The influence of subjective and objective knowledge of ecolabels on consumers’ green purchasing practices

Abstract: Understanding of consumers’ green purchasing behaviour is a relevant topic for businesses around the world and an interesting research field, considering the issue of climate change. This study investigates the associations of young Swedish consumers’ subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, confusion and information acquisition with regards to commonly found ecolabels. The purpose is to shed light on how these concepts are related to and influence consumers’ green purchasing behaviour. Gaining insight into this topic could help businesses understand consumers’ perception of ecolabels and by extension, how the ecolabels can be used to promote green consumption. Cross-sectional data were gathered from a sample of 320 consumers in May 2017. The data gathering was carried out through 3 surveys studying the aforementioned concepts in relation to the ecolabels of Fairtrade, the Euro Leaf and KRAV. This is the first study investigating this topic in the Swedish market. The main finding indicate that business should focus on influencing consumers’ subjective knowledge, rather than objective, to incentivise a more environmental friendly purchasing behaviour. In addition, the findings confirm that theories from previous studies on other areas of knowledge are applicable to the topic of ecolabels as well. Additional theoretical and practical implications are discussed.