Attitude versus Involvement: Predicting Ethically and Socially Responsible Consumption Behavior

Critics argue that the value gap (difference between what consumers say they care about and what they actually choose to purchase) suggests that ethical consumption is not as important as consumers imply. There is much talk about the ethical consumer “myth’ as consumers often claim to be interested in purchasing ethically and socially responsible products yet sales figures for green products often do not exceed 5% total product sales in any one category with organic fruits and vegetables being the one exception. Traditional models use consumer attitudes to the environment as a predictor of ethically and socially responsible consumption behavior (ESRCB) but this yields mixed results in the literature; whereas this study suggests that sustainable lifestyle involvement (SLI) is a much stronger predictor of ESRCB. Findings confirm that the stronger the level of involvement with a sustainable lifestyle the greater the likelihood of exhibiting ESRCB

IMECE2003-43984 INVESTIGATION INTO THE UTILIZATION OF PEANUT FIBERS IN NONWOVENS

ABSTRACT Peanuts are one of the leading food crops produced in the United States today. One of the problems of peanut production is disposal of the shells, or hulls, of the peanut, which are generally landfilled. The current research focused on obtaining fibers from the shells, characterizing them, and creating nonwoven fabrics containing these fibers, which were also characterized. The fibers obtained ranged in length from 0.6 cm to 6.3 cm, and were generally stiff. Wet laid nonwovens were produced and a variety of bonding methods such as needlepunching and latex bonding were performed. Latex bonding gave the best results, and the resulting fabrics were characterized in terms of strength, moisture and light penetration, and thermal insulation capability. The fabrics had similar light and moisture penetration properties as some commercially available erosion control fabrics and thus may be suitable for this purpose. The fabrics also retained some heat, and may be suitable for insulation purposes

How Green Should you Go: Understanding the Role of Green Atmospherics in Service Environment Evaluations?

Purpose : The purpose of this paper is to introduce the idea of green atmospherics and propose a conceptual framework for green service environment factors and a typology for green consumers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes the form of a conceptual piece. and offers a new approach to green consumerism. Green atmospherics goes beyond many of the typical factors explored in previous service environment studies. The paper examines how many terms commonplace in the design and architectural literature can be translated into the marketing arena. Factors such as daylighting, recycling, offgassing, insulation, optimal energy performance and design for the environment are discussed. Findings: The paper proposes that “going green” goes beyond having recyclable or even sustainable products, to an ideology that incorporates improving worker morale and retention, and giving back to the communities they are located in. Additionally, the paper makes a case for classifying green consumers based on a psychographic segmentation approach compared to the more traditional socioeconomic classification. Originality/value: This paper offers a conceptual framework for assessing green atmospherics within service environments and proposes a green consumer typology that references “stimuli” versus “socio‐demographics” for categorization. A new categorization is proposed and the importance of this topic to consumers, practitioners and researchers are discussed

How Green Should you Go: Understanding the Role of Green Atmospherics in Service Environment Evaluations?

Purpose : The purpose of this paper is to introduce the idea of green atmospherics and propose a conceptual framework for green service environment factors and a typology for green consumers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes the form of a conceptual piece. and offers a new approach to green consumerism. Green atmospherics goes beyond many of the typical factors explored in previous service environment studies. The paper examines how many terms commonplace in the design and architectural literature can be translated into the marketing arena. Factors such as daylighting, recycling, offgassing, insulation, optimal energy performance and design for the environment are discussed. Findings: The paper proposes that “going green” goes beyond having recyclable or even sustainable products, to an ideology that incorporates improving worker morale and retention, and giving back to the communities they are located in. Additionally, the paper makes a case for classifying green consumers based on a psychographic segmentation approach compared to the more traditional socioeconomic classification. Originality/value: This paper offers a conceptual framework for assessing green atmospherics within service environments and proposes a green consumer typology that references “stimuli” versus “socio‐demographics” for categorization. A new categorization is proposed and the importance of this topic to consumers, practitioners and researchers are discussed

Textile Products from Alternative Fibers

Fibers from non-traditional textile sources have the potential to offer novel properties at a reduced cost compared to traditional textile fibers. Two different non-traditional textile fibers, turkey feather fibers and peanut hull fibers, have been explored to determine their suitability in textile products. Turkey feather fibers have been blended with nylon fibers to produce rotor spun yarns as well as formed into latex bonded nonwoven fabrics which were evaluated for utilization as erosion control fabrics. Peanut hull fibers were also evaluated for use as nonwoven erosion control fabrics. Although both fibers are too stiff to be easily processed on traditional textile equipment, they can be processed with nonwovens equipment and successfully produced into nonwoven fabrics. Both fibers, as nonwoven fabrics can offer properties comparable to commercial erosion control fabrics