Impact of ‘Green’ Product Label Standards on Consumer Behaviour: A Systematic Review Analysis

Abstract

There have been controversies surrounding the actual effect of 'green' product labels in influencing consumers towards eco-friendly behaviours. While some claim that the proliferation of private business standards are confusing rather than assisting eco-friendly consumers in their green purchasing decisions, others posit that it has had significant positive effect in influencing consumers towards 'green' purchasing. Still yet, some others found neutral effect of 'green' labels on consumer behaviour. The objective of this critical review is to determine if available evidencebased studies on the use of 'green' labels support or contradict the above claims, using a systematic review approach. This review adopted an analytical framework developed by Gupta et al. (2006) for modeling the impact of business programs on customer lifetime value (CLV). The result of the analysis confirmed varied effect of eco labels among different classes of consumers and for different products in developed and developing economies. Further evidence abounds of both positive impacts (customer acquisition and sustained patronage of eco-labelled products) and negative impacts (confusing/discouraging consumers due to generic information or high price of eco-labelled products). There is also little evidence of no impact, which suggests that eco-labels alone may not be sufficient to influence consumer behaviour. Further empirical research on the impact of eco-labels on product utilization and disposal was recommended.

Country-specific food culture and scientific knowledge transfer events – Do they influence the purchasing behaviour of seafood products?

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Green purchasing behaviour of international tourists in Malaysia using green marketing tools: theory of planned behaviour perspective

“…Using eco-brand features on a green product or service help consumers differentiate them from non-green ones (Nekmahmud and Fekete-Farkas, 2020). It is believed that eco-brand is a modern expansion of green advertising instrument created to positively affect customer’s buying behaviour (Ihemezie et al , 2018). The eco-branded products have been economically profitable because of their positive public image, leading to an increase in consumer demand and brand loyalty advancement (Ferreira and Fernandes, 2021).…”

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