Affective design of eco product labels

Date of Publication

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering

College

Gokongwei College of Engineering

Department/Unit

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Thesis Adviser

Anthony Shun Fung Chiu

Abstract/Summary

There is an increase in the environmental conscience of consumers which results in the increased demand for green products. The last decade has witnessed a drastic change in consumer preferences towards green products with the emergence of green consumers provoking market method for environmentally friendly organizations and new product innovations.

Eco-labelling is a marketing technique for informing consumers that a company has employed a process to protect the environment. There are different ways by which marketers express environmental benefits of a products through product claims such as eco-friendly, environmentally safe, recyclable, biodegradable and ozone friendly (Morris, Hastak, & Mazis, 1995). If consumers value this practice then they may be willing to pay a premium for the product. However uncertainty remains with respect to how labels influence consumers.

Buying eco products can elicit emotion in consumers. These are normally positive responses that provoke people to make a purchase decision. When consumers buy eco products they feel that they are helping save the environment. Products provide certain emotional benefits and therefore affect mood and behavior. This study aims to investigate how consumers who differ in environmental attitude respond to eco-label. Aside from this it wants to determine the intensity and type of emotions elicited by these kinds of products based on a certain pre-purchase emotion set. These emotions are still unknown. In addition it wants to develop a model that relates, environmental attitude, visual attention of these eco-label, emotion and desirability to purchase the product.

This study focused on identifying the set of emotions engendered from eco-products in the context of pre-purchase stage. From the findings it was revealed that participants significantly experience more positive feelings/emotions than negative feelings/emotions when buying an eco-product while participants are indifferent in experiencing positive and negative feelings/emotions when buying a non-eco product. There were 18 emotions engendered: good, happy, optimistic, glad, pleased, hopeful, encourage, amazed, calm, caring, concerned, excited, delighted, contented, peaceful, enthusiastic, fulfilled, and compassionate. The study was able to generate 18 positive emotions when buying an eco-product and 26 emotions in buying non-eco product. This study revealed that a different model of affect that we will call Eco Emotion Set (E2S) was able to describe the feelings of consumers when they are about to buy an eco-product.

The new conceptual framework the Green Emotion Model (GEM) 2.0 proposed to include the importance of environmental attitude, visual perception and emotion in purchasing eco-product. This model is unique as it is the first to predict emotional experience from the ecological attributes and relates consumers environmental attitude that influence them to read on the message of the eco-label and predict purchase intention. GEM 2.0 proposed that eco-label plays an important role to influence consumers to patronize green products. Designers of eco-label should consider how consumers look for this environmental information and it is important that it captures their attention. Companies should not overlook the significance of eco-labeling since it act as a powerful means of achieving and maintaining green product standing and creating an effective competitive advantage. Eco-labels can be used for positioning the products influence and as product differentiator. This study will be applicable for advertisers since the emotional benefit is needed for positioning green product for personal care. This study suggests that for a green product to be successful, the emotional benefits should also be communicated to the consumers to entice them to patronize these products.

This study can offer precious knowledge, which can help the private and public enterprises in developing and designing appealing eco-label that will be understood and favored by consumers.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTG006370

Shelf Location

Archives, The Learning Commons, 12F Henry Sy Sr. Hall

Physical Description

1 computer optical disc. 4 3/4 in.

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