Investigating the ‘Greenness’ of Young Consumers : A Study on the Influence of Environmental Concern, Exposure to Green Marketing and Green Scepticism on Green Purchase Decisions.

Abstract: ABSTRACT   Date:                                  2020-06-06   Level:                                 Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr   Institution:   School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University   Authors:         Elina Nurmi                         Julia Darnéus Ekeroth   Natasha Milner             (1993-01-08)                              (1996-07-24)                                  (1998-05-05)   Title:                                  Investigating the ‘Greenness’ of Young Consumers   Tutor:                                David Freund   Keywords:  Environmental concern, green marketing, green consumer, green scepticism, green purchase decision. Research Question: How can environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and green scepticism influence young consumers’ green purchase decisions?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how young consumers’ green purchase decisions can be influenced by their environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and lastly, green scepticism. It will be analysed if consumers are now overexposed to green marketing, whether there is an action/awareness gap, and lastly, the number of green consumers in the sample will be established.   Method: Primary data was collected through a quantitative research method, via a self-completion online questionnaire. The chosen sample was Swedes, aged 18-30 and consisted of 140 respondents. IBM SPSS Statistics was used for the statistical tests undertaken such as Cronbach’s Alpha, Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation and Regression analysis.   Conclusion: Environmental concern and green scepticism were found to have a significant influence on the young Swedish consumers’ green purchase decision. A great deal of the sample possessed environmental concern, and it was found to influence their green purchase decision positively. The participants were not sceptical of green marketing, and green scepticism was found to significantly and negatively influence their green purchases. Finally, the young Swedes were minimally underexposed to green marketing with a slight negative, but insignificant, influence on green purchase decisions.