Author(s): Sunetra Maitra Paul and Pinaki Ranjan Bhattacharyya
Purpose - Consumers and organizations are becoming more concerned about the importance of green vehicles which guide them to a sustainable consumption process and pollution free environment. According to Passet (1979), out of the three spheres, environment, economy and society, the economic sphere represents the development policy and indicates the vitality of social and environmental sphere which is not relevant without the ‘natural capital’ due to its fragileness and limited presence in the society. An essential component leading to sustainable governance is only possible with respect to integration of natural system with society for long term sustainable development. Moreover, increased consideration of how consumers and organizations become good corporate citizens and caretakers of finite non-renewable resources in this planet is under focus. In spite of all the progress that has been made globally towards addressing issues of sustainability and green marketing initiatives, the problem of unsustainable consumption is increasing by leaps and bounds. The ‘attitude – behavior gap’ or ‘values – action gap’ is a position which represent the consumers concern of different environmental issues and their struggle to translate these in consumption decision making process to support sustainable consumption. The authors have made an attempt to demonstrate the importance of green vehicles in the present environmental situation to control environmental, physical and financial resources.
Design/methodology/ research - This study has attempted to identify the triangulation effect of attitude – behavior gap which has affected purchases of green vehicles. The constructs have been developed based on the 51 items using Kashdan and Steger (2006) scale to identify and analyse the greater dispositional social anxiety which tend to suppress emotions. Primary data has been collected from the respondents who are interested to purchase green vehicles as self-declared green consumers through a structured questionnaire and stratified random sampling method was adopted to collect the data in an around Kolkata.
Findings - The result obtained has inferred the awareness of consumers about the efficacy of green vehicles and has validated the triangulation effect of attitude – behavior gap while consuming green vehicles. It has also brought forth the indecisive nature of the consumers in selecting green vehicles necessary to support sustainable consumption process using structured equation modelling method in determining relationships resulting in intention to pursue green consumption values.
Originality / value of research – The systems approach to sustainability introduced by Passet (1979) and further christened by the interdependence theory of three ‘‘spheres’’ or classes of system: the economic, the social and the environmental, has thrown light on the economic proposals related to sustainability. The economic sphere, frequently the major focus of development policies and indicators, depends on the vitality of the social and environmental spheres. The economic sphere is not relevant without the ‘natural capital’ i.e. environmental assets or resource which is fragile and limited in the present society. An essential component leading to sustainable development is only possible with respect to integration of natural system with society. Moreover, increased consideration on how consumers and organizations can become good corporate citizens and caretakers of finite non-renewable resources in this planet is under focus. In spite of all the progress that has been made globally towards addressing issues of sustainability and green marketing initiatives, the problem of unsustainable consumption is increasing by leaps and bounds. The paper has been structured on the basis of attitude – behaviour gap introduced by Boulstridge and Carrigan (2000) and subsequent research carried out to identify ethical consumption pattern to identify and interrogate the inconsistency in consumer attitude and their consumption pattern, popularly referred to as ‘gap’. This has been categorized into two main perspectives, involving empirical issues on one hand associated with apprehending ‘the gap’, and corresponding cognitive factors which are influencing the gap on the other hand (Carrigan and Attalla ,2001; Carrington et al.,2010; Papaoikonomou et al., 2011; Newholm and Shaw, 2007; Shaw et al., 2006a; Vermeir and Verbeke,2006; Davies et al.,2012). The authors have tried to identify the triangulation effect of attitude, intention and behavior in respect to gap while purchasing green vehicles and the indecisive nature or reluctance of consumers even after being aware about efficacy of green vehicles for sustainable consumption.
Research limitations/Implications – There are certain core limitations of the research identified by the authors. The limited number of self-declared consumers for willing to purchase green vehicles is one of the major limitations while conducting the survey. These findings have been validated in a predictive manner to understand the effectiveness of green consumption values and its implication amongst the consumers. Moreover, inadequate awareness about green vehicles among consumers is another limitation in time of research.
Practical Implication – The results are expected to explain the acceptability of the consumers in obeying green consumerism. The proposed green model and its validity are associated with green consumption values along with a parsimonious validation predicting choice of actual green environmental product. This will assist in incorporating green consumption theory and its effect in creating a sustainable environment. This study includes the significant findings about the gap observed between consumer intention to purchase and actual behavior depicted during purchase. This study provides important guidelines to boost positive attitudes in society towards green marketing and helps companies develop effective strategies to promote their green vehicles.
Social Implication It has been identified that in case of consumption or use of green vehicles lack of consumer awareness is an important factor. Consumer found to be indecisive in nature regarding purchase decision of green vehicles. Even if consumers are aware about importance of green vehicles and sustainability concept, still this behavior found to be not so popular among Indian consumers.