact dermatitis can result from contact with perfumes (Amberg & Fogarassy, 2019). Cosmetic products can have a direct impact on health if hazardous ingredients are used (Brückel & Schneider, 2019). Thus, the nonuse of these ingredients can constitute an intention to purchase sustainable cosmetics for health reasons (Newsom et al, 2005).…”