Environmental consciousness of European consumers: A segmentation-based study

Accepted Manuscript Environmental consciousness of European consumers: A segmentation-based study Urša Golob, Luka Kronegger PII:

S0959-6526(19)30596-7

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.197

Reference:

JCLP 15927

To appear in:

Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 16 October 2018 Revised Date:

15 February 2019

Accepted Date: 17 February 2019

Please cite this article as: Golob Urš, Kronegger L, Environmental consciousness of European consumers: A segmentation-based study, Journal of Cleaner Production (2019), doi: https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.197. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Environmental consciousness of European consumers: a segmentation-based study

Urša Goloba, * University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences

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Luka Kroneggera University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences *corresponding author

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Address:

Kardeljeva pl. 5 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Tel. +386 1 5805 100

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E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Environmental consciousness of European consumers: a segmentation-based study

Abstract Sustainable consumption is not a one-dimensional phenomenon; it entails various attitudinal

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and behavioural dimensions. To promote sustainability, decision-makers are encouraged to recognise the heterogeneity of sustainable consumers. The aim of this study was to examine a model of environmental consciousness and use its variables to segment European Union (EU)

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consumers. The study used a structural equation modelling approach to verify the environmental consciousness model and hierarchical agglomeration method for

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segmentation. It was based on secondary data on environmental issues gathered in 28 EU member states. Personal attitudinal dimensions in the model explained a relatively high proportion of the variance in sustainable behaviour. The segmentation analysis yielded three distinct segments that differ in their environmental consciousness and are affiliated with

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different EU country clusters. The use of secondary data to a certain extent limited the analysis. However, its strengths are its scope, the potential generalisability of the results and

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KEYWORDS

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comparability based on EU data.

sustainability, environmental consciousness, sustainable consumption, segmentation, European Union

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1. Introduction The concepts of sustainable production and consumption at the global and regional levels are both receiving significant attention in contemporary societies. Both concepts are addressed in daily debates among politicians, policymakers, academics, businesses, non-

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governmental organisations and citizens. In the European Union (EU), the European

Commission launched the Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable

Industrial Policy (SCP) Action Plan (COM, 2008). It includes different proposals and policies

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aimed at improving the innovation of eco-friendly products and encouraging more

sustainable and environmentally conscious production and consumption. In the transition to

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green economies, special emphasis is often put on household consumption, which is an important part of the production–consumption chain, as consumers are normally the ones deciding what and how to consume (Caeiro et al., 2012).

Consumption preferences and behaviour patterns are affected by various factors (do

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Paço et al., 2019) and differ across segments. Not all individuals will pay equal attention to sustainability-related issues when considering their environmental behaviour choices. To encourage sustainable consumption, it is important to examine how different factors and

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characteristics might predict and influence such behaviour (Spangenberg and Lorek, 2002;

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Wang, 2018). Needless to say, understanding individual consumer choices and sustainable lifestyles is the first step in introducing changes that will lead to more sustainable patterns of consumption. Such changes generally represent a formidable challenge in the pursuit of sustainability and might be addressed through policy interventions and investments in clean production technologies (García-Álvarez and Moreno, 2018). Studies suggest that both proenvironmental behaviour (i.e. efficient use of resources and sustainable consumption) and sustainable production tend to vary across countries (de Maya et al., 2011; Yilmazsoy et al., 2015; García-Álvarez and Moreno, 2018). Around 80% of all studies in the relevant

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT sustainability literature have focused on U.S. consumers (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003; Vicente-Molina et al., 2013), whereas international studies including consumers from multiple countries, especially in the European context, have been particularly scarce (Dangelico and Vocalelli, 2017; Gross and Telešiene, 2017). Therefore, a better

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understanding of international sustainability markets and behaviours should rely on defining distinctive segments ‘that may include consumers from more than one country’ (de Maya et al., 2011, p. 1768). Additionally, the downside of many existing segmentation studies is that

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they are based on socio-demographic variables, which are considered to be less powerful determinants of consumers’ pro-environmental behaviours compared to variables such as

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attitudinal and behavioural variables (Verain et al., 2012).

Thus, the main objective of this study was to provide a perspective on the environmental consciousness of European consumer-citizens by testing a stepwise segmentation approach (Aurifeille et al., 2002) based on the linkages between pro-

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environmental behaviour and its attitudinal antecedents. More specifically, the study was aimed at (1) exploring the environmental consciousness of European consumer-citizens by modelling the predictors that influence their pro-environmental behaviour using structural

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equation modelling (SEM) and (2) using significant predictors and self-reported consumer

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behaviour as inputs for an inter-market approach to segmenting environmentally conscious European consumers. With this, the study provides empirical support for the arguments in the literature that a comprehensive profile of the sustainable consumer can only be constructed by understanding the role of, and relationships between, factors of the environmental consciousness construct (Balderjahn et al., 2018). Moreover, from both the theoretical and practical perspectives, research on a larger sample including several EU countries is needed to verify whether pro-environmental behaviour can be explained using the same environmental criteria across countries (Wang,

