Consumers’ purchase motivations of environmentally friendly products during the COVID-19 pandemic. The difference between high cultural capital and low cultural capital consumers. Jasper van der Meij 10-01-2021

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Consumers’ purchase motivations of environmentally friendly products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The difference between high cultural capital and low cultural capital consumers.

Jasper van der Meij

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2 Consumers’ purchase motivations of environmentally friendly products during the COVID-19

pandemic.

The difference between high cultural capital and low cultural capital consumers.

Jasper van der Meij

Faculty of Economics and Business, department of Marketing

Master’s Thesis

10-01-2021

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Abstract

This study examines the motivations behind environmentally friendly consumption during a global pandemic, specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic. Extant literature has explored drivers of environmentally friendly consumption already, including differences between low and high cultural capital individuals regarding their ecological consciousness. It was found that environmentally friendly consumption has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, consumers’ reasoning behind this shift in sentiment during a global pandemic has not been examined yet. Therefore, this study will contribute to extant literature on the motivations behind environmentally friendly consumption by taking the opportunity to examine environmentally friendly consumer behaviour under the unique circumstances of a worldwide pandemic and comparing the motivators of environmentally friendly consumption between individuals with low and high cultural capital, by the means of qualitative research methods. Specifically, semi structured in-depth interviews.

From these interviews, three different segments of interviewees emerged. These segments showed that one segment in particular seems to drive the found increase in the consumption of environmentally friendly products since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the segment consisting of low cultural capital interviewees which indicated having reflected on their consumption behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is attributed to an increased sense of consideration they have given to the extent to which their consumption pattern could impact the world and the environment in which they live.

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Introduction

COVID-19, a recent global phenomenon of a vast magnitude, affects consumers worldwide significantly, both socially and economically (Nicola et al., 2020). Moreover, the economic crisis that has resulted from the occurrence of COVID-19 has raised calls to green the post-pandemic recovery by the means of national policy (Barbier, 2020; Corporate Leaders Group, 2020). In his study, Barbier (2020) argues that trying to reinstate our existing brown economy will result in a permanently damaged climate and severe environmental risks. Nevertheless, greening the post-pandemic recovery is not considered to be solely the task of policy makers. For instance, Ivanova et al. (2016) concluded that between 60 and 80 percent of the impacts on the planet and its climate are the result of household consumption.

During COVID-19, consumer behaviour, and specifically consumer spending, has changed in an unprecedented manner (Babu and Kumar, 2020; Liu et al., 2020). This is illustrated by a study done by the New York Times (2020) on the credit and debit card spending of nearly six million people in the United States during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, this study revealed that spending on grocery shopping has increased, whereas spending on travel, restaurants and transportation has decreased as much as 70%, compared to three months prior. In addition, consumers’ attitudes towards acting in a sustainable manner have changed significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as well. Namely, a survey done by McKinsey and Company (2020) among European consumers revealed that 57% of the respondents have started to change their behaviour significantly to lessen their impact on the environment since the COVID-19 pandemic started. In addition, 61% of the respondents indicated that they started to go out of their way to purchase products in environmentally friendly packaging. This can possibly be explained by the link between the rise of pandemics and unsustainable consumer behaviour, specifically consumption, as established in IPBES (2020).

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7 consumers (Chen and Chai, 2010) might be an important motivator behind the increase in environmentally friendly consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic (McKinsey and Company, 2020).

Furthermore, a study by Griskevicius et al. (2010) found that next to a moral motivation, there is also a status seeking aspect to purchasing and consuming environmentally friendly products. Status seeking consumption, or conspicuous consumption, as first described by Veblen (1973 [1899]), is a type of consumer behaviour in which individuals spend money in order to signal their wealth and their desired identity to others (Solomon, 1983). In the aforementioned study done by Griskevicius et al. (2010), they found that conspicuous conservation is a costly signalling mechanism to show one’s willingness and ability to incur costs for other’s benefit and as such, signal status. Additionally, a study by Elliott (2013) supports the notion of conspicuous conservation and adds the nuance that the symbolic aspect of the consumption of environmentally friendly products depends on the context in which the product is placed. As such, environmentally friendly products are not necessarily recognized as status signalling products across the board.

However, according to Carfagna et al. (2014), consumption of environmentally friendly products is a manner in which certain individuals with high cultural capital do systematically claim status and distinction. Cultural capital, as described by Holt (1997), implies a set of distinctive attributes, such as certain knowledge or skills, that combined make up a shared demeanour of certain cultural elites. Specifically, the individuals with high cultural capital, as described in the study by Carfagna et al. (2014), are characterized by continuously considering how their daily actions affect the environment and trying to reduce their ecological footprints, for instance by purchasing locally produced food and buying from local businesses. Hence, they make their judgments largely based on ecological criteria and the possible impact of their actions on the environment. Thus, when this study mentions either low cultural capital individuals or high cultural capital individuals, this implies the extent to which ecological consciousness is part of the consumption behaviour of a certain individual.

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8 individuals with high cultural capital have increasingly started to seek status by the means of environmentally friendly consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summarizing, numerous studies have examined the determinants of environmentally friendly consumption (Chen and Chai, 2010; Griskevicius et al., 2010; Carfagna et al., 2014; Elliot, 2013; Steg et al., 2015). Moreover, Carfagna et al. (2014) have established a clear difference between the motivations of high cultural capital and low cultural capital individuals regarding their consumption of environmentally friendly products. Interestingly, during COVID-19, there have been significant changes in consumers’ spending patterns and their attitudes towards environmentally friendly consumption (New York Times, 2020; McKinsey and Company, 2020). Specifically, it has been determined that consumers have started adopting more sustainable attitudes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, very little is known about which consumer motivations have fuelled this consumers’ warming towards more environmentally friendly consumption during COVID-19 and how this rise in positive attitudes towards environmentally friendly consumption might differ between individuals with low cultural capital and individuals with high cultural capital.

