Master Thesis • Defence
Tessa Ricarda Korn •July, 4th, 2018
Table of content
1. Problem statement & Research question 2. The Fready loyalty card program
3. Theoretical framework 4. Data collection
5. Main results 6. Conclusion
7. Limitations & Further research 8. Practical implications
Current situation
What could be a reason?
The globalization: changed the consumption behaviour and has lead to a mentality of accepting wastage.
Consumers’ perspective
Previous research has shown that:
´ Increasing concerns among consumers about the impact of the consumption levels on the environment and human well-being (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003).
´ Consumers: started to vote with their dollars (Young, Hwang, McDonald, & Oates, 2010).
´ The supply of sustainable products have increased (Van Doorn & Verhoef, 2015).
But, no large quantities of sustainable products are purchased (Van Doorn &
Verhoef, 2015).
What is the problem?
There is an “intention-behaviour“ gap with regard to sustainable consumption.
´ People have strong goal intention towards sustainable consumption, but miscarry to transform their intention into an actual sustainable buying behaviour (Gollwitzer &
Sheeran, 2006; Stewart & Craig, 2001; Van Doorn & Verhoef, 2015).
Why does this transformation process fail?
´ Procedure of buying sustainable products is a time consuming and complicated procedure.
The problem to be solved:
Create a synaptic connection between the supplier and the consumer, in
which consumers' intentions for
sustainable consumption are matched with an adjusted offer of the supplier
on the basis of trust.
The solution
´ A completely new approach that combines the rising sustainability concern in society [consumer] (Vecchio & Annunziata, 2015) with the marketing strategy of loyalty card programs [supplier].
v Accordingly, there are two research question:
1. To what extent is this new loyalty card program accepted by the consumers?
2. Which factors determine consumers acceptance?
The Fready loyalty card program (FLCP)
´ Basis: a credible confidence agreement between a consumer and a German supermarket.
Desired effect:
1. If consumers have faith in the FLCP,
2. they trust the supermarket and its products which
3. leads to a feeling of security in the choice of the products and
4. effect that consumers no longer need to process all information, when deciding for a product to buy.
Theoretical Framework
How to get insights about the drivers of the intention to adopt the FLCP?
´ Social psychology: tapping into the mind of consumers → Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985).
Data Collection
´ Method: Online survey
´ Distribution: Snowball sampling technique (generic URL from Qualtrics)
´ Distribution channels: Social networks & private mail
´ Measurement scales: The majority was adapted from previous research
Main Results
´ Results of testing the hypotheses:
´ The influence of participants’ attitudes towards the advantages of the FLCP:
most pronounced by trust in the FLCP, security feeling and contributing to improve the environment and social-wellbeing.
´ Mediating role of predictor variables on the effect demographics exert on the intention to adopt the FLCP (in line with Van Doorn & Verhoef, 2015).
´ Significant direct effect of income level and household composition on the intention to adopt the FLCP.
Conclusion
´ Sustainable issues are relevant to the people, but they fail to act accordingly.
´ Consumers are willing to act sustainably if it is made easy for them.
´ FLCP = Simplicity through providing trust and the feeling of security.
Answers to the research questions:
1. 73.3% of the participants were intended to adopt the FLCP and thus, the acceptance was high.
2. Two significant drivers: (1) attitude towards the advantages of the FLCP and (2) attitude towards loyalty card program in general.
v The problem of the “intention-behaviour” gap could be solved by pairing the following three advantages: (1) improving the environment and the social well-being, (2) trust in the FLCP and (3) feeling of security .
Limitations & Further Research
1. Sample: not fully representative for the population of Germany & only German participants → not generalizable (across boarders).
2. This study only measured intentions, no actual behaviour → test if people actually adopt the FLCP → laboratory experiment.
3. FLCP was developed for supermarkets → consumers might not accept such a loyalty card program when purchasing clothes → further research needed
Practical Implications: Supermarkets
A win-win situation for consumers and suppliers, because:
´ The turnover of sustainable products could be increased while buyers would
regard their intention to buy sustainable products as satisfied (Castaldo et al., 2016).
• The supermarket could gain a sustainability image and establish a trusting relationship with the buyers (Castaldo et al., 2016).
• Possibility to address a broader mass of consumers and by way of this increase its sales.
´ Targeting people with a rather low income, those who live with a partner, those who live alone or in a flat sharing community.
Practical Implications: Policy
´ Political steerage is needed in order to change patterns of consumption
(Smeddinck, 2011).
• Decision-making situations need to be facilitated, and
• guided by the value for the “common good” (Smeddinck, 2011).
´ One possibility: to sanction the irresponsible consumers by raising the price of ordinary products and at the same time reducing the price of sustainable alternatives.
References
• Ajzen, I. (1985). The theory of planned behavior, in: “Action Control.” Springer Series in Social Psychology, 11–39.
• Castaldo, S., Perrini, F., Misani, N., Tencati, A., & Tencati, A. (2016). The missing link between corporate social responsibility and consumer trust : The case of fair trade products. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(1), 1–15.
• Diamantopoulos, A., Schlegelmilch, B. B., Sinkovics, R. R., & Bohlen, G. M. (2003).
Can socio-demographics still play a role in profiling green consumers? A review of the evidence and an empirical investigation. Journal of Business Research, 56(6), 465–480.
• Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology, 38(6), 69–119.
• Milkman, K. L., Beshears, J., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., & Madrian, B. C. (2011). Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(26), 10415–10420.
References
• Smeddinck, U. (2011). Regulieren durch „Anstoßen“. Nachhaltiger Konsum durch gemeinwohlverträgliche Gestaltung von Entscheidungssituationen?
Die Verwaltung, 44(3), 375–395.
• Stewart, A. M., & Craig, J. L. (2001). Predicting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors: A model and a test. Journal of Environmental Systems, 28(4), 293–317.
• Van Doorn, J., & Verhoef, P. C. (2015). Drivers of and barriers to organic purchase behavior. Journal of Retailing, 91(3), 436–450.
• Vecchio, R., & Annunziata, A. (2015). Willingness-to-pay for sustainability-
labelled chocolate: An experimental auction approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 86, 335–342.
• Young, W., Hwang, K., McDonald, S., & Oates, C. J. (2010). Sustainable consumption: green consumer behaviour when purchasing products.
Sustainable Development, 18(1), 20–31.