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2017) and whether segments of environmental consumers transcend the national boundaries of the EU countries (Yilmazsoy et al., 2015). This study, therefore, employed cross-national data on environmental issues from the Special Eurobarometer conducted in the 28 EU member states (European Commission, 2015). Due to its sample size and the measures used,

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the study offers comprehensive insight into European consumers’ environmental

consciousness both at the individual and cross-national levels. First, the results provide an understanding of how sustainable or ‘green’ Europeans are in general and offers grounds for

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making comparisons with other parts of the world. Second, it has relevance because the existence of a single EU market requires multinational organisations, local actors and

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European policymakers to have a good comprehension of the characteristics of green and sustainable consumers and their behaviours both within and across countries. This might be relevant because the existing SCP pays little attention to the consumption side (Liobikienė and Dagiliūtė, 2016). Thus, segmenting citizens and consumers into groups based on

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variables that best predict their behaviours can give policymakers and marketers a solid foundation for changing policies and designing intervention strategies. Thus, the scope of this study, together with its implications, contributes to current scholarship on cross-national

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investigations into sustainable consumption that calls for an actors-centred perspective to

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assess the potential environmental impact of consumption (Spangenberg and Lorek, 2002). The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 introduces the

theoretical background of environmental consciousness and segmentation criteria, followed by the hypotheses and research questions. Section 3 describes the methodology and data. Section 4 reports the results. Section 5 discusses the findings together with the study’s implications and limitations. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2. Literature review

2.1 Sustainable behaviour and environmental consciousness According to previous research, there is increasing environmental awareness and

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concern among people, which tends to lead to stronger environmental attitudes and has consequences for behaviour as well (Verplanken, 2018). There is evidence that

environmental considerations have become an important component of the consumer

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decision-making process, for instance, at the level of information seeking and evaluation of information sources (Oates et al., 2008), and the willingness to pay more for socially and

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environmentally friendly products (Didier and Lucie, 2008). Kollmuss and Ageyeman (2002, p. 240) define sustainable or pro-environmental behaviour as ‘behaviour that consciously seeks to minimise the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world’. Similarly, Steg and Vlek (2009, p. 309) understand it as ‘behaviour that harms the

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environment as little as possible, or even benefits the environment’. Pro-environmental behaviour includes such specific behaviours as buying environmentally friendly products,

al., 2015).

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recycling, consuming less, saving energy and using green transport alternatives (Yilmazsoy et

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The most commonly applied theoretical models in the literature exploring green consumption are based on psychological and sociological models, such as the theory of planned behaviour, value–belief–norm model and norm-activation models, and the motivation–opportunity–abilities model, among others (Ölander and Thøgersen, 1995; Stern, 2000; Phipps et al., 2013). All research that has conceptually or empirically tackled issues related to different aspects of pro-environmental behaviour, be it at the level of environmental attitudes and concerns or actual green behaviour, can be labelled as research on environmental consciousness (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003). Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002)

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT define it as a complex built upon factors such as environmental knowledge, values, attitudes and emotional involvement, also shaped by other internal and external variables. Sánchez and Lafuente (2010) provide an operationalisation of environmental consciousness. They suggest that environmental consciousness, which corresponds to what Stern (1999) labels as the

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personal and behavioural domains of environmentally significant individual behaviour, can be explained by four dimensions defined in the social-psychological theories as the attitude structure (Dunlap et al., 2000): affective, cognitive, dispositional and active. The active

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dimension is referred to as pro-environmental behaviour; the affective dimension is

characterised by the perceived importance of environmental issues; the cognitive dimension

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refers to the level of information; and the dispositional dimension is linked to the personal norm and perceived personal costs (Sánchez and Lafuente, 2010). Environmental consciousness, thus, relies on several individual traits or factors, such as knowledge,

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awareness and behaviour (Berglund et al., 2014).

2.2 Environmental segmentation criteria

Kilbourne and Beckmann’s (1998) and Sarti et al.’s (2018) overviews of segmenting

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issues regarding environmental behaviour show that studies have adopted demographic,

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psychographic, personality and lifestyle-based variables to determine segments. A review by Verain et al. (2012) indicates that studies focusing on sustainable food consumption have used mostly socio-demographic variables, with gender, age and education being the most common variables. A strong argument about the lack of power of socio-demographics is offered in Diamantopoulos et al.’s (2003) study on UK consumers, where this group of variables accounts for only about 6% of the variance in environmental consciousness. Based on their findings, the authors suggest that other variables, such as those defining environmental consciousness and situational variables, might be more appropriate for

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT segmentation. Among personality segmentation variables, values tend to be most common, while the rare studies using behavioural factors tend to rely on reported past behaviour for segmenting consumers (Verain et al., 2012). The same authors also note two gaps in the use of non-sociodemographic segmentation bases. First, among the studies examined, only one

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used act-related behaviour items (e.g. recycling), while others were product-related (e.g. green product purchase). Second, the price or willingness-to-pay factor is also deemed

important for distinguishing segments; however, no unambiguous findings exist regarding

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how environmental segments differ based on the price-related factor.

