This study is one of the first of its kind to examine actual consumer purchasing decisions for forest products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Consumer purchasing was examined based on the presence or absence of a promotional brochure and a price premium for red oak and yellow poplar surfaced-four-sides (S4S) boards. This research also compared typical demographic factors for purchasers and non-purchasers of FSC certified S4S boards. Finally, the study examined subscales from a previously designed ecoscale to determine whether two of the subscales were effective predictors of the sale of FSC certified boards. Due to significant interactions between the price premium and the promotional brochure, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics could not be interpreted. However, these strong interactions indicate that these two factors are interdependent. Examining respondents' understanding of the trade term, "certification," showed that most did not understand the term as it is used by the forest products industry. Respondents did not link certification directly with the environment, but rather stated that it was a measure of quality excellence. This illustrates that the forest products industry must use more specific descriptions that consumers will understand when referring to certification. Based on survey results from this study, a large proportion of respondents who paid more for FSC certified boards were unable to recall whether they had cost any more than the alternative product. Respondents of this study were not found to have a high level of confidence in the environmental claims of any group. These included forest products companies, industry associations, and independent organizations. The subscales of a previously designed ecoscale were not found to be strong indicators of a respondents' likelihood to purchase FSC certified S4S boards. This project should be seen as a starting point for additional researchers interested in studying actual purchase decisions of consumers of environmentally conscious products, such as certified hardwood boards. / Master of Science

In 2016, it is no longer possible to deny the existence of global warming and its harmful effects on our planet and the environment. Not only experts, but also consumers, have become increasingly concerned about the environment. This increased awareness and concern has increased consumers’ interest in purchasing environmentally friendly food products, and has caused companies to focus on programs intent on reducing their environmental impact and helping the environment. Companies have introduced more environmentally friendly food products, accessible on a large scale, and have changed their communication to focus more on green products and green product attributes. Scandinavian countries have some of the largest numbers of organic food consumers in Europe and the world, with the Swedish organic food industry measuring the highest growth rate in organic food sales in 2015. Therefore, this study focuses on the Swedish green food industry. A major way for companies to make consumers aware of their available environmentally friendly food products is through green advertising. An increasingly frequent problem, however, is that consumers tend to distrust these green ads. They have knowledge of green washing practices and misleading information in green advertising. In this thesis, the relationships between green consumerism, green washing and green advertising skepticism were investigated. The potential relationship between demographic factors such as gender, age, income and level and area of study, and green advertising skepticism were tested as well. A research model with three main hypotheses was used in this thesis. The results showed a significant relationship between green consumerism and green advertising skepticism when green washing was a moderator. There was also a significant negative relationship between attitude towards green products and green advertising skepticism and a positive relationship between environmental concern and green advertising skepticism. There existed no significant relationship between the tested demographic factors and green advertising skepticism in the Swedish green food industry.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / A global increase in environmental awareness and concern about issues such as climate change, resource depletion and higher levels of pollution are having a greater influence on the purchasing decisions and product selection of consumers. In a response to this trend and growing demand for eco-friendly products, manufacturers introduced goods suggested to have a less harmful impact on the environment. A growing number of environmental logos and unsupported claims caused consumer scepticism and created a need for certified environmental logos, which led to the introduction of eco-labels. To date, South Africa does not have a certified eco-label in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) non-food category. The application of eco-labels on products would allow South African consumers to identify eco-friendly options and incentivise producers to develop goods that are less harmful to the environment. In order to establish the requirements for a successful eco-labelling scheme, a literature review was conducted. Based on the findings, a consumer survey was carried out to determine whether there is a demand for eco-labelled goods in South Africa and whether an eco-labelling project will have a significant effect on consumer behaviour in the FMCG non-food category. