Eco-labeling is an important matter in the modern world, because of its relationship to the significant issues of the society, i.e. environmental and health care. More and more people pay great attention to the ‘green’ aspect of their lives. Many researchers, in their turn, unveil the topic devoted to the eco-labeling strategies in their academic papers.  However, there is a certain knowledge gap in the existing literature, which allowed the researchers of this paper to focus the study on consumers' preferences towards eco-labeled products and purchase intention in the context of cultural diversity. Cultural aspect might have the crucial effect and predetermine consumers’ behavior to some extent. Thus, for companies’ management it is highly important to be aware of cultural context of the country they are already operating in or only going to internationalize into. Prior to empirical data collection a literature review on eco-labeling, cultural diversity, and purchase intention were conducted, followed by the integration of gained information into the theoretical model. The theoretical model, developed by the authors, presents the research of the perceived association between consumers’ preferences, as presented by own health care and environmental care, and purchase intention under the impact of the moderating effect of national culture. In order to test the hypotheses formulated on the literature and model bases, primary data from respondents from three different countries (namely, the USA, Sweden, and Russia) and secondary data from existing literature were collected, the integration of which allowed getting some relevant conclusions and results. After the data collection and all the statistical process analyzing it, the researchers concluded that culture has an impact on the association of consumers' preferences and purchase intention of eco-labeled products, but this moderating effect varies in terms of the context of consumers' preferences and different cultural dimensions.

Growing number of SME restaurant and unsustainable food consumption creates a paradoxicaltension in the society from “Environmental sustainability” perspective. This paradoxicaltension requires every organizations to reduce their ecological footprint through minimizingits environmental effects. In Sweden, KRAV, a non-profit organization that sets organicagriculture standards, oversees certification for a variety of industry members, includingrestaurants. Previous research has focused on only CSR issues and only large multinationalfood chains rather than SMEs. While SME restaurants are less powerful on their own but theircollective impact on the environment and society is tremendous. Guided by qualitative data inthe form of semi-structured interviews were collected from SME sushi restaurant owners inUmea, Sweden. Firstly author has identified the motives of owners toward “environmentalsustainability” such as packaging, waste management, procurement, and environmentalcertification. Environmental certification has further classified into two motives one is basedon morality and another one is based on profitability & morality. Secondly, author furtherdiscussed the environmental certification that is based on both morality & profitability into twodimension such as “profitability” & “Legitimacy”. Thirdly, author represent the role of greenmarketing to achieve these two dimensions along with its benefits and challenges. Benefits andchallenges were discussed based on both “environmental certification (KRAV) and “Greenmarketing” perspective. Benefits such as “New customer segment”, “Brand loyalty”,“Competitive advantage” and “higher profitability” in the long run have been identified.Moreover, “Lack of awareness”, “attitude- behavior gap”, “inadequate use of technology”,“costly”, “SME restaurant type”, “unavailability”, “strict rules and restriction” and“insufficient financial investment” have been found as a major barriers or challenges to achieveKRAV certificate (environmental certification) and overall “Environmental sustainability”.With the help of a comprehensive literature review, the motivations and challenges of theseparticipants were identified and explored using a conceptual framework based on“Environmental sustainability” and “Green marketing”.

Greenwashing is considered a global issue and refers to a process of conveying false information and marketing about a company's products and how they are produced. Greenwashing in marketing will give consumers the belief that a company is more eco-friendly than it really is and leads to unsustainable claims. This research aims to assess, through a quantitative analysis in combination with a survey, how Swedish consumers are affected by greenwashing, when it comes to their consumption choices. Moreover, this research assesses whether general attitudes towards ecolabels, green marketing and consumption is determined by a personal attitude towards marketing. In conclusion, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the effect of greenwashing on an individual level and how it has led to an increasing amount of skepticism regarding green trust and ecolabels.

The dissertation consists of four essays that treat different aspects or the evaluation of public policy. Two essays are applications of the travel cost method. In the first of these, recreational travel to the Swedish coast is studied to obtain estimates of the social benefits from reduced eutrophication of the sea. The second travel cost essay attempts at estimating how the probability that a woman will undergo mammographic screening for breast cancer is affected by the distance she has to travel to undergo such an examination. Using these estimated probabilities, the woman's valuation of the examination is obtained. The two other essays deal with automobile taxation. One essay analyzes how taxation and the Swedish eco-labeling system of automobiles have affected the sale of different car models. The last essay treats the effects of taxes and of scrappage premiums on the life length of cars. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1999

CAPES / Esta tese tem como temas centrais a sustentabilidade ambiental e sua inserção na produção de produtos, sob a ótica da rotulagem. Desta forma, o trabalho tem como objetivo uma análise de viabilidade de implementação de um programa de rotulagem ambiental para produtos, que tenha como agente certificador uma universidade federal, tendo como estudo de caso a Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR). O desenvolvimento da pesquisa teve caráter predominantemente exploratório e foi feito por meio de levantamentos bibliográficos e da fase de campo. No referencial teórico buscou-se compreender o funcionamento dos programas de rotulagem já existentes, envolvendo as normas necessárias. A fase de campo foi composta pelas seguintes etapas: questionários com produtores e com consumidores, a partir dos quais pôde-se perceber que ainda há pouco conhecimento a respeito dos programas de rotulagem existentes e ainda é necessário conscientizar grande parte dos consumidores, mas existe uma tendência à busca pela produção de produtos com menor impacto ambiental; um caso de estudo de um programa de rotulagem já existente, a partir do qual foram identificadas, especialmente, as relações do programa com a universidade da qual faz parte; e um estudo da estrutura da UTFPR, que possibilitou identificar as potencialidades da estrutura e do corpo de pesquisa já existentes na universidade que podem dar suporte ao funcionamento do programa. A partir dessas informações, foram elaboradas proposições para viabilizar e buscar a efetividade do funcionamento do programa a ser implementado na UTFPR. De forma geral, pôde-se perceber que a demanda por produtos com menor impacto ambiental ainda é pequena e os programas de rotulagem ainda são pouco conhecidos; neste sentido, as universidades, pela sua estrutura física e pessoal, podem estar inseridas neste contexto, de forma a contribuir com a sociedade - promovendo um consumo consciente -, e possibilitar um ensino aplicado, por meio da implementação do programa de rotulagem. / This thesis's central themes are the environmental sustainability and its insertion in products production, from the perspective of labeling. Thereby, the work aims to investigate the feasibility implementation of an environmental labeling program for products, which have the certifying agent a federal university, whose case is the Technological Federal University of Paraná (UTFPR). The development of the research was mainly exploratory and was done through literature surveys and field phase. The theoretical framework sought to understand the functioning of existing labeling programs, involving the necessary standards. The field phase consisted of the following steps: questionnaires to producers and to consumers, from which it was possible to perceive that there is still little knowledge about the existing labeling programs, and still need to raise awareness of most consumers, but there is a tendency to search for the production of products with less environmental impact; a case study of an existing labeling program, from which have been identified especially the program's relationship with the university to which it belongs; and a study of the UTFPR structure, which enabled to identify the potential of the structure and the existing body of researchers at the university that can support the program operation. From this information, some proposals were designed to enable and to seek for the effectiveness of the program operation being implemented in UTFPR. Overall, it was possible to perceive that the demand for products with less environmental impact is still small and labeling programs are poorly known; in this sense, universities, by their physical and personnel structure could be inserted in this context, in order to contribute to society - promoting responsible consumption - and enable applied teaching through the implementation of a labeling program.