The literature on segmenting environmentally conscious consumers suggests that

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there is now a consensus among scholars that attitudinal and behavioural variables best determine green or sustainable consumer segments (e.g. Yilmazsoy et al., 2015; Balderjahn et al., 2018), while other factors might be employed for further profiling the segments.

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2.3 Hypotheses and research questions

To examine the relationships between factors of the environmental consciousness construct and to ascertain the suitability of these factors for segmenting environmental

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consumers, we propose a conceptual framework of environmental consciousness. The

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framework is based on the synthesised theoretical insights into pro-environmental behaviour and four-dimensional construct of environmental consciousness (Sánchez and Lafuente, 2010; Berglund et al., 2014), where the active dimension, exhibiting various types of proenvironmental behaviour, represents the outcome variable. Pro-environmental behaviour, as defined in Section 2.1, corresponds to buying and other acts of post-purchase behaviour, such as use and post-use, waste management and reduced consumption (Caeiro et al., 2012), as well as environmental activism (Stern, 2000).

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT According to Sánchez and Lafuente (2010), the affective attitudinal dimension of environmental consciousness refers to environmental concern and the perceived severity or importance of environmental issues. Both concern and perceived importance are value-based and are rooted in the relative significance that individuals place on themselves, others and the

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environment around them (Schultz, 2001). Concern and perceived importance reflect

primitive beliefs ‘about nature and humans’ role’ towards the environment – that is, a ‘proecological orientation’ (Dunlap et al., 2000, p. 428). Dunlap et al. (2000) and Schultz (2000)

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further argue that these beliefs influence other beliefs and attitudes concerning a wide range of environmental issues that are personally important to individuals. The affective dimension

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may also influence pro-environmental behaviour; however, the direct link is not usually strong due to the different barriers and opportunities that mediate the influence (Dunlap et al., 2000). These intermediates can include other attitudinal constructs, such as cognitive and dispositional dimensions. Consequently, certain beliefs about environmentalism and the high

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perceived importance of environmental issues can make one more receptive to environmental information. Stern’s (2000) meta-review of environmentally significant behaviour suggests that such beliefs are activators of the dispositional attitudinal dimension, which includes a

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sense of responsibility and personal costs. Thus, we propose the following:

H1a: The perceived importance of environmental protection (i.e. affective dimension)

influences the levels of information and awareness of environmental problems (i.e. cognitive dimension).

H1b: The perceived importance of environmental protection (i.e. affective dimension) influences the sense of individual responsibility and personal costs (i.e. dispositional dimension).

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT The cognitive dimension refers to the level of available information about environmental issues and to the awareness and knowledge of environmental problems and their causes (Vicente-Molina et al., 2013). Knowledge and information seem to be theoretically important in terms of pro-environmental behaviour; although the empirical

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results of their influence are ambiguous, they indicate that knowledge about environmental issues is a necessary, but insufficient, condition for pro-environmental behaviours (VicenteMolina et al., 2013). A meta-analysis of the determinants of environmentally responsible

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behaviour shows that the awareness and knowledge of environmental problems seem to be ‘important cognitive preconditions for developing moral norms’; in other words, they have an

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influence on the dispositional attitudinal dimension (Bamberg and Möser, 2007, p. 15). In addition, Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002, p. 246) note that in some models of ecological behaviour, knowledge acts as a modifier of environmental attitudes and values. Information plays a role in triggering the personal norm, the feeling of personal responsibility and bearing

hypothesis:

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the costs of pro-environmental acting (Sánchez and Lafuente, 2010). This leads to the second

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H2: The level of information (i.e. cognitive dimension) influences the sense of

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individual responsibility and personal costs (i.e. dispositional dimension).

Sánchez and Lafuente (2010, p. 737) propose that the dispositional dimension refers

to two facets. The first one assumes the importance of ‘personal attitudes towards individual action (or personal involvement)’. This facet is related to the perception of individual responsibility and self-efficacy and is referred to as personal norm (Harland et al., 2007). The personal norm has also been conceptualised in the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) as a situational variable measuring perceived behavioural control. Its assumption is that

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT consumers’ estimation of the ability to perform behaviour or the ability to play a role in solving environmental problems is also important. Vicente-Molina et al. (2013) suggest a similar conceptualisation labelled as ‘perceived consumer effectiveness’. Despite slight differences in defining a dispositional facet, this particular variable is useful for predicting

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general pro-environmental behaviour (Joshi and Rahman, 2015). The second dispositional facet is reflected in the ‘willingness to assume personal costs’ of environmental measures (Sánchez and Lafuente, 2010, p. 736). Such costs can be related to a higher price premium

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when buying a sustainable product or service (Barber et al., 2014). Sánchez and Lafuente (2010) argue that the two facets must be combined for one to assume that individuals will not

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adopt a passive role and will be ready to exhibit the pro-environmental behaviour. Thus, we propose the following:

H3: The sense of individual responsibility and personal costs (i.e. dispositional

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dimension) influence pro-environmental behaviour (i.e. active dimension).

