Identifying effective factors on consumers’ choice behavior toward green products: the case of Tehran, the capital of Iran

Abstract

The environment is increasingly turning to a vital and very important issue for all people. By increasing environmental concerns as well as legislating and regulating rules on the protection of the environment and the emergence of green consumers, implementing green marketing approach for organizations seems to be more crucial and essential. As a result, the need for ecological products and green business activities compels companies to combine environmental issues with marketing strategies. The first step in the success of companies and organizations is to identify consumers and their consumption behaviors correctly and accurately. So, the purpose of this study is to identify effective factors for the choice of consumers of green products. We used consumption values (functional value, social value, emotional value, conditional value, epistemic value, and environmental value) as the effective factor for choosing green products. The original place of this research was in Tehran, capital city of Iran, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world due to environmental issues. The results from the survey questionnaires are analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The results indicated that functional value-price, functional value-quality, social value, epistemic value, and environmental value had significantly positive effects on the choice of green products; also, conditional value and emotional value had no influence on it. It was concluded that the main influential factors for consumers' choice behavior regarding green products included environmental value and epistemic value. This study emphasized the proper pricing of green products by producers and sellers.

Applying the Theory of Consumption Values to Explain Drivers’ Willingness to Pay for Biofuels

“…This study also finds no relationship between social value and willingness to pay for biofuels. This result is not consistent with the findings of Biswas and Roy [32] and Rahnama and Rajabpour [41], who found a positive relationship between social value and sustainable consumption behaviour. This might be due to the insignificant value that some of the respondents attached to the use of biofuels and to gaining social approval or making a good impression.…”

“…Finally, a positive relationship between the epistemic value and drivers' willingness to pay for biofuels can be observed in the results of this research, which is consistent with the findings of Rahnama and Rajabpour [41] and Suki [54]. There was more interest shown towards paying for biofuels by those drivers who had a desire or curiosity for knowledge and novelty.…”

“…Thus, increasing the availability of information may fill the gap. Lin and Huang [29], Rahnama and Rajabpour [41] and Suki [54] found a positive relationship between epistemic value and a consumer's environmental concerns and behaviours. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 5.…”

“…According to Sheth et al [16], the apparent utility that results from the service's or product's association with one or more social groups, such as socioeconomic, demographic or cultural groups, is referred to as the social value. Previous research has shown a positive relationship between social value and sustainable consumption behaviours [32,41]. This value contributes to the improvement of the self-image and approval [42] which affects a consumer's behaviour in relation to the environment [31].…”

Environmental Strategy in Business: Green Marketing Communication

“…The 'indifferent' represent the largest and the least involved group. They are convinced that they cannot do anything to solve the environmental problems; they are, in most cases, the poorer class (Rahnama and Rajabpour, 2017).…”