Influence of consumers.docx

Influence of consumers.docx

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Influenceofconsumers

Influenceofconsumers'socioecologicalandeconomicorientationsonpreferencesforwoodproductswithsustainabilitylabels

RalfHansmann

ThomasKoellner

andRolandW.Scholz

SwissFederalInstituteofTechnologyZurich（ETHZürich）,InstituteforHuman-EnvironmentSystems（HES）,ChairofEnvironmentalSciences:

NaturalandSocialScienceInterface（NSSI）,Haldenbachstrasse44,ETHZentrumHAD,CH-8092Zürich,Switzerland

Received29October2003; 

revised4June2004; 

accepted27June2004. 

Availableonline2November2004.

Abstract

Aquestionnairewasdevelopedtoassesspeople'ssustainabilityorientationconcerningforestsconsideringtheecological,social,andeconomicaldimensionandtoassesstheirknowledgeoflabelsforsustainableforestry（SF）.Thequestionnaireitemswereusedtoanalyzetherelationshipbetweentheindividualsustainabilityorientationofapersonandtheknowledgeofsustainabilitylabelsandtheattentiontoandpreferenceforlabeledwoodproducts.Anexperimentaldesignembeddedinthesurveyshowedthatthecommunicationofcorrespondinglabelinformationenhances（statedintentionsconcerning）attentiontoandpreferenceforlabeledproductsinaprospectivepurchasingsituation.Moreover,resultsshowedthatasustainabilityorientationfavoringecologicalandsocialaspects,ascomparedtoeconomicalaspectsofforestry,correlatespositivelywiththestatedintentionsinfavorofthepurchasingoflabeledwoodproducts.Thepositivecorrelationoftheseintentionswiththeaprioriknowledgeoftheparticipantswasonlymarginallysignificant.TheresultsindicatethatitispossibletosuccessfullypromoteSFandtoenhancethedemandforcorrespondinglycertifiedproductsthroughmarketingandotherstrategies.Thesemightincludethegenerationofinnovativecertificationsystemsinatransdisciplinary,participatoryprocess.

Keywords:

Sustainableforestmanagement;Certification;Sustainableforestry;Woodlabels;Sustainability;Communication

ArticleOutline

1.

Introduction

2.

Methodandhypothesis

2.1.Content,procedure,andexperimentaldesignofthesurvey

2.1.1.Assessmentofindividualsustainabilityorientations

2.1.2.Assessmentofknowledgeofwoodlabels

2.1.3.Experimentalmanipulationandassessmentoftwodependentvariables

2.2.Constructionofascaleformeasuringindividualtendenciesofweighingecologicalandsocialaspectsofforestsascomparedtoeconomicaspects

2.3.Hypotheses

2.3.1.Absoluteweighingofecological,social,andeconomicaspectsofforests

2.3.2.Weighingofecologicalandsocialvs.economicaspectsofforestsandpurchasingintentionsforwoodproductswithsustainabilitylabels

2.3.3.Knowledgeconcerningsustainabilitywoodlabelsandpurchasingintentionsforcorrespondingwoodproducts

2.3.4.Effectsofinformationaboutsustainabilitylabelsonpurchasingintentionsforcorrespondingwoodproducts

3.

Results

3.1.Absoluteweighingofecologicalandsocialvs.economicaspectsofforests

3.2.Levelofknowledgeonwoodlabels

3.3.Effectsofsustainabilityorientation,labelknowledge,andcommunicationonpurchasingintentionsforlabeledwoodproducts

4.

Conclusion

References

1.Introduction

ThisarticletakesaSwissperspectiveoncertificationcriteriaforthesustainabilitylabelingoftimberproducts,onthesustainabilityorientationofindividuals,theirknowledgeaboutsustainableforestry（SF）labelsandtheirpurchasingintentionsconsideringtheselabels.ConclusionsforthedevelopmentofSFlabelsandcertificationcriteriaandforcorrespondingmarketingandcommunicationstrategieswillbediscussed.Inlightofincreasingglobalizationandliberalizationofthemarkets,thepossibilitiesoftransferringmarketingstrategiesfromanationalperspectivetoothernationalperspectivesandtoaninternationallevelareofgreatinterestandpracticalrelevance（Bruhn,1997）.ThereadersarethusencouragedtoengageinacomparisonofthesituationandproblemsinSwitzerlandwiththeirowndomesticsituationandtoconsiderthetransferabilityoftheviewpointsoncertificationcriteriaandeco-labelmarketingpresentedinthisarticle.