Literature reviews on green segmentation (Kilbourne and Beckmann, 1998; Verain et

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al., 2012) have concluded that it might be useful to segment consumer-citizens in terms of

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their environmental consciousness. Moreover, considering the argument of Schlegelmilch et al. (1996) that multivariate analysis is ideal for determining the value of variables for profiling purposes, this study adopted the dimensions of the model to identify the profiling structure of consumers. Additionally, in terms of differences among environmentally conscious consumers, Nas and Dekker (1996) suggest that the roots of environment-related activities might be the same for similar segments across the EU despite possible national differences. Based on the assumption of common structures across the EU, groups of

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT environmental consumers across the EU market could be identified. Following this reasoning, we developed the first research question:

RQ1: Which EU consumer segments emerge based on the environmental

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consciousness model?

The literature reports very few environmental segmentation studies including more

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than one country (Yilmazsoy et al., 2015). However, it is widely discussed that

environmental concern among citizens and consumers continues to grow globally and in the

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EU particularly (Gross and Telešiene, 2017). From the perspective of the EU, it may be reasonable for policymakers and marketers to not only use strategies aimed at the EU as a single market but, rather, deploy hybrid inter-market strategies which assume that consumer sustainability segments may be both all-inclusive across the EU market as well as based on

second research question:

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clusters of countries that share similar sustainability aspects. Thus, we sought to answer the

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RQ2: Which clusters of EU countries can be identified according to the

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environmental segment structure of their inhabitants?

3. Methodology

This study was based on secondary data analysis using the social survey dataset

provided by the EU government sector (European Commission, 2015), which was officially made available for further academic analysis to produce additional knowledge. We followed the prescribed procedural and evaluative steps in the secondary data analysis process. As proposed for the secondary data analysis, we applied ‘the theoretical knowledge and

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT conceptual skills’ to utilise the existing database on sustainability in Europe and test our hypotheses (Johnston, 2014, p. 620). The research procedure was based on an iterative process of joining two general approaches: a data-driven and a research-question-driven approach. Starting with a general idea about the research question regarding pro-

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environmental behaviour developed from the literature review, we searched for available datasets with the variables needed to address the question (Cheng and Phillips, 2014). After examining the dataset, we determined the appropriate conceptual model and developed the

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hypotheses. The next steps included defining the variables and considering the appropriate

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types of analyses.

3.1 Evaluating the dataset and selecting the variables

The primary purpose of gathering the data was to explore the attitudes of European citizens towards the environment. The data were gathered between April and May 2014 as

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part of the Special Eurobarometer series (European Commission, 2015). The dataset covered the total population of 28 EU member states aged 15 years and over. The sample design was multi-stage, random probability; in each country, the sampling points were drawn with a

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probability proportional to population size and density. The interviews were carried out face-

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to-face in households in participants’ national languages. The total sample size was 27,998; on average, around 1,000 interviews were carried out in each country, with the exceptions of Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, where the sample size was around 500 (European Commission, 2015). The questionnaire comprised several parts: the main part measured attitudes towards the environment, skills and qualifications were measured in the following part, and socio-demographics and contextual variables were assessed in the last part (European Commission, 2015). As secondary researchers, we had access to the raw dataset to perform new analyses.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Predictor variables and the dependent variable were selected from the existing Eurobarometer questionnaire based on the model of environmental consciousness and the definitions of variables found in the literature. The variables used in the model and

Table 1 about here

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segmentation process are presented in Table 1.

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In addition, the variables used for further profiling the segments were a mix of sociodemographic and situational variables – gender, age, years of education, level in the society,

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social class, occupation – and a question regarding whether stakeholders are either doing enough or not doing enough to protect the environment. To answer our research question regarding clusters of countries, the country of residence was also used as a variable in the

3.2 Data analysis methods

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final step.

The analysis proceeded in several stages. First, descriptive statistics and frequency

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tables of all variables included in the main analysis were calculated to obtain information

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about the use of the coding pattern and the profile of missing data (Cheng and Phillips, 2014). All missing values were then removed from the dataset. Consequently, the sample size used in the analysis was reduced to 25,255 respondents. Second, the data were analysed using a latent variable analysis package (lavaan 0.5 series), which can deal with binary endogenous variables (Rosseel, 2012). Third, the clustering of units on all variables from the model was performed with Ward’s (1963) hierarchical agglomeration method ran on Gower’s (1971) distance matrix. Finally, socio-demographics and situational variables were used for profiling the segments. All analyses were conducted using R statistical package.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 4. Results

4.1 Modelling environmental consciousness First, the SEM model was estimated for the whole dataset. The comparative fit index

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(CFI) of the initial model was not above the acceptable threshold of 0.95 (the fit indices: CFI = 0.87; RMSEA = 0.05; SRMR = 0.06); thus, we decided to remove some of the manifest variables measuring pro-environmental behaviours to account for lower factor loadings.