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that consumers are concerned about the environment and that they will support eco-friendly goods, if the quality and performance are as good as regular products. The survey, however, revealed that consumers are of the opinion that eco-friendly products are not as effective as regular products. The analysis also found that consumers are price sensitive and not willing to pay a large premium for eco-friendly attributes. These are the two main obstacles hindering South African consumers to move to more sustainable consumption patterns. In the survey, consumers also indicated a need for an independent third party to verify environmental claims, manage eco-labels and audit producers to ensure that eco-friendly goods meet acceptable sustainability and quality standards.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Greenwashing is a growing concern globally. The increase in the number of green-marketed products has resulted in an increase in greenwashing. Some companies market their products as green, while they are not. They then respond with greenwashing to neutralise condemnations from environmental laws and government or to gain competitive advantage. Investigations into the existence of greenwashing in developed countries have shown high percentages. This study was therefore aimed at investigating the magnitude of greenwashing in South African products and determining whether there is a similar trend to other investigated countries. This research study was conducted among six South African magazines, which have different target markets and therefore advertise different product categories. The results indicated that 94 percent of green-advertised products in South Africa were greenwashing. Baby products and cosmetic products had the highest percentage of green-advertised products and greenwashing products. Amongst the sins of greenwashing, which were used to analyse the greenness of the products, the sins of ‘vagueness’ and ‘no proof’ had the highest percentages and were evident in all product categories. The study also determined which target market was most susceptible to greenwashing. The results show that new mothers were more likely to buy green products, followed by women in general. The green claims that showed evidence of highest presence in South African products were BPA-free, Natural, Organic and Pure.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucia Lucena de A e Silva.pdf: 1053035 bytes, checksum: a595946dc61ec7813c28b0f2c9b7a8b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The subjects sustainable development and climate change have become recurrent in our daily life and are no longer specific issues of scientists and researchers. Companies have begun to change many of their processes in order to meet environmental demands made by governments and consumers. Two points of major concern are: the way these goods are produced and the impacts they cause to the environment, society and economy. Based on the theories of Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Social Responsibility, Product Development and Analysis of Environmentally Product Life Cycle, it was possible to determine important issues for which a product is considered environmentally responsible. Understanding these concepts, a case study was made in the company Philips, in Brazil, and its line of products from Lighting Home. The objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate the concepts and practices, and to verify if the fluorescent lamps may or may not be considered green products / Os assuntos desenvolvimento sustentável e mudanças climáticas tornaram-se recorrentes no dia-a-dia de toda sociedade e não são mais exclusivos de cientistas e pesquisadores. As empresas passaram a modificar muitos de seus processos em função de exigências ambientais feitas por governos e consumidores. Dois pontos de grande preocupação são: a forma como os diversos bens de consumo são produzidos e os impactos ambientais que eles exercem no meio ambiente, na sociedade e na economia. Esta dissertação concentra atenções na importância do desenvolvimento de produtos e em seus ciclos de vida, levando em consideração os possíveis impactos provocados na natureza. Com base nas teorias do Marketing, Comportamento do Consumidor, Responsabilidade Social, Desenvolvimento de Produtos Ecologicamente Corretos e Análise de Ciclo de Vida de Produto, foi possível determinar aspectos importantes para que um produto seja considerado ambientalmente responsável. A partir da compreensão dos conceitos, estudou-se o caso da empresa Philips no Brasil e a sua linha de produtos de Iluminação Residencial e Decorativa a fim de analisar e avaliar os conceitos e as práticas, e se as lâmpadas fluorescentes podem ou não ser consideradas produtos verdes