As such, this study will contribute to extant literature on the motivations behind environmentally friendly consumption (Tanner and Wölfing Kast, 2003; Bamberg and Moser, 2007; Chen and Chai, 2010; Griskevicius et al., 2010; Moser, 2015) by taking the opportunity to examine environmentally friendly consumer behaviour under the unique circumstances of a worldwide pandemic (McKinsey and Company, 2020) and comparing the motivators of environmentally friendly consumption between individuals with low and high cultural capital (Holt, 1997; Carfagna et al., 2014). Another manner in which this study contributes to extant literature is by the means of its empirical research angle. Namely, a significant stream of literature regarding consumers’ motivations of environmentally friendly consumption has followed an evolutionary psychology approach (Griskevicius, 2010; Hardy and Van Vugt, 2006; Van Vugt, 2009). However, this study will approach the topic from an angle that focusses on one’s cultural background, namely, phenomenology (Goulding, 2005).

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9 goods during COVID-19 utilizing qualitative research methods, particularly, by the means of semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Furthermore, this study’s key findings concern the extent to which environmentally friendly consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed for both low and high cultural capital interviewees. As such, this study discerns three different segments of consumers, regarding their level of cultural capital and the extent to which they have reflected on their consumption behaviour since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, all high cultural capital interviewees appear to be undisturbed by the global pandemic and persist in their high level of environmentally friendly consumption, without giving much thought to the extent that COVID-19 is likely to originate from unsustainable consumption patterns (IPBES, 2020). On the contrary, regarding the low cultural capital interviewees, this study distinguishes between two different segments. Specifically, part of the low cultural capital interviewees continues their non-environmentally friendly consumption patterns, whereas another part of low cultural capital interviewees seem to have increased their level of environmentally friendly consumption. This appears to be the result of having reflected on the manner in which their consumption pattern influences the world in which they live, since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Thus, this study builds on the finding by McKinsey and Company (2020) and concludes that it is likely that this last segment of consumers is the key driver behind the increase in environmentally friendly consumption that they have found to occur since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, the insights in environmentally friendly consumer behaviour during COVID-19, revealed as a result of this study, might be of high value to national policy makers and marketing managers. Namely, given that consumers are changing their spending patterns and attitudes (New York Times, 2020; McKinsey and Company, 2020), the manner in which consumers do so gives rise to opportunities for national policy makers to motivate citizens to consume environmentally friendlier and for marketing managers to tailor their products to meet the possible change in demand from consumers.

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10 possibilities to draw generalizable conclusions about environmentally friendly consumer behaviour in post-pandemic times.

Next, a review of relevant literature will be given. Subsequently, the methodology will be outlined, and the main findings will be described. Then, the main findings will be discussed before drawing a conclusion, making recommendations for national policy makers and marketing managers, discussing the limitations of this study and suggesting possible directions for further research.

Literature review

Environmentally friendly consumption

An important motivator for consumers to purchase environmentally friendly products is found to be the intrinsic moral obligation of consumers to protect the environment and prevent further damage done to the earth as a result of climate change (Chen and Chai, 2010). Moreover, it has been found that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have started to behave in a more environmentally friendly manner (McKinsey and Company, 2020). This change in environmentally friendly consumer behaviour might be catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic, considering that the global pandemic has, for instance, raised calls for a greener society in order to protect the earth and combat climate change (Barbier, 2020) and that the fundamental causes of global pandemic are found to be the same as the ones that drive climate change and loss of biodiversity (IPBES, 2020). Combining the insights from the studies done by McKinsey and Company (2020), Chen and Chai (2010) and IPBES (2020), the found increase in environmentally friendly consumer behaviour could possibly be stimulated by the notion that consumers feel a moral obligation to preserve the earth and prevent its further deterioration.

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11 Company (2020) indicated that, since the start of COVID-19, it has become more important to limit negative impacts on earth’s climate. The fact that consumers have become more aware of the consequences of their behaviour for climate change since the start of COVID-19, could entail that the global pandemic has stimulated the found increase in environmentally friendly consumer behaviour (McKinsey and Company, 2020). Particularly in the view of Moser’s (2015) proposition that consumers first need to be made aware of the impact of their consumption behaviour on climate change in order for them to start consuming in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Additionally, a study on Swiss consumers (Tanner and Wölfing Kast, 2003) found multiple significant personal and contextual motivators for purchasing environmentally friendly products. Personal factors meaning, for instance, personal norms, attitudes, and knowledge and contextual factors being the social, economic or physical environments in which consumers make decisions that might impede environmentally friendly consumption. This study also revealed that feeling positive towards environmental protection, fair trade and local production are important determinants of environmentally friendly consumption on a personal level. On the contrary, perceived time barriers impede the consumption of environmentally friendly products among Swiss consumers on a personal level.

Furthermore, Tanner and Wölfing Kast (2003) find that, regarding the context in which environmentally friendly products are purchased, the place where environmentally friendly products are purchased is an important determinant of the extent to which these products are bought. Consumers who do most of their shopping in supermarkets, compared to, for example, smaller retailers and organic food stores, tend to purchase less environmentally friendly products. This study indicates that this is most likely the result of situational influences, rather than personal preferences.

