Feel-good-factor

For some participants, practising green consumption behaviour is associated with a

“feel-good-factor”, which can result in self-esteem maintenance and enhancement, as the following example by Greta (Case 1) illustrates:

Greta: “I feel good that we recycle and compost, and do all those things. It does make you feel better. I don‟t particularly want to see a reward for it. I know that I‟m doing my little part.”

Greta uses certain phrases such as “I feel good”, “feel better” and “doing my little part” to describe the personal satisfaction that she receives when she recycles and composts household waste. Altruistic behaviours such as recycling and composting are often linked with a “feel-good-factor”. This has led some academics to argue that no environmental action is purely altruistic, as there is always some personal reward to the individual performing the act (Griskevicius, et al., 2010). According to Pettit and Sheppard (1992, p. 336), a consumer does not typically adopt environmentally-friendly consumption behaviour because it makes a tangible contribution to the environment, but rather because it makes them “feel better” or feel like they are contributing to environmental interests. This example corresponds with self-consistency theories (Grubb & Grathwohl, 1967; Sirgy, 1982, 1985), because Greta recycles in order to remain consistent with her pro-environmental views and values.

While Greta does not want a reward for recycling, she gains personal satisfaction that enables her to maintain her self-esteem and self-concept, which in turn promotes continued practice of the behaviour.

Stephanie Hooper 107 4.4.2.1.3. Cost efficiencies

The findings suggest that most consumers decide to engage in some form of green consumption behaviour due to economic reasons. In some cases, the purchase of environmentally-friendly or green products is cheaper or saves money. Some participants expressed the incurred financial benefits from reusing products and having effective waste management and energy–efficient systems in the household, as explained in Table 2.

Table 2: “Cost-efficiency” statements

Based on these statements, it is evident that “value for money” and “cost-efficiency”

are important product attributes in the social environment. Several participants view

“green” as an additional benefit, rather than the principal reason for adopting green consumption behaviour. Primary reasons for adopting green consumption behaviour are generally due to cost-efficiency. Gruskevicius, Tybur, and Van den Bergh (2010, p. 393) looked into the conspicuous nature of green consumerism and suggest that the decision to adopt green practices or products is often driven by self-oriented motives.

While research has shown that consumers are mainly driven to be “green” for

self-Reusing products Waste management systems Energy-efficient systems

Deborah (Case 4): “Yeah it‟s

Gordon (Case 1): “If it‟s wasteful it‟s going to cost me money. I think they go hand-in-hand really don‟t they. We have a lot of garden waste. I try to keep rubbish down to one bag a week and if you throw out all of your compost and food scraps, you wouldn‟t be able to do it. So that‟s part of the reason to be honest. Plus I throw the compost on the plants and that sort of thing. Composting and that sort of thing, its having a couple of benefits.”

Fiona (Case 2): “We‟re actually a really energy efficient household, our power bills are real cheap. Normally $150, for four people as well. So we are actually quite energy-efficient with heating. Activities are mainly cost saving and convenience. But also being good for the environment.”

Eddy (Case 3): “I reckon in the way of recycling and composting and stuff like that – that is cost-efficient. Then on the other side of the coin are the things that are healthier for you but cost more and that‟s just the way the markets work. Your health and cost. So I think those are two really big pay-offs that you can do.”

Fred (Case 2): “Probably cost saving, with the added benefit. You can be cheaper and be environmentally-friendly. Refillable products and cutting down on heating costs etc.”

Eddy (Case 3): “With electricity and stuff cost does come into it because as I say it comes into everything whether you like it or not. People are fooling themselves if they say its not, their just lying. It‟s all about the cost at the end of the day. A lot of things it can be cheaper to be green in a lot of ways.”

Stephanie Hooper 108 oriented and economic reasons, qualitative research is able to provide deeper understanding and insight of this phenomenon.

While discussing the advantages of implementing green systems and purchasing green products, the participants use words like “bonus”, “additional benefit” and “pay-off”

to describe the benefits of certain green consumption behaviour. Through analysing this data, it is clear that cost savings are a key motivation for many participants and the environmental benefits are supplementary to this. It is interesting that the participants who were more motivated by the additional benefits (i.e., cost-savings and efficiency), were participants on the lower end of the green-continuum including, Gordon (Case 1), Fiona (Case 2), Fred (Case 2), Eddy (Case 3) and Deborah (Case 4) represented in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Household cases positioned on the green-continuum

The diagram above highlights the difference between “green” and “mainstream” (i.e., not-so-green) consumers. The household cases‟ position on the green scale, was judged by the researcher, according to a criteria that considered green product purchases and behaviour, household activities and level of commitment to green values. Cases 1-4 are categorised as “mainstream” or “not-so-green” because their green consumption behaviour is primarily driven by self-oriented motives. Cases 5-7

2 6

Stephanie Hooper 109 are deemed “green” because most of their consumption behaviour is motivated by environmental interests. At the midway point on the green-continuum, motivations shift from self-interest (i.e., perception of cost/efficiency benefits), to internalised pro-environmental personal norms (as discussed in section 4.4.1.2. pp. 94-96), as guides for green consumption behaviour. Only very environmentally-conscious participants buy purely for environmental benefits. As social norms are internalised to become pro-environmental personal norms, consumption behaviour is dictated by their environmental or “green” identity.