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When removing these items, we paid attention to the fact that both the reducing and buying aspects of behaviours remained represented in the latent variable of pro-environmental

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behaviour: choose a more environmentally friendly way of travelling; reduce waste, e.g. by avoiding over-packaged products and buying products with a longer life; cut down energy consumption; and choose local products. Consequently, the fit indices of the model improved and indicated a good model fit (CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.04; SRMR = 0.03). Fig. 1 represents

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the specification of the environmental consciousness model.

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Figure 1 about here

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The results confirmed our first set of hypotheses. Perceived importance of environmental issues strongly affects the sense of personal responsibility and readiness to bear some personal costs for the environment (H1a: Standardised Path Coefficient [SPC] = 0.90; z = 37.31; p < 0.001). It also weakly affects how informed an individual was about environmental issues (H1b: SPC = 0.25; z = 24.93; p < 0.001). The second hypothesis was also confirmed; however, the level of information had a very low effect on the sense of personal responsibility and readiness to bear personal costs (H2: SPC = 0.08; z = 8.50; p < 0.001). Further, the results provided support for the third hypothesis that the dispositional

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT dimension, expressed as the sense of personal responsibility and readiness to bear costs for the environment, strongly affects pro-environmental behaviour (H3: SPC = 0.76; z = 20.76; p < 0.001). All predictor variables in the model accounted for 58.5% of the variance in pro-

4.2 Segments of environmentally conscious consumers

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environmental behaviour.

In the second part of our analysis, the clusters were formed according to the variables

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included in the environmental consciousness model. A three-group solution was selected according to a dendrogram. Based on the characteristics related to environmental

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consciousness, clusters were ordered from the most to the least pro-environmental and each was given a descriptive name: Pro-environmentalists, Moderate environmentalists and Sideline environmentalists (Table 2).

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Table 2 about here

The differences across segments, based on the segmenting variables’ agreement shares, are

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graphically presented in Fig. 2.

Figure 2 about here

The group with the highest shares on the majority of variables – 26% of EU

consumers – is Pro-environmentalists. They are the most environmentally conscious group and the most engaged one; more than half of them totally agree about their personal responsibility and ability to play a role in protecting the environment and are ready to assume some personal costs; and they are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT They are highly involved in all kinds of green behaviours, such as green transport, separating waste and cutting down on energy consumption. They also have the highest percentages on purchasing behaviour compared to other segments. More than 80% of Pro-environmentalists

label or had chosen local products (62%; see Table 3).

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had recently purchased environmentally friendly products marked with an environmental

The second group, Moderate environmentalists, represents 24% of all EU consumers. As opposed to the first group, this group’s environmental concern is moderate. They are less

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likely than the first segment to be ready to bear personal costs, such as paying higher prices for green products. They are fairly oriented towards reducing consumption and low-cost

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behaviour in their households; and many of them are very active in waste separation and recycling (79%). Interestingly, they are also the segment with the highest consumption of local products (79%; see Table 3).

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Table 3 about here

The third segment, Sideline environmentalists, is the biggest, and according to the dendrogram, the most diversified segment, representing 50% of all EU consumers. While

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they still exhibit fairly high environmental consciousness (e.g. specifically in terms of A1

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‘personal importance’; see Fig. 2), this level is the lowest among all three segments. They are less willing to make big sacrifices for the environment in terms of personal costs, and they exhibit pro-environmental behaviours which are aimed mainly at reducing consumption, such as separating waste for recycling, cutting down on energy and water consumption and choosing a more ecological way to travel (Table 3). In the final step, respondents were distributed into segments by their country of residence to perform an additional clustering of countries. The analysis returned four distinct clusters of EU countries according to the segment structure of their inhabitants. The clusters

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT of countries with segment membership are shown in Fig. 3. Cluster 1 is strongly represented by Pro-environmentalists and includes Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden. Cluster 2, including France, Finland, Great Britain, Germany and the Baltic countries, contains most of the Moderate environmentalists.

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Cluster 3, which includes countries such as Belgium, Greece, Italy, the Czech

Republic and Slovenia, is a mix of Moderate and Sideline environmentalists. Cluster 4,

including Hungary, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, is dominated mostly by

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obtained clusters of countries are presented in Table 4.