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12 However, environmentally friendly consumption is not a static concept. Rather, it has undergone significant changes over time (Lundahl, 2014). Moreover, the aforementioned findings from the study done by Tanner and Wölfing Kast (2003) are not particularly recent, as this study was published seventeen years ago. Therefore, seeing as the world has entered a new era, in which it is dominated by a global pandemic, it is interesting to examine the current motivators behind environmentally friendly consumption and how they compare with the motivators described in extant literature.

Additionally, Steg et al. (2015) argue that an important motivator for environmentally friendly consumer behaviour is the so-called gain goal. This entails that consumers purchase environmentally friendly products because they believe it will enhance their status, as explained in the next section.

Green consumption as a means to express oneself

Environmentally friendly products are generally more expensive and of lower quality than their traditional alternatives, according to Griskevicius et al. (2010). However, purchasing environmentally friendly products can be considered an altruistic act, since it benefits not only the one consuming it, but the environment at large as well (Griskevicius et al., 2010; Hardy and van Vugt, 2006). Consequently, Griskevicius et al. (2010) found that, in support of the concept that altruistic acts signal one’s willingness and ability to incur costs for other’s benefit, status seeking intentions increased the relative preference for environmentally friendly products. Particularly when shopping publicly, as opposed to privately, and when environmentally friendly products are more expensive, as opposed to cheaper, than traditional products. Thus, Griskevicius et al. (2010) found that instead of the luxury products generally used to signal status, environmentally friendly products that are not necessarily considered as luxury goods, were able to signal status as well. They coined this notion conspicuous conservation.

Conspicuous conservation is an extension of the widely known theoretical concept status seeking consumption, as first described by Veblen (1973 [1899]) over a hundred years ago. In his study, he proposed that consumers engage in wasteful consumption in order to signal status to others. By doing so, the theory of status seeking consumption was established.

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13 environmentally friendly products depends on the setting in which the consumption takes place. Consequently, a specific environmentally friendly product might signal something different to certain consumers at different moments in time. To illustrate this, Elliot (2013) employs the example of the Toyota Prius. Namely, a consumer from an area characterized by a green and high-tech spirit might perceive a Toyota Prius as a status symbol. On the other hand, a consumer who prefers to ride bikes instead of cars in general, might perceive a Toyota Prius as ostentatious instead of a status symbol. Therefore, the consumption of environmentally friendly products is not universally embraced as a means to signal status.

Unfortunately, no study has yet investigated if the found increase in favourable attitudes among consumers towards environmentally friendly behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic (McKinsey and Company, 2020) is potentially driven by status seeking motives. Nevertheless, seeing as conspicuous conservation is an empirically proven determinant of environmentally friendly consumer behaviour (Griskevicius et al., 2010), it can’t be neglected in this study which aims to uncover why consumers purchase environmentally friendly products in an environment dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the aforementioned rise in locally bought food products during the COVID-19 pandemic, as described by Food Standards Agency (2020), could possibly be related to status seeking motives, in particular among consumers characterised by high levels of cultural capital, as explained next.

Status seeking as a motive for environmentally friendly consumption: the differences between low and high cultural capital individuals

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14 ecologically conscious consumers that incorporate environmental awareness and sustainability principles in their consumption behaviour.

Specifically, the high cultural capital individuals described by Carfagna et al. (2014) are largely similar to the ones described by Holt (1997), except for a few key differences, arising from a shift in society since Holt (1997) conducted his study in the 1990’s (Carfagna et al., 2014). Namely, for these ecologically conscious high cultural capital consumers, their manifestation of the high levels of cultural capital that they possess has changed compared to the way in which it is described in the framework as put forward by Holt (1997) in three different ways (Carfagna et al., 2014).

Firstly, the high cultural capital consumers as described by Holt (1997) are highly critical of materialism, whereas the high cultural capital consumers described by Carfagna et al. (2014) are characterized by actually approving of a specific type of materialism. Namely, a type of materialism that considers the complete production process of goods, all the way from cultivation to consumption.

Secondly, the high cultural capital individuals outlined by Holt (1997) have a global and cosmopolitan scope. On the contrary, the conscious consumers with high levels of cultural capital described by Carfagna et al. (2014) are strongly attracted to the local aspect of things, such as local business and locally produced food.

Lastly, a significant difference lies in the attitude towards manual labour. The high cultural capital individuals described by Holt (1997) appreciated intellectual achievements significantly more compared to achievements as a result from manual labour. Conversely, the more environmentally aware high cultural capital individuals described by Carfagna et al. (2014) are oriented towards using their hands and bodies, specifically in a setting in which they feel close to nature.

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15 classes in the United Kingdom as well (Food Standards Agency, 2020). Similarly, local specialty stores in the Netherlands, such as greengrocers and butchers, have also seen sharp increases in revenue since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (NOS, 2020). Although, as of yet, no distinction has unfortunately been made regarding the types of consumers that are responsible for this increase in locally purchased food in the Netherlands since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Therefore, next to the possibility that the move towards purchasing relatively more food from local suppliers during COVID-19 can be explained by a change in situational factors (Tanner and Wölfing Kast, 2003), it could thus also be explained by certain environmentally conscious high cultural capital consumers that have increased their shopping frequency at such places, since they derive status from doing so (Food Standards Agency, 2020; Carfagna et al., 2014). Especially when there are other people that observe them acting responsibly towards the environment in a public setting, such as a local shop (Griskevicius et al., 2010).

