The (in)ability of consumers to perceive greenwashing and its influence on purchase intent and willingness to pay

Background: Environmental concerns have led to consumers increasingly being willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendlier products. Unfortunately, this has led to the practice ‘greenwashing’, which yields handsome financial rewards. Consumers are not sufficiently aware of greenwashing, and little is known about the effects of such knowledge. Aim: This article explores how consumers who become aware of greenwashing, respond in terms of purchase intent and willingness to pay. Setting: The population was South African middle- to upper-income consumers. The findings were based on 120 responses. Methods: The study used a 2 × 2 experimental design in which greenwashing knowledge and greenwashing presence were manipulated. Results: We found that consumers reward greenwashing when it is undetected. Educating consumers about environmental issues does not develop their ability to identify greenwashing. In contrast, consumers who are educated about greenwashing and become aware of it, penalise such products through what we term a ‘greenwash penalty’. We define the greenwash penalty as the shift in consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for a product when they become aware of greenwashing. Purchase intent (PI) is also impacted by greenwashing. Conclusion: Companies often try to drive awareness of environmental problems. Our research shows that such initiatives reward all companies that make claims, even when such claims are false. Companies that sell truly green products must educate consumers about the potential harm of misleading information. Once consumers are able to spot greenwashing attempts, companies that sell real green products should then provide true and transparent information about their own products

Can sugar provide a spark? : wanted! greener energy : is South Africa doing everything in its power to come clean?

The province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa has two strong bioindustries, namely sugar and forestry, which produce considerable volumes of residue. What is the potential of these two waste resources to deliver cost-effective, green electricity? This question led to research at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) to determine to what extent these two resources can offer feasible and economically viable sources of electric energy

2050 Scenarios for Long-Haul Tourism in the Evolving Global Climate Change Regime

Tourism and its “midwife”, aviation, are transnational sectors exposed to global uncertainties. This scenario-building exercise considers a specific subset of these uncertainties, namely the impact of the evolving global climate change regime on long-haul tourism (LHT), with a 2050 horizon. The basic problematique is that unconstrained growth in aviation emissions will not be compatible with 2050 climate stabilisation goals, and that the stringency and timing of public policy interventions could have far-reaching impacts — either on the market for future growth of LHT, or the natural ecosystem on which tourism depends. Following an intuitive-logic approach to scenario-building, three meta-level scenarios that can be regarded as “possible” futures for the evolution of LHT are described. Two of these, i.e., the “grim reaper” and the “fallen angel” scenarios, are undesirable. The “green lantern” scenario represents the desired future. Long-haul tourist destinations should heed the early warning signals identified in the scenario narratives, and contribute towards realising the desired future. They should further guard against being passive victims if the feared scenarios materialise, by adapting, repositioning early upon reading the signposts, hedging against risks, and seizing new opportunities

Residential consumers in the Cape Peninsula's willingness to pay for premium priced green electricity

A number of studies have explored the willingness (i.e. stated willingness as opposed to actual willingness) of consumers to pay a premium for green electricity in developed countries. However, little is known about how this translates into an emerging economy context. This study investigates the level of willingness of residential households in South Africa's Cape Peninsula to pay a premium for electricity from renewable energy. It methodologically drew on recent contributions in the literature on norm-motivated behaviour used to identify testable factors that could influence residential consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Interestingly, the study found a significant positive link between household income and WTP for green electricity, contrary to the findings of some previous studies. Not only are higher income households more likely to pay a premium, but typically they are also willing to pay a bigger premium. It was also further established that the view that green electricity is reliable, involvement in the recycling of waste and the belief that everyone should contribute to green electricity generation drive the WTP.Willingness to pay Green electricity Households

Creation and appropriation of socio-environmental value in coopetition

CITATION: Volschenk, J., Ungerer, M. & Smit, E. v. d. M. 2016. Creation and appropriation of socio-environmental value in coopetition. Industrial Marketing Management, 57:109-118, doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.05.026.The original publication is available at http://www.sciencedirect.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Although much has been written about value in coopetition initiatives, the dynamics of value creation and appropriation remain poorly articulated. This paper explores the types of value and the dynamics of value creation and appropriation when competitors cooperate. The research provides some suggestions towards semantic clarity and introduces new dimensions to the existing value creation and appropriation literature. We also present the Coopetition Value Matrix (CVM), an expanded typology that aids in the understanding of value dynamics in coopetition. Constructing the CVM required the incorporation of stakeholder theory and the concept of socio-environmental value, two aspects that are under-explored in coopetition research. We applied the CVM to a case of environmental coopetition in the South African wine industry, which provided us with empirical illustrations of the dynamic interaction of different types of value.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001985011630102XPre-prin

Willingness to pay for green electricity : a review of the contingent valuation literature and its sources of error

CITATION: Oerlemans, L. A. G., Chan, K. Y. & Volschenk, J. 2016. Willingness to pay for green electricity: a review of the contingent valuation literature and its sources of error. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 66:875-885, doi:10.1016/j.rser.2016.08.054.The original publication is available at http://www.sciencedirect.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Contingent valuation is widely used due to its flexibility in valuing a wide variety of nonmarket goods. Although this method has important benefits, its validity and reliability are often criticised. This paper reviews the literature on the use of contingent valuation for measuring willingness to pay (WTP) for electricity generated from renewable energy sources (green electricity). A literature review, conducted on a sample of 51 peer-reviewed studies, shows that the vast majority of contingent evaluation studies stems from developed economies. Furthermore, most frequently used WTP elicitation techniques are open-ended and dichotomous choice approaches, which tend to produce varying levels of WTP. Studies dealing with the antecedents of WTP are predominantly inspired by the theory of reasoned action or by its extension, the theory of planned behaviour. This paper identifies five common errors in contingent valuation methods and discusses a number of remedies to deal with these errors in WTP research.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116304877Pre-prin

Healthy or Not Healthy? A Mixed-Methods Approach to Evaluate Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labels as a Tool to Guide Consumers

This study explored how South African food labels could be improved, to enhance customer evaluation of the overall healthiness of packaged food. Focus was given to the comparison of front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labels as a quick assessment tool. The exploratory sequential mixed-methods design used qualitative interviews (n = 49) to gain insight into labeling challenges and select FOP nutrition labels for consumer testing. Consumers (n = 1261) randomly assessed two out of six possible FOP nutrition labels relative to a ‘no-label’ control in one of 12 online surveys, applied to a fictitious cereal product. A mixed-model analysis of variance was used to compare the differences in health ratings for the different FOP nutrition labels. The interviews revealed three themes for label improvement, that are presented over three time horizons. In terms of helping consumers identify less healthy products, the effect sizes were most prominent for health warnings (p p < 0.01). The findings of this research not only clarify whether FOP nutrition labeling formats used in other regions such as Europe, South America and Australia could be useful in the South African context, but they can assist policymakers and decision-makers in selecting an effective FOP label