Environmentally benign alternatives for solvents and catalysts are essential for the development of sustainable chemical processes. Toward this end, we focused our research on the design of novel solvents and catalysts that reduce the environmental impact of these important materials. In this research, we develop switchable and tunable systems that couple reaction and separation to ease the processing requirements for product isolation and catalyst recovery. The switchable solvents use a ¡°switch¡± to transition from non-volatile, polar, aprotic solvents to volatile gases that can be easily separated. This allows us to facilitate reactions within the solvent and then enable easy separation through activation of the switch. We have used these materials for numerous reaction applications, including difficult reactions involving highly immiscible compounds. We also extended the work to acid-catalyzed reactions, in which we can avoid wasteful neutralization processes that are often associated with homogeneous acid catalysis. The tunable solvents use carbon dioxide pressure to ¡°tune¡± into desired solvent properties. We enable this through the dissolution of carbon dioxide into organic solvents, which generates gas-expanded liquids with solvent properties highly dependent on the carbon dioxide pressure. We can use this effect to couple homogeneous reaction with heterogeneous separation, allowing for recovery of expensive catalysts and ligands. In this work, we assess the possibilities of using liquid polyethylene glycol in the tunable systems, studying the phase behavior and industrial applications.

By measuring intentions to purchase, this research gives insight into environmental attitudes, pressures to purchase environmentally friendly apparel, factors that inhibit environmentally friendly apparel purchasing, awareness of environmentally friendly apparel purchase options, and marketing insight into the eco-friendly consumer. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to assess consumer purchasing intentions for environmentally friendly apparel. The TPB consists of a three-pronged measurement: individual attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Individual attitudes were gauged on three dimensions which included environmental attitudes, demographic patterns, and environmentally friendly apparel purchase intentions. Subjective norms involve social pressure to engage in eco-friendly behavior, perceived individual environmental impact, and desire for uniqueness in dress. Finally, perceived behavioral control was studied through previous environmentally friendly apparel purchases, accessibility of environmentally friendly apparel purchase options, and cost of environmentally friendly apparel. The results revealed that individual environmental attitudes, social pressure to behave environmentally friendly, perceived individual environmental impact, desire for uniqueness in dress, past environmentally friendly apparel purchases, accessibility of environmentally friendly apparel purchase options, and cost of environmentally friendly apparel all have an impact on intentions to purchase environmentally friendly apparel. The variable with the strongest relationship to intentions was social pressure. A demographic profile of intent to purchase environmentally friendly apparel, however, was not possible with this sample. This indicates there is not specifically one type of person who purchases environmentally friendly apparel.

La presente investigación se concentra en conocer como uno de los atributos de un green product, como el packaging, es de suma importancia al momento de establecer la relación con la confianza que el consumidor busca al momento de comprar un producto eco amigable, ya que es lo primero que verán en el punto de venta o por alguna plataforma digital. La tendencia de optar por productos que tengan un impacto positivo para el medioambiente empezó a inicios de los noventas. Esta tendencia se conoce como green marketing y tiene como objetivo que las empresas creen, produzcan y promuevan un tipo de producto, con un impacto positivo en el medio ambiente y satisfacer las necesidades de los consumidores. Es asi como nace un green product, un artículo producido con propósito ambiental incluso hasta la última etapa del ciclo de vida de este. Parte importante de un green product es el packaging que también debe cumplir con la promesa de ser pro Ambiental. Este empaque debe generar seguridad y confianza a los consumidores, ya sea a través del diseño, materiales o certificaciones que avalen que es un producto 100% ecológico. La importancia del empaque genera, como se mencionó líneas arriba, una relación de confianza de la marca con el consumidor, ya que es a través de este atributo se puede generar expectativas sobre si tiene un desempeño ambiental o no. / This research focuses on knowing how one of the attributes of a green product, As the packaging, It is of utmost importance when establishing the relationship with the trust that the consumer looks for when buying an eco-friendly product, since it is the first thing they will see at the point of sale or through a digital platform. The trend to opt for products that have a positive impact on the environment began in the early 1990s. This trend is known as green marketing and its objective is that companies create, produce and promote a type of product, with a positive impact on the environment and satisfy the needs of consumers. This is how a green product, an item produced with an environmental purpose even up to the last stage of its life cycle. Important part of a green product is its packaging which must also fulfil the promise of being pro environmental. This packaging must generate security and confidence in consumers, either through the design, materials or certifications that guarantee that it is a 100% ecological product. The importance of packaging generates, as mentioned above, a relationship of trust between the brand and the consumer, since it is through this attribute that expectations can be generated about whether it has an environmental performance or not. / Trabajo de investigación

M. Tech. (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / In South Africa, the beverage industry is perceived to be a major contributor to the economy. Internal and external stakeholders in this industry are engaged in environmental collaboration with each other to achieve better environmental and supply chain performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of green supply chain management practices on environmental performance and supply chain performance in the beverage industry of South Africa. It considers four of these practices, namely, internal environment management, investment recovery, eco-design and green purchasing. A quantitative approach was adopted, with the use of a survey questionnaire to collect information from 373 supply chain management professionals from beverage companies in South Africa. The study used a probability simple random sampling method. The data gathered was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 and Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) version 25.0. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to validate the measurement scales while Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to test the relations between constructs. The results revealed that internal environment management, investment recovery, eco-design and green purchasing positively and significantly influence environmental performance. Moreover, the results also revealed that environmental performance exerted a strong, significant and positive influence on supply chain performance. Recommendations and implications for further research were made based on these results. The study presents supply chain management professionals, internal and external stakeholders within the beverage industry with useful insights on key factors that ought to be addressed in order to improve their organisational strategies. Therefore, the study is essential to internal and external stakeholders in the beverage industry who wish to improve environmental and supply chain performance.

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