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16 Lastly, it is important to keep in mind that status seeking consumption is not a static concept. Specifically, a study by Woersdorfer (2010) found that behaviour previously considered as status seeking behaviour can lose its status seeking aspect and simply become a manner of complying with social norms. Woersdorfer (2010) illustrates this by the means of a case study which analyses the coming up of the cleanliness norm in the 19th_{century. When the}

consumption of cleanliness transformed from a private good to a public good and the cleanliness norm materialized, the status signalling aspect of a clean appearance disappeared. Similarly, since purchasing local has become increasingly more normalised during the COVID-19 pandemic (Food Standards Agency, 2020) it is possible that the high cultural capital consumers that used to derive status from such purchases might do so to a lesser extent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a result.

Having reviewed the relevant literature on the motivators of environmentally friendly consumption, conspicuous conservation and specifically (in)conspicuous consumption among consumers with high cultural capital, it becomes clear that there are multiple interesting avenues of research worth investigating as to why consumers purchase environmentally friendly products during the specific globally impactful situation that is a global pandemic. Subsequently, the methodology by the means of which this study will investigate this topic are discussed.

Methodology

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17 Moreover, since this study seeks to answer a ‘’why’’ question, it is important to establish an understanding of complex issues that might not be expressed right away by people (Goulding, 2005). Therefore, the manner in which the required data is collected is through semi structured in-depth interviews. This method facilitates exploring social and personal matters (DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree, 2006), which is necessary to answer this study’s research question.

In addition, the reason why this study doesn’t employ other interview methods, such as unstructured or structured interviews, is as follows. Firstly, unstructured interviews are more suitable for ethnographic studies in which particular cultures or sub-cultures are examined on a continuous basis (Goulding, 2005; DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree, 2006). Secondly, completely structured interviews, for example questionnaires, are generally used to collect quantitative data and allow for significantly less in-depth data collection compared to semi-structured interviews (Whiting, 2008). Moreover, because of the aforementioned reason that the interviewees might not immediately disclose their complete reasoning behind their thoughts about something (Goulding, 2005), it is important to be able to slightly deviate from the questions in the interview guide in order to obtain the most detailed information form the interviewees. Hence, this study employs semi-structured in-depth interviews in order to collect data. The interview guide used in these in-depth interviews can be found in appendix A.

The in-depth interviews are conducted in Dutch, because this is the native language of both the interviewer and the interviewees. Consequently, this should prevent potential language barriers which might decrease the extent to which the interviewees are able to put their thoughts into words. Thus, this should enhance the quality of the data gathered from the in-depth interviews.

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18 a fair-trade labelled chocolate bar (products perceived as environmentally friendly) were chosen to serve this aforementioned purpose (McCarthy et al., 2017; Sirieix et al., 2013).

This study utilizes data from 12 interviews from as many respondents. As recommended by Goulding (2005), all interviewees have consciously lived the experience studied. Specifically, in the case of this study the participants are chosen based on if they knowingly live in an environment dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and do groceries on a regular basis. Moreover, it is not necessary that one exclusively purchases environmentally friendly products in order to chosen to participate in this study. Namely, in order to gather insights from a wide range of consumers, both consumers that generally purchase a large number of environmentally friendly products and consumers for which this is not the case are recruited.

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Participant Gender Age Occupation Level of cultural

capital (High or low)

1 Female 49 Sales High

2 Female 21 Student and healthcare worker Low

3 Male 25 Student and caregiver in a nursing home

Low

4 Female 56 Pedagogical employee High

5 Male 57 Public servant High

6 Male 23 Student Low

7 Female 25 Caregiver in a nursing home Low

8 Female 29 Marketeer High

9 Male 36 Entrepreneur High

10 Female 18 Student Low

11 Male 25 Marketeer Low

12 Female 47 Secondary school teacher High Table 1: general characteristics of all interviewees

Subsequently, this study analyses the data collected by the means of the semi-structured interviews through an iterative process (Goulding, 2005; DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree, 2006). Thereafter, this study aims to come to a holistic interpretation of the collected data, which will constitute of a combination between the interviewer’s frame of reference and the data analysed. Next, the main findings of the data analysis are discussed.

Findings

Distinction between low cultural capital individuals and high cultural capital individuals

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20 Furthermore, the manner in which the interviewees are categorized as either low cultural capital individuals or high cultural capital individuals is by the means of analysing the extent to which the interviewees contemplate the way in which their daily behaviour affects the environment and their ecological footprint and as such, try to make decisions which will decrease said footprint, as exemplified by the following quote from the interview with interviewee one, characterized by a high level of cultural capital, when asked about how she feels about treating earth’s resources with care:

‘’Yes, I don’t like it when I have lots of plastic packaging or when I order something online, I think about the footprint of sending it back. That doesn’t feel all that nice.’’ – Interview 1

Moreover, other specific characteristics of high cultural capital individuals, such as considering the complete production process of consumption goods when making a purchase (Carfagna et al., 2014), as described in the methodology section, are included in categorizing an interviewee as either low or high cultural capital. As illustrated by the following quote from the interview with interviewee four, also characterized with a high level of cultural capital, when she was asked to what extent she considers the complete production process of a consumption good when she purchases something:

‘’Yes, I do think about it, because cotton has an enormous footprint, an environmental footprint. A pair of jeans or a T-shirt made of cotton is made using lots of water, energy and toxic substances and whatever else. So, when I buy a T-shirt that is made using environmentally friendly produced cotton and I have got the choice between a five-euro T-shirt, which isn’t produced as such, and a fifteen-euro T-shirt, which is made as such, then I’ll purchase the fifteen-euro T-shirt.’’ – Interview 4

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21 ‘’… I’m not really environmentally conscious when shopping for clothes or doing groceries. When I buy a piece of clothing, I buy it because it looks nice, not because I know it’s a hundred percent child labour free, so to say, that’s not something I give much thought…’’ – Interview 6

Next, the findings of this study for both the low cultural capital individuals and high cultural capital individuals are presented. The findings for both of these groups of interviewees are presented as follows. Firstly, regarding the low cultural capital interviewees, the findings regarding their attitude towards environmentally friendly consumption and the findings concerning their groceries during COVID-19 are put forward. Secondly, the findings regarding high cultural capital interviewees are presented according to the same structure.