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Sideline environmentalists. The proportions of average segment affiliations according to the

Figure 3 about here Table 4 about here

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5. Discussion

This study advances the general understanding of how environmental attitudes affect sustainable consumption cross-nationally and addresses the limitations of country-level

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observations, which continue to dominate the literature on sustainable consumption (Wang,

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2017). The testing of the environmental consciousness model in a cross-national context suggested that a rather high proportion of the variance in responses to pro-environmental behaviour can be explained by affective, cognitive and dispositional attitudinal dimensions. Moreover, our analysis confirmed that the dimensions of the model effectively contribute to the segmentation of individuals, which evinces the usefulness of this particular behavioural model for predicting various self-reported, pro-environmental behaviours. The segmentation analysis revealed that a certain heterogeneity exists and that EU consumers cluster in three different segments, ranging from those who tend to be more environmentally conscious to

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT those who exhibit lower levels of such consciousness. The results further point to dissimilarities in environmental consciousness across the EU. This confirms the uncovered variations in sustainable consumption in previous cross-national studies (e.g. Wang, 2017; García-Álvarez and Moreno, 2018).

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Pro-environmentalists, who in a way represent a ‘sustainable elite’, extensively

engage in most forms of sustainable practices, including buying sustainable products. In

contrast, the other two segments more likely practice sustainable degrowth (Caeiro et al.,

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2012), including the selection of green transport, recycling and reducing energy and water consumption as well as waste (see Table 3). Hence, while the buying aspect of sustainable

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consumption is important, as it also drives sustainability in the production of goods and services (Liobikienė and Dagiliūtė, 2016), the buying part of sustainable behaviour is not necessarily a representative behavioural dimension across all segments. The study also draws a picture of how the identified segments are affiliated with

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clusters of the EU countries, which offers additional insight into the environmental consciousness at the country and cross-country levels. The results imply various degrees of homogeneity and heterogeneity in environmental consciousness. As Wang (2017) suggested,

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they can be partly attributed to individual-level variables employed in the segmentation

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study. All three defined segments are quite similar in terms of affective (i.e. perceived importance of environmental issues) and cognitive dimensions (i.e. perceived level of available information), which bodes well for the ‘ultimate goal’ of becoming a ‘global green society’ in the future, as suggested by the policy documents on sustainability (e.g. SCP and UN Sustainable Development Goals). This finding is also relevant in light of the general consensus that the affluent citizens of developed areas, such as Europe, should assume a particular responsibility for the levels and effects of consumption (Spangenberg and Lorek, 2002).

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5.1 Implications for theory and practice concerning sustainability From the theoretical perspective, our study makes three main contributions. First, it used a framework of variables that have proven to be good predictors of various self-reported

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sustainability behaviours. Segmentation is not value-neutral and must depend on theoretical assumptions; hence, having a framework that is theoretically relevant for its purpose is a

necessary precondition for sustainability segmentation models to capture meaningful groups

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of individuals or households. Second, segmentation based on environmental consciousness, which includes not just several attitudinal antecedents but also a rather broad set of self-

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reported sustainability behaviours, takes into account the heterogeneity of sustainable consumption practices and, thus, overcomes issues of using single behaviour models in segmentation research (e.g. Balderjahn et al., 2018). Finally, according to international market segmentation approaches, segmenting the sustainable EU market by using individuals

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as primary units can make better theoretical sense than selecting countries as a basis; this way, the national sustainable markets emerge as a result of the selection of individuals and their sustainable orientations across countries (Papadopoulos and Martín, 2011).

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The segmentation of sustainable EU inhabitants has practical implications as well.

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First of all, since both national and EU SCP policies for fostering the consumption side of sustainability are rather weak (Liobikienė and Dagiliūtė, 2016), such segmentation might aid policymakers in structuring the heterogeneity in sustainability among consumers and countries. As evident from our study, consumer segments across the EU share similar sustainability attitudes and behaviours; thus, they might share more similarities with one another than with other consumers in their countries. Knowing this, by specifying similarities in the diverse EU member states, policymakers at the EU and national levels might be able to more effectively design and implement policies and interventions aimed at promoting

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT environmentally conscious decision-making, informing and educating, and making green products more accessible. Considering cross-national groups of consumer-citizens who share important attitudes and behaviours will also enable EU-level policymakers to address these

of general EU policies on sustainability.

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convergences by sharing best practices among countries and by strengthening certain aspects

Furthermore, although rather general, the approach to segmentation in this study, which was based on multiple behaviours, has the potential to achieve efficiency in

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behavioural change across different behaviours. While a more narrow segmentation model based solely on a specific behavioural set (e.g. reducing energy and waste) would allow for

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more focused interventions, including a broader array of behaviours in this model can minimise the risk of fragmenting sustainability policy (Poortinga and Darnton, 2016). In terms of designing particular sustainability policies and interventions, the results of our study indicate that the affective dimension has a strong influence on the subsequent

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variables in the model and is rather high across all segments. This signals to policymakers that they should maintain (and increase) the level of the affective dimension by continuously making people aware of problems related to the environment and sustainability. One way to

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tackle this is by using the storytelling approach to everyday sustainability themes.

