Seeing the world through GREEN‐tinted glasses: Green consumption values and responses to environmentally friendly products

Abstract

The primary goal of this research is to conceptualize and develop a scale of green consumption values, which we define as the tendency to express the value of environmental protection through one's purchases and consumption behaviors. Across six studies, we demonstrate that the six‐item measure we develop (i.e., the GREEN scale) can be used to capture green consumption values in a reliable, valid, and parsimonious manner. We further theorize and empirically demonstrate that green consumption values are part of a larger nomological network associated with conservation of not just environmental resources but also personal financial and physical resources. Finally, we demonstrate that the GREEN scale predicts consumer preference for environmentally friendly products. In doing so, we demonstrate that stronger green consumption values increase preference for environmentally friendly products through more favorable evaluations of the non‐environmental attributes of these products. These results have important implications for consumer responses to the growing number of environmentally friendly products.

The Relationship Between Consumption Value and Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle and Effect on Environmentally Responsible Consumerism

“…There are also studies investigating consumption values and their influence on environmentally friendly consumerism (Lin and Huang, 2012;Haws et al 2014;Kao and Tu, 2015). However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no research exploring the effects of voluntary simplicity lifestyle and consumption values on environmentally responsible consumerism.…”

“…In addition, it is known that consumers with environmental consumption values try not to consume more than necessary, and use physical resources with caution (Haws et al 2014). From this perspective, it can be said that there is a relationship between consumption values and voluntary simplicity lifestyle (Haws et al 2014). …”

“…Because voluntary simplicity lifestyle refers to simplifying life and avoiding consumption as the main purpose of life. It is stated that consumers adopting voluntary simplicity lifestyle display environmentally responsible behaviors as they are influenced by consumption values (Haws et al 2014). It is known that consumers are more likely to buy environmentally friendly products when conditions allow, especially in cases of discount, and that they display environmental behaviors and try to live a simplicity life in order to feel better emotionally.…”

An Investigation of College Students' Green Consumption Behavior in China

“…However, this process is not easy, as it involves the transformation of consumer attitudes and real-life practices, and then, it affects the stakeholders of green consumption to promote the improvement of the socio-environmental resources [4]. In addition, as the current world population is growing, the expansion of human demand for environmental resources is increasing.…”

Thai Youth Travel Forms: Green Values and Environment-Friendly-Travel Values Measurement

“…Therefore, socialization becomes a major objective because it is a process that will determine the individuals to share the society's values, which build multiple relationships with the constitutive members. As there is still much to learn about youth travel form predispositions in particular, the specific aims of this research are to describe the youth travel form predispositions, with green consumers values (Haws, Winterich, & Rebecca, 2010) and environment-friendly-travel (EFT) values measurement which operationalisation' specifies the activities construct from the work of Weaver and Lawton (2002) and The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) 2012. One of the earliest definitions of green consumers was published by Elkington and Hailes in 1988.…”