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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Matthew GortonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Consumers have several options when confronted with less environmentally friendly packaging like water in single use plastic bottles – they can ignore environmental concerns and proceed with a purchase, refuse to buy any such product, seek out a less damaging version like water in biodegradable bottles, and/or engage in offsetting/compensatory behavior such as donating to a charity. Understanding how consumers value these options is an important academic and management challenge. To address this, a stated choice experiment is employed. It considers the preferences of a representative sample of UK consumers for bottled water with the attributes: packaging (PET versus biodegradable), charity donation (environment/social/none), origin (domestic/foreign), and price. Data were analyzed using random parameter logit modeling, incorporating a latent variable into the model, which captured environmentally conscious behavior. Based on the model estimations, domestic origin, biodegradable packaging, and charity donations (both for environmental and social causes) positively affect decision-makers’ perceived utility. In keeping with moral consistency theory, as consumers' level of nature relatedness and green consumption values increase, biodegradable packaging becomes more preferable than non-biodegradable packaging, and the likelihood of refusing to purchase any bottled water option, rises, respectively. In contrast, high levels of materialist values are associated with lower environmental consciousness. The paper provides evidence to managers regarding consumers’ valuation of more environmentally friendly packaging, and strategies to increase uptake.
Author(s): Czine P, Gorton M, Bauerné Gáthy A, Vuk A, Balogh P, Chou Y, Török Á
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Environmental Management
Year: 2025
Volume: 373
Print publication date: 01/01/2025
Online publication date: 12/12/2024
Acceptance date: 04/12/2024
Date deposited: 19/12/2024
ISSN (print): 0301-4797
ISSN (electronic): 0301-4797
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123649
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123649
Data Access Statement: Data will be made available on request.
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