Sustainable Behaviours: Using Life History

¶ … sustainable behaviours: Using life history research to examine the process of change The main aims of the proposed study are two-fold as follows: To develop a comprehensive understanding of how green consumerism can be used to encourage sustainable behaviors among consumers in the United Kingdom; and, To identify a set of best practices that can be used by companies competing in the UK food industry to employ environmentally responsible practices that can be used in marketing initiatives to promote their brands in a competitive fashion in ways that will encourage sustainable purchasing decisions by consumers.

Based on the foregoing main aims, the proposed study will be guided by the following research questions: How can the food industry in the United Kingdom promote environmentally responsible sustainable behaviors among its consumers? To what extent has consumer awareness of environmental problems modified their purchasing behaviors as a result of green awareness, and their main motivations for doing so? 3. What are the primary decision-making factors that drive food purchases among consumers in general and green consumers in particular? 4.

Are companies competing in the food industry in the UK at a competitive disadvantage when they promote green consumerism compared to those that do not? In an era of dwindling resources, global warming and a world population that continues to grow exponentially, these issues have assumed new importance and relevance. As Mackenzie (2000) emphasizes, "Far from being a fading force, ethical consumerism is becoming an integral part of branding and marketing.

The days when environmental issues with apparently clear-cut solutions could be related to easy changes in purchasing habits are gone" (p. 68). 3) An identification of links to any previous work or hypothesis. The past 30 years have been characterized by an increasing demand for so-called "green" products among consumers in the United Kingdom. According to Mackenzie (2000), "In the late eighties, consumer demand put unstoppable pressure on companies to improve the environmental quality of their products and services.

Some companies saw green as an attractive marketing platform and aimed to charge a premium for supposedly greener products" (p. 68). ). The best selling environmentally friendly food products being marketed in the United Kingdom currently are as follows: 1. Dolphin-friendly tuna (which accounts for 90% of the market share due in large part to efforts by nongovernmental organizations and public awareness campaigns); 2. Free-range and barn eggs (which accounts for 40% of the market share based on consumers' perceived benefits of freshness, taste, and animal welfare); and, 3.

Fairtrade coffee (which accounts for 20% of the UK ground coffee market based on competitive pricing) (Purvis, 2006). These relatively high percentages, though, are the glaring exceptions rather than being the rule (Purvis, 2006). In fact, despite the increased demand over the past three decades, green food products still represent a niche market in the United Kingdom, accounting for between 3 to 5% of the market share, but industry analysts suggest that this percentage can be increased to as much as 10% over the next few years (Purvis, 2006).

Indeed, green consumerism is frequently cited as being a force for voluntary shifts in sustainable consumer behaviors (Lyon & Maxwell, 2007). For instance, Lyon and Maxwell emphasize that, "If consumers are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly goods, any firm that can verifiably reduce its pollution in a cost-effective manner should engage in such efforts voluntarily" (p. 723). The motivation for paying a premium price for environmentally friendly food products differs among green consumers though.

In this regard, Bromley and Thomas (1999) report that, "Green consumers vary between those concerned to reduce global environmental degradation and those who adopt healthy eating habits, or merely the veneer of a green life style" (p. 13). Irrespective of the fundamental motivation behind green consumerism, there is increasing concern among government regulators in the UK that many consumers are being swayed by unethical marketing practices that promote food products as being produced by environmentally responsible enterprises.

According to a recent report from Prigg (2007), "We need to avoid consumers being ripped off by all the new green schemes and products out there. Schemes such as organic and fair trade labelling are licensed but a lot of others simply are not. Consumers really need to keep their eyes open" (p. 8).

These warnings suggest that to the extent that consumers in the UK believe they have duped by unethical marketing practices that have been used to persuade them to pay a premium price for green products will likely be the extent to which their purchase decisions concerning green products will be adversely affected in the future.

Conversely, to the extent that consumers are convinced that the marketing practices used by companies competing in the food industry in the UK are legitimate and their products are in fact environmentally friendly will likely be the extent to which their green consumerism purchasing behaviors will be sustained over time. 4) Any resources available and any required. A number of UK-based resources are currently available that would contribute to the findings of the proposed study, including the following: 1.

Mintel's Special Report on the Green and Ethical Consumer in the United Kingdom, published in 1999. 2. Report entitled, "I Will if You Will," published by the UK Sustainable Consumption Roundtable. 3. John Elkington, Julia Hailes and Joel Makower, the Green Consumer: A Guide for the Environmentally Aware, Penguin Books, London, 1999. 4. James Connelly and Graham Smith, Politics and the Environment: From Theory to Practice, Routledge, New York, 2002. 5. Mitchell Adrian and Kenneth Dupre, study entitled, "The Environmental Movement: A Status Report and Implications for Pricing," published in SAM Advanced Management Journal, 59(2), 35-37, 1999. 6.

Ethical Consumerism Report published by the Co-op Bank, 2004. Other resources that would be needed to develop a comprehensive life history research analysis to achieve the above-stated main goals include any current survey data concerning green consumerism behaviors in the UK and a critical review of the timely and relevant peer-reviewed, scholarly and governmental literature. 5) The methods of research proposed and a plan and timetable of work.

Given the relative brief period involved in the green consumerism movement, traditional marketing theories may not provide the robust analyses needed by companies competing in the food industry in the United Kingdom to avail themselves of these trends. Therefore, the proposed study will use of life history research methodology to answer the above-stated research questions.

According to Muchmore (1999), although life history research has been cited for a paucity of reliability and validity, as well as an inability to generalize results in the past, the methodology has gained an increasing amount of popularity among social researchers in recent years. The qualitative life history research approach has even been lauded by some social researchers for its ability to provide "a broader utility, benefiting constituencies beyond the researcher and participant, perhaps even those wed by inclination and training to quantitative methodologies" (Glotzer, 2004, p. 124).

Although there are a number of different approaches available within this research tradition, the life history research methodology is generally based on "the sociological tradition of symbolic interactionism in which meaning is viewed as a social creation through human interactions that are mediated by language or symbols" (Muchmore, 1999, p. 4).

This description suggests that the life history research methodology is particularly suitable for an analysis of how consumers views marketing efforts by companies competing in the food industry in the United Kingdom in an effort to gain a larger share of the green consumerism market. Generally speaking, there are three fundamental aspects involved in the execution of the life history research approach as follows: A. Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them; B.

The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that individuals have with their peers; and, C. These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process that is.