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Differences in segments tend to be the largest in terms of the dispositional (e.g. assuming personal costs) and active (behavioural) dimensions. About a quarter of EU inhabitants, the Pro-environmentalists, can be understood as leaders or first movers in adopting sustainable behaviours. While exhibiting all sustainability behaviours, this segment also shows a strong willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products and reports a stronger inclination towards green product buying. This suggests that policymakers should further promote the uptake of green products to achieve more mindful consumption. For the first movers segment, the strategy could entail encouraging people to include more green products

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT in their repertoires, while the way to address the other two segments may be through searching for new ways to cut the prices of green products and services. Moreover, the two less environmentally oriented segments could be made greener by promoting new service options, such as repairing, maintaining, sharing and renting products, etc., and by running

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public and social marketing campaigns promoting behavioural changes related to

consumption reductions. Sideline environmentalists are frequently involved in other forms of low-cost environmental behaviour, such as reducing waste, recycling and selecting

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sustainable travelling options. Their behaviours could be further encouraged by changing policies, for example, by instituting outright bans on non-ecological behaviour while

as more efficient public transport.

5.2 Limitations and future research

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increasing incentives for environmental behaviour or by providing better infrastructure, such

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This study was not without limitations. One, which is inherent to secondary data analysis, is that the data were not collected for the purpose of this particular study. Related to this, the major disadvantage of our analysis was the way in which the variables were

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measured. The results may not be as telling as they would have been if the measures had been

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designed for the exact purpose of this study. The model would benefit from including other explanatory variables and additional facets of existing variables which would enrich its explanatory power. In addition, other (and better) measures would give us more insight into the different facets of pro-environmental behaviour which, in turn, would yield stronger practical implications. The problem of environmental variables in multinational datasets has been mentioned frequently in the literature. However, similar measures have been employed recently in different environment-related models (Dunlap, 2017). This study nevertheless managed to overcome most of the other limitations related to secondary data analysis by

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT matching the research hypotheses with the existing data and following the procedure for secondary data analysis. The study demonstrates that such multinational datasets can indeed be useful for putting together segmentation models that serve as analytical tools aimed at helping

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policymakers encourage changes in behaviour. However, policymakers and scholars should work more closely together to develop measures of environmental consciousness for such large-scale future studies. This would enable the scholars to perform richer analyses of

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relevant data and procure stronger implications for the theory on sustainability and cleaner production while simultaneously providing important insights for practice. One such analysis

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could also be an evaluation of SEM in a multi-group setting using, for example, a finitemixture SEM approach for response-based segmentation (Jedidi et al., 1997).

6. Conclusions

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In this study, a model of environmental consciousness was analysed on a sample of EU consumers. In addition, variables defining environmental consciousness were further used to segment the consumers. The results of the study empirically confirm that relationships

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exist between the attitudinal dimensions of pro-environmental behaviour and that personal

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domains of environmentally significant individual behaviour (Stern, 1999) are adequate predictors of the behavioural dimension. Based on the relatively strong relationships between the predictor and dependent variables, the results also confirm the usefulness of attitudinal and behavioural variables for segmenting environmentally conscious individuals and thus corroborate existing environmental segmentation research. Therefore, this study additionally extends the literature on environmental segmentation by contributing new knowledge regarding environmental consciousness in the EU context at the individual and cross-national levels, filling the gap by providing cross-national insights based on non-U.S. sustainable

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT consumer data. Finally, the results of the study also indicate that a combination of micro(individual variables) and macro-level (country clusters) segmentation aspects is potentially relevant for mapping out the sustainable consumption characteristics of EU inhabitants.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 1 Predictor and dependent variables with items1.

Level of available information

Individual sense of responsibility Dispositional Personal costs

Descriptive statistics

How important is protecting the environment to you personally?

interval

x̄ =3.54, sd=0.59

Environmental issues have a direct effect on your daily life.

interval

x̄ =3.16, sd=0.82

In general, do you consider that you are very well, fairly well, fairly badly or very badly informed about environmental issues?

interval

x̄ =2.73, sd=0.70

As an individual, you can play a role in protecting the environment in your country.

interval

You are willing to buy environmentally friendly products even if they cost a little bit more.

interval

x̄ =3.06, sd= 0.84

Bought environmentally friendly products marked with an environmental label

binary

% of yes = 25

Chosen local products

binary

% of yes = 40

Chosen a more environmentally friendly way of traveling (by foot, bicycle, public transport).

binary

% of yes = 49

Reduced waste e.g. by avoiding over-packaged products and buying products with a longer life

binary

% of yes = 47

Separated most of your waste for recycling

binary

% of yes = 44

Cut down your water consumption

binary

% of yes = 49

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Active2

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Engagement in buying behavior (pure)

Variable type

Engagement in behavior aimed at reducing and efficient buying (mixed)

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Cognitive

Perceived importance of environmental issues

Items/questions

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Affective

Facet

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Variable

x̄ =3.28, sd=0.77

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Cut down your energy consumption e. g. by turning down air conditioning or heating, not leaving appliances on stand-by, buying energy efficient appliances

binary

% of yes = 50

Used your car less

binary

% of yes = 41

1

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Notes: The items were taken from the Special Eurobarometer 81.3 conducted in April-May 2014. The full questionnaire and variable report are available at: https://www.gesis.org/index.php?id=10323&tx_eurobaromater_pi1 (21/12/2018). 2 Active dimension was measured via self-reporting behaviors with selecting multiple answers on the question: Have you done any of the following for environmental reasons in the past month?