Low cultural capital interviewees

Attitude towards environmentally friendly consumption

The interviewees characterized by low levels of cultural capital generally feel positive towards the existence of environmentally friendly products and feel like every individual has a moral obligation to protect the earth and the resources it provides. However, in contrary to the finding by Chen and Chai (2010), this felt moral obligation rarely translates into actual environmentally friendly consumer behaviour among the interviewees characterized by low levels of cultural capital. Rather, this seems to be heavily dependent on the price difference between environmentally friendly and non-environmentally friendly versions of a product, as exemplified by two quotes from the interview with interviewee seven. Specifically, when asked if she feels that people on earth are morally obliged to treat the resources the earth provides us with, with care, she states:

‘’Yes, I feel like that for a hundred percent. I mean, we only have one earth and if you see how its climate has changed in a short amount of time and I think if we continue to act like we do now, it won’t get any better. I also think that at a certain moment in time, you won’t be able to turn the tide anymore…’’ – Interview 7

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22 ‘’Yes, I always try to take it into account a little bit, but I also know I don’t always do so. I think it mainly depends on my financial situation and if my financial situation is fine, I try to make the environmentally conscious choice, but if my financial situation isn’t that great, I will choose the cheaper alternative.’’ – Interview 7

However, one way in which most low cultural capital interviewees do consume environmentally friendly is as a result of personal motivations, such as being against animal cruelty, being vegetarian or being vegan, which is, for example, the case for interviewee two, three and six, respectively. Still, it appears that their environmentally friendly consumption is confined to a small subset of products. Namely, chicken and eggs for the interviewee which spoke out against animal cruelty, meat for the vegetarian interviewee and any animal related product for the vegan interviewee. This study’s finding that the environmentally friendly consumption of low cultural capital individuals is mostly confined to products following from their convictions regarding animal related products, is illustrated by a quote from the interview with interviewee three, when asked about purchasing environmentally friendly products outside of his conviction to eat vegan:

‘’Well, one product of which I always buy the fair-trade ecological variant is coconut milk. That’s what I can think of. Yeah, other than that, I don’t know.’’ – Interview 3

Consequently, even though these interviewees have incorporated the consumption of environmentally friendly products into their consumption behaviour, they are still classified as low cultural capital individuals, because the extent to which they consume in an environmentally friendly manner is limited to a small number of products.

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23 high cultural capital individuals. As such, the manner in which this study’s low cultural capital interviewees respond to the question regarding any individual’s motivation to purchase environmentally friendly products, namely, if they do so to express themselves or because of the practical traits of such products, is illustrated by the answer interviewee six gave:

‘’Yes, I think that it -expressing oneself- plays less of a role, I really think that it is a choice which one makes for themselves and I don’t think one is very concerned with the way in which it comes across to others.’’ – Interview 6

Concluding, regarding this study’s low cultural capital individuals’ attitudes towards environmentally friendly consumption, it can be said that they feel a moral obligation to protect the earth and its resources. However, besides a motivation to lessen animal cruelty and convictions to eat vegetarian or vegan, this moral obligation does not translate to more environmentally friendly consumption. Rather, the usually higher price of environmentally friendly products is mentioned as one of the main reasons to opt for the generally lower priced non-environmentally friendly version of a product. In addition, they do not consider environmentally friendly purchases and consumption as a manner in which one signals status to others.

Groceries during a global pandemic

The low cultural capital interviewees in this study generally did not change the place where they do their groceries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, before the global pandemic they did their groceries at one or two different well-known supermarkets and mostly on a daily basis. However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they started going to solely one supermarket and less frequent as well, in order to reduce the exposure to others and as such, the risk of getting contaminated with COVID-19, as exemplified by this answer interviewee two gave when asked about the manner in which grocery shopping has changed for her since the start of the pandemic:

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24 often. Now I tend to skip that and go to one supermarket to purchase all my groceries and the small number of products which I otherwise would have bought at another supermarket, I also buy at the same supermarket, Jumbo for example. Because this way you have less exposure to others, which is nice because of corona.’’ – Interview 2

Furthermore, regarding the extent to which the global pandemic has impacted environmentally friendly purchase behaviour, the findings are twofold. On the one hand, a shared sentiment seems to be that the occurrence of COVID-19 has not had a significant impact on the extent to which the low cultural capital individuals in this study purchase environmentally friendly products, as illustrated by the answer interviewee six gave to the question regarding a potential change in products bought since the start of the pandemic. Specifically, he talked about changes in his consumption as a result of his girlfriend’s religion, before talking about changes in his consumption pattern since the start of COVID-19:

‘’So that is more of a long-term change that isn’t the result of the pandemic… but again, the changes are minimal and there is little difference (in my consumption behaviour).’’ – Interview 6

However, on the other hand, it became apparent from certain interviewees that as a result of becoming more restricted in one’s daily life, due to the lockdown imposed to combat COVID-19, grocery shopping became a relatively large part of their routine. Moreover, these interviewees indicated that as a result, they started putting more thought into the groceries they purchased and, specifically, the extent to which they impacted the environment. As exemplified by the following answer given by interviewee two when asked if, and if so, to what extent, COVID-19 had resulted in her purchasing more environmentally friendly products:

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25 on the product and if I’m in the mood, so to say. So, it’s not the case that I’m always a hundred percent concerned about it’’ – Interview 2

