Green Consumer Behavior : Gender Differences In Willingness To Eat Less Meat

Abstract: Unsustainable meat consumption contributes to climate change. That is why consumers are advised to behave in an environmentally responsible manner and reduce their consumption of meat products. When it comes to willingness to reduce meat consumption, differences between female and male consumers have been identified. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate what motivating factors influence consumers' decision to reduce the consumption of meat products, and what is determined by influence of gender differences. Furthermore, the results of the analysis will help to find if consumers are willing to reduce meat consumption and if there are any similarities or differences between gender and their values towards meat consumption and the reduction of it. In order to get a deeper understanding of gender values towards reduction of meat consumption, a quantitative method and explanative design were applied and data was collected using online focus groups, male and female students from Kristianstad University. The results show that most of the respondents are willing to reduce the consumption of meat. Moreover, there were observed that some of the masculine attributes were more concerned about ethical issue such as animal welfare, meanwhile feminine - health issues and food safety. This thesis has laid a good foundation for possible future research about gender and sustainable meat consumption. Moreover, potentially it might help marketers to adopt their strategies to suit the nutritional needs of the different genders