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 2 Segments of environmentally conscious consumers. Pro-environmentalists

Moderate environmentalists

Sideline environmentalists

26% of the EU consumers

24% of the EU consumers

50% of the EU consumers

Level of environmental consciousness:

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53% feel that environmental issues are very important for them and 35% totally agree that environmental problems have a direct effect on their daily lives. 56% are fairly well informed about the environmental problems, and 31% feel fairly poorly informed. 40% totally agree on the importance of their own role in environmental issues. 29% totally agree that they are willing to assume personal environmental costs, while 19% tend to disagree. The most important proenvironmental behaviors are lowcost behaviors aimed at reducing consumption: choosing green transport (41%), separating waste (69%) and cutting down the energy consumption (49%).

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Almost 60% believe that environmental issues are very important for them personally. 38% totally agree that environmental problems have a direct effect on their daily lives. They feel fairly well informed (58%); however, one-third feels that they are fairly poorly informed. 42% totally agree on the importance of their own role in environmental issues. They are less likely to totally agree to bear personal costs, such as paying higher prices for being green (30%), but half of them are somewhat ready to pay more for green products. Oriented towards reducing consumption and low-cost behavior in their households; the majority of them (79%) are very active in waste separation and recycling. This segment also has the highest percentage of buying local products (79%).

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Environmental issues are very important for them personally (69%) and have a direct effect on their daily lives (46% totally agree). Very well informed (13%) and fairly well informed (62%) about the environmental problems. 56% totally agree that they feel personally responsible for protecting the environment. Ready to assume personal costs, such as the willingness to pay more for green products (52% totally agree). Very engaged in all proenvironmental practices, especially in purchasing behaviors. More than 80% purchased environmentally friendly products marked with an environmental label or chose local products (62%).

Other characteristics:

56% females; slightly older compared to pro-environmentalists; place themselves in the mid-level in society and consider themselves to be middle class. When assessing which stakeholder is not doing enough for the environment, they are the most critical towards big companies (77%) and less critical towards themselves (65%).

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61% are females; most studied 20 years or more (47%); have higher-level jobs (e.g. manager positions or other white-collar jobs); place themselves more towards the higher-end level in society and consider themselves to be middle class. Critical of what has been done so far in terms of protecting the environment by different stakeholders. 71% feel that citizens themselves are not doing enough for the environment.

53% females; younger than the other two segments; slightly less educated; the highest percentage of manual workers; 44% are working class and 50% are middle class. Similar to segment no. 2 when assessing which stakeholder is not doing enough for the environment; most critical towards big companies and industries (75%) and less towards themselves (65%).

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 3 Pro-environmental behaviors by segment. Segment 1 Proenvironmentalists

Behavior type

Segment 2 Moderate environmentalists

Segment 3 Sideline environmentalists

%

%

Chosen a more environmentally friendly way of traveling (by foot, bicycle, public transport)

57

19

41

Reduced waste e.g. by avoiding overpackaged products and buying products with a longer life

51

40

20

Separated most of your waste for recycling

79

Cut down your water consumption

47

Chosen local products

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Used your car less

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Bought environmentally friendly products marked with an environmental label

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69

19

43

62

46

49

84

8

2

62

79

9

22

9

27

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Cut down your energy consumption e. g. by turning down air conditioning or heating, not leaving appliances on stand-by, buying energy efficient appliances

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%

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Cluster 2

Cluster 3

Cluster 4

Pro-environmentalists

0.19

0.21

0.47

0.27

Moderate environmentalists

0.16

0.26

0.18

0.31

Sideline environmentalists

0.65

0.54

0.35

0.42

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Cluster 1

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Table 4 Proportion of cluster affiliation according to obtained clusters of countries

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Dispositional dimension! (Responsibility & Costs)

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0.78

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0.10

Cognitive dimension! (Information level)

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0.25

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Affective dimension! (Personal importance)

0.74

Active dimension! (Pro-environmental behaviour)

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B1 1

A5

B2

A4

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0.8

B3

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0.6

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0.4 0.2

A3

Moderate environmentalists

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0

Pro-environmentalists

B4

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Sideline environmentalists

B5

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A2

A1

B6 B8

B7

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Highlights

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Environmental consciousness among the European consumers was analysed. A stepwise segmentation employing the environmental consciousness model was used. The model explains relatively high proportion of variance in sustainable behaviour. Three distinct segments with different sustainability levels were identified. The segments are affiliated with four European Union country clusters.

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• • • • •