In addition, it was also mentioned that, next to the aforementioned increase in thought they gave to grocery shopping as a result of it becoming a relatively large part of one’s routine, these low cultural capital individuals feel an increasing need to act sustainably as a result of what is talked about in the media. Specifically, during the interview with interviewee eleven, he mentioned the following when he was asked about why he started to consume more environmentally friendly products since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic:

‘’I feel like the coronavirus makes you face the facts more. In the sense that, if the earth is fed up with it, so to speak, then the situation could become very dreary, and right now, that is the case. Thus, I think that when you have the choice between an environmentally friendly product and a non-environmentally friendly product, that choice has been made a little easier now, because you keep that in mind’’ – Interview 11

As can be seen from these last two quotes, it is not the case that the pandemic has resulted in a complete turnaround regarding the consumption of environmentally friendly products among these low cultural capital individuals. However, it seems to have instilled a more sustainable mindset, which is in line with the findings among consumers in the United Kingdom (McKinsey and Company, 2020).

Moreover, regarding the extent to which environmentally friendly consumption is able to contribute to preventing similar pandemics in the future, they generally indicate that they are not that knowledgeable on the topic. However, the consensus among the low cultural capital interviewees seems to be that it is likely to be of aid, as can be seen from the following comment interviewee six gave on this matter:

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26 All in all, this study finds that the location where the low cultural capital interviewees in this study purchase their groceries has not changed significantly. Moreover, the findings regarding a change towards more environmentally friendly consumption are twofold. On the one hand, it was expressed by part of the low cultural capital interviewees that no such change has occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic started, whereas other low cultural capital interviewees indicated that such a change did take place. Lastly, this study finds that the low cultural capital interviewees generally feel that environmentally friendly consumption could be a factor in preventing future global pandemics.

High cultural capital individuals

Attitude towards environmentally friendly consumption

The high cultural capital individuals that participated in this study are generally characterized by a strong moral obligation to protect the earth and the resources it provides us with, as illustrated by the answer interviewee nine gives when asked if he experiences protecting the earth and its resources as an obligation:

‘’Because … every animal is a hundred percent circular, nature is a hundred percent circular, the only ones that aren’t circular is mankind, because it has made things that do not decay or cannot be used again.’’ – Interview 9

Moreover, for the high cultural capital interviewees the usually higher price of environmentally friendly products does not decrease the extent to which they purchase these products. Rather, they tend to purchase mostly environmentally friendly products and are willing to pay a price premium to do so, as exemplified by the following quote from interviewee one:

‘’…I don’t take notice of the money I spent while doing groceries…it depends where you spend your money on, I spend it mostly on clothes and environmentally friendly food.’’ – Interview 1

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27 that status seeking is, at least partly, a motivator of environmentally friendly purchasing and consumption behaviour. Or as interviewee one put it when asked if she thinks people who purchase environmentally friendly do so in order to express themselves as a person, or because of the practical traits of such products:

‘’Yes, I definitely think they do so in order to express themselves.’’ – Interview 1

Thus, this study finds that the high cultural capital individuals that participated in this study generally feel a strong moral obligation to treat the resources the earth provides us with carefully. Moreover, for these individuals this conviction also becomes apparent from their consumption behaviour, which mainly consist of environmentally products for which they willingly pay a price premium if necessary. Therefore, the finding by Chen and Chai (2010) that a moral obligation to protect the earth and its resources is an important motivator for environmentally friendly consumer behaviour seems to apply to this specific subset of consumers. Lastly, these consumers perceive the consumption of environmentally friendly products as something which people generally derive status from, which is in line with the similar finding put forward by Carfagna et al. (2014).

Groceries during a global pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the high cultural capital individuals included in this study did their groceries at supermarkets, local specialty stores, for example a fishmonger and eco shops. The most notable change in this behaviour which was mentioned by them, is the increase in take away food from local restaurants in order to support the local entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the following answer given by interviewee four when asked about her change in grocery shopping since the start of COVID-19:

‘’Me and my partner generally don’t really order takeaway, but we have done so a bit more frequent the last couple of months…because you think ‘’Yes, it’s good to support them, those people are having a really rough time’’.’’ – Interview 4

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28 Moreover, it was stated that as a result of spending less money on things they would spend money on under normal circumstances, the high cultural capital interviewees notice that they have started to more easily spend money on more luxury groceries, which they would not have done otherwise. This is illustrated by the following answer interviewee five gave when asked about the differences he perceived between the groceries he generally purchased this year, so during COVID-19, and the groceries purchased before the occurrence of COVID-19: ‘’… perhaps you tend to treat yourself a bit more, meaning that you purchase a nice bottle of wine, beer or bake-off rolls. So, you spend your money more easily on such things now, because before you would have been outside and walked into a deli and purchased a sandwich. However, this isn’t possible anymore and as such, you try to figure out if you can something like that at home.’’ – Interview 5

Furthermore, the interviewees characterized by high levels of cultural capital did not experience any significant changes in the extent to which they consume environmentally friendly products during the global pandemic. Specifically, this is the case because a vast amount of the groceries they purchased before the global pandemic were already environmentally friendly, seeing as the high cultural capital interviewees in this study have been purchasing environmentally friendly groceries for a large part of their lives. However, contrary to the low cultural capital interviewees, the high cultural capital individuals generally did not necessarily recognize the relation between environmentally friendly consumption and the prevention of future global pandemics, as exemplified by the answer interviewee four gave when asked about this:

‘’I don’t really feel as if this pandemic is connected to the products or goods that you purchase…I don’t believe that this pandemic has something to do with how you look at an environmentally friendly manner of living or purchasing things.’’ – Interview 4

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29 they indicated that they have started to engage in some sort of mental accounting (Thaler, 1999) since the start of COVID-19, as a result of experiencing a reduction in other food related expenses. Additionally, the high cultural capital interviewees did not experience an increase in the extent to which they purchase environmentally products, because already before the occurrence of COVID-19, they were purchasing a relatively vast amount of environmentally friendly products. Lastly, the high cultural capital interviewees generally did not perceive a connection between the consumption of environmentally friendly products and the prevention of future pandemics, in contrary to the low cultural capital interviewees included in this study. In the next section, these findings are discussed and contextualized more thoroughly using extant literature.

Discussion

In this section, the differences and similarities between the findings among the interviewees characterized by high cultural capital and the interviewees characterized by low cultural capital are discussed. Specifically, the general attitude towards environmentally friendly consumption and the manner in which this behaviour has or has not changed during the global COVID-19 pandemic is discussed for the three different segments of respondents this study finds.

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31

Interviewees that have reflected on their consumption behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Interviewees that have not reflected on their consumption behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic Level of cultural capital of the interviewee: High Their consumption of

environmentally friendly products did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic. It remained on the same high level as before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their consumption of

environmentally friendly products did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic. It remained on the same high level as before the COVID-19 pandemic. Level of cultural capital of the interviewee: Low Their consumption of

environmentally friendly products slightly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to their low level of environmentally friendly consumption before the global pandemic. This seems to be the result of an increased sense of urgency and responsibility towards the earth since the start of the global pandemic.

Their consumption of

environmentally friendly products did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic. It remained on the same low level as before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table 2: brief summary of this study’s main findings

High cultural capital interviewees

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32 Furthermore, the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic does not seem to impact their attitude towards the consumption of environmentally friendly products, nor does it appear that their actual consumption of these products has been impacted. As such, this is in contrast with the finding by McKinsey and Company (2020) that consumers have adopted more environmentally friendly attitudes and have started to consume more environmentally friendly products since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Namely, it is not the case for the high cultural capital interviewees in this study that they have adopted more environmentally friendly attitudes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is to say, a vast share of their groceries is already environmentally friendly and has been for a significant part of their lives as well. As such, they stated that they have not started purchasing more environmentally friendly products since the start of COVID-19. In addition, these respondents indicated that they did not give much thought to the extent that one’s consumption pattern might affect the occurrence of pandemics in the future.

However, these respondents started thinking about this during the interview when they were asked about it and predominantly concluded that the consumption of environmentally friendly products contributes to preventing global pandemics in the future. Nevertheless, they had not reflected on it anytime before this. This could be explained by the finding by Carfagna et al. (2014) that high cultural capitals individuals are characterized by taken into account the effect on the environment in all consumption decisions they make. As such, since they are already characterized by a strong environmentally friendly manner of living and accustomed to consuming as such, they might not explicitly consider and reflect on the consequences of their consumption on the environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, they simply appear to sustain their current manner of thinking and consuming, without giving much additional thought to the changed global situation as a result of COVID-19.

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33 Standards Agency (2020). Specifically, the finding of Food Standards Agency (2020) that a shift towards more local food purchasing behaviour has occurred since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is supported by the findings of this study, regarding this segment of interviewees. However, the other relevant finding of Food Standards Agency (2020) in this context, namely, the found increase in consumption of local veg boxes or purchases from farm shops, which was found to be relatively more prevalent among individuals characterized by higher incomes, higher social grades and higher educations, is not supported by this study’s findings.

Therefore, it appears to be the case that the increase in local consumption among this segment of participants is mainly the result of status seeking consumption in the manner as described by Griskevicius et al. (2010) and Carfagna et al. (2014). Specifically, these participants often indicated being regulars at the restaurants where they started purchasing takeaway during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this type of consumption might be perceived as being more public compared to the more private consumption of, for instance, veg boxes one can order, which is necessary in order for consumers to derive status from a such a purchase.

Lastly, as was described in the findings section, it was indicated often by this segment of participants that the increase in money spent at local restaurants was also the result of a feeling of having money left over, due to spending less money on going out for dinner, compared to the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it appears that the increase in local consumption, among this segment of respondents, is also fuelled by mental accounting to a certain extent (Thaler, 1999).

Low cultural capital interviewees

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34 Chen and Chai (2010) that a felt moral obligation to protect the earth and its resources is an important motivator for purchasing and consuming environmentally friendly products.

Furthermore, this segment of participants expressed that they have not changed the extent to which they purchase and consume environmentally friendly products. Namely, it has remained on a relatively low level, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, they also stated that it is important that we, as a species, adapt our consumption pattern in order to decrease our burden on the environment and that this could perhaps also help in preventing future pandemics, as also found by IPBES (2020).

This finding appears to be counterintuitive to the aforementioned finding by Moser (2015) that an increased understanding of the impact of the positive effects of environmentally friendly consumption is a driving force of the consumption of such products. However, this seemingly counterintuitive finding could be explained by a lack of a specific causal attribution between their personal consumption and the occurrence of COVID-19. Namely, Bamberg and Moser (2007) find such a causal attribution between behaviour and its effects to be an important precondition for attitudes to translate into actual environmentally friendly consumption. Having said that, this segment of respondents did not mention reflecting on the effect their personal consumption pattern could have on the world in which they live. As such, they were apparently not encouraged to change their personal consumption patterns and, instead, stuck to their grocery shopping routines as before COVID-19.

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35

Inspired low cultural capital interviewees

This third and last segment of interviewees which this study discerned, is characterized by both a low level of cultural capital and having reflected on its consumption patterns and its effects on the earth, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to the other two segments of participants this study distinguishes, these interviewees indicated feeling a moral obligation to protect the earth. Moreover, this moral obligation did not translate into environmentally friendly consumption before the COVID-19 pandemic, in the same vein as the aforementioned segment of low cultural capital interviewees.

However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, this particular segment of interviewees indicated starting to purchase more environmentally friendly products while doing groceries, contrary to the other segment of low cultural capital interviewees this study discerns. These interviewees attributed this to starting to reflect more on their grocery purchase behaviour, as a result of grocery shopping becoming a relatively large part of one’s daily life during the lockdown. In particular, they mentioned giving more thought to the environment, how the people on earth treat it and how the products one consumes can affect is both positively and negatively as well.

Thus, the finding by IPBES (2020) that unsustainable consumption patterns are an important determinant of global pandemics, such as COVID-19, seems to resonate with this particular segment of interviewees on a personal level. Specifically, this segment, which gives thought to their personal contribution to and effect on the world they live in, started to translate its environmentally friendly attitudes into environmentally friendly consumption behaviour, which is in line with Bamberg and Moser (2007) that such a perceived causality is important to be motivated to translate environmentally friendly attitudes into environmentally friendly consumption behaviour.

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36 inspired low cultural capital interviewees that drive the findings of the McKinsey and Company (2020) report, regarding the increase in pro-environmentally friendly consumption behaviour since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, this segment of interviewees does not appear to be influenced in their consumption pattern by its shopping location, for the same reason as aforementioned in the low cultural capital interviewees section. Additionally, status seeking motivations are not likely to be an important motivator behind the increase in environmentally friendly consumption of this segment of interviewees since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, either. For the reason that, this segment of interviewees indicated that it does not perceive the public purchasing of environmentally friendly products to be something one would do in order to express oneself as a person. Hence, this is in line with the finding by Carfagna et al. (2014) that the purchasing and consumption of environmentally friendly products is an act only individuals with high cultural capital derive status from.

Conclusion

All in all, the answer to the research question ‘Why do high cultural capital and low cultural capital consumers purchase environmentally friendly fast-moving consumers goods in an environment dominated by a global pandemic?’ has multiple facets. Firstly, the high cultural capital interviewees in this study seem to purchase environmentally friendly products during the COVID-19 pandemic for the same reasons as before the global pandemic. Namely, these individuals are characterized by considering the effect their behaviour has on the earth and its environment and seeking to act in a manner which is the least burdensome on it. As such, they have been behaving in an environmentally friendly manner for a significant part of their lives already and continued doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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37 their high consumption of these products, both in relative and absolute terms, have remained high, but the same, since the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In contrast, part of the low cultural capital participants of this study did indicate consuming more environmentally friendly products, compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. This inspired low cultural capital interviewees sector attributed this to an increased sense of reflection on a personal level, regarding the earth and the way in which one has impact on it through one’s consumption.

However, another part of the low cultural capital participants in this study did not indicate purchasing more environmentally friendly products, compared to their consumption pattern before the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, they consumed little to no environmentally friendly products before the global and persist in this behaviour since the start of the global pandemic as well.

Thus, the adoption of more environmentally friendly attitudes and environmentally friendly consumption behaviour (McKinsey and Company, 2020) appears to be driven by the segment of low cultural capital individuals that reflected on the current global situation and their role in it during the COVID-19 pandemic. The segment of interviewees that this study has coined inspired low cultural capital interviewees.

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38

Policy and managerial recommendations

The findings of this study give rise to a recommendation for a policy, which could be of assistance in answering the aforementioned call for a green post-pandemic economic recovery through national policy (Barbier, 2020). Moreover, as also mentioned in the introduction, a significant part of the impacts on the earth and its climate is the result of household consumption (Ivanova et al., 2016). Therefore, this study recommends that policy makers aim their efforts at making consumers consider the manner in which their day-to-day consumption behaviour affects the world they live in, in order to motivate them to reflect more on the manner in which they contribute to the earth and the environment, both positively and negatively. As such, this increased sense of reflection might result in more environmentally friendly consumption among low cultural capital individuals.

Furthermore, marketing managers seeking to promote environmentally friendly products are recommended to clearly present the positive contribution one makes when purchasing such a product, compared to, for instance, the traditional version of said product. As such, marketing managers might be able to facilitate the process of reflecting on one’s consumption behaviour among consumers and, consequently, motivate them to purchase the environmentally friendly product.

Limitations and directions for further research

In this section, the limitations this study has will be outlined, along with recommendations for further research, in order to stimulate new studies on this topic.

Firstly, the demographics of the participants in this study are not as diverse as they perhaps could have been. Specifically, all participants came from the personal group of friends and family of the researcher, without a thorough pre-screening. Therefore, there is a lack of diversity in cultural backgrounds and places and countries of residence.

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39 interviewee, perhaps changing the flow of conversation compared to the other, face-to-face, interviews.

Furthermore, the results of this study are not immediately generalizable, as a result of the qualitative nature of this study. However, this is not necessarily a limitation, rather, it presents fruitful possibilities for further research. Therefore, it is recommended that the initial findings of this study, regarding the consumption of environmentally friendly products of both low and high cultural capital individuals during a global pandemic, are explored in a quantitative manner. As such, it can perhaps be uncovered if reflecting on one’s consumption behaviour is indeed as important of a motivator of environmentally friendly consumption behaviour during a global pandemic as this study finds. Accordingly, the main drive behind the findings from the McKinsey and Company (2020) rapport can be examined and, consequently, these findings can be used in the design of policy to ensure a green post-pandemic recovery.

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