Acomprehensiveconceptofsustainabilityencompassesecological,social,andeconomicaspects（WorldCommissiononEnvironmentandDevelopment,1987andRenn,1996）.Thesethreedimensionsarealsoapplicabletothesustainabilityofforestmanagement（VanMansveldandvanderLubbe,1999,Kissling-Näf,2000,SuterThalmann,2000,Eidetal.,2001andKrott,2002）.ThecertificationoftimberfromSFandtheuseofcorrespondinglabelscommunicatetotheconsumersthestandardsthathavebeenfollowedintheproductionofthewood.Asgenerallyholdstrueforbrandlabelsofproducts（Bruhn,1997andMüller-Hagedorn,1997）,fromaneconomicperspective,theuseofSFlabelsisaimingatpotentialmarketadvantages（Rametsteiner,2002,p.163）.Thebasicideaisthat,ifthereexistsafitbetweenthestandardscommunicatedbythelabelandthestandardsornormsofpotentialconsumers,thedemandoftheseconsumersforthelabeledproductswillincreaseascomparedtotheirdemandfornonlabeledproducts.ThepersonalinvolvementandinterestconcerningSF,thecommitmentoftheconsumerstothestandardsofacertainlabelandthetrustwhichconsumershaveinaSFlabelappeardecisiveindeterminingconsumer'sbrandloyalty（Fukuyama,1995,Blomqvist,1997andChaudhuriandHolbrook,2001）.Trustseemsparticularlyimportantinthiscontextbecausetheconsumersofwoodproductsarenotabletorecognizedirectlytheecologicalandsocialstandardswhichhavebeenmetwhenthewoodwasproduced（WeiberandAdler,1995）.Thus,trustworthinessrepresentsaprerequisiteforanSFlabeltobesuccessfulinthemarket（BarneyandHansen,1994）.AccordingtoDelgado-BallesterandMunuera-Aléman（2001）,theinfluenceofconsumer'sbrandtrustonbrandloyaltyasmeasuredinconsumer'scommitmentandpricetoleranceisparticularlystrong,consideringconsumptiondecisionswithhighpersonalinvolvement.

InSwitzerland,theinvolvementofthepopulationinquestionsofSFisassuminglystrongerthaninmanyothercountries.ThisissuggestedbythestrongpositiveecologicalattitudesandthehighenvironmentalconcernoftheSwiss（DiekmannandFranzen,1999andFranzen,2003）bytheirextensiveuseofforestsforrecreationalactivities（SchmithüsenandWild-Eck,2000,SuterThalmann,2000andWild-Eck,2001）andbytheevidentprotectivefunctionsoftheSwissforests,inparticular,consideringavalanches.Moreover,theextremelyhighlevelofsubjectivelyperceivedpoliticalparticipationoftheSwiss（Paldam,2000）—whichispresumablyfavoredbytheSwissFederalismandbytheconstitutionalelementsofdirectdemocracy—mightalsocontributetotheirpersonalinvolvement.

AsurveyoftheSwissFederalAgencyofEnvironment,ForestsandLandscape（BundesamtfürUmwelt,WaldundLandschaft[BUWAL],1999）showedthatconsideringSFcertification,theSwiss（would）haveconsiderabletrustininternationalenvironmentalorganizations,intheBUWAL,andintheorganizationsrepresentingtheSwissforesteconomyandtimberindustry.However,theywouldhavelesstrustinthecompaniesmanufacturingthewoodproducts,intheadministrationsofforeigncountriesandoftheEuropeanCommunity,andineconomicorganizationsontheEuropeanlevel.

Acompetitiveadvantageofcompaniespossessingcertificatesformatchingecologicalstandardscan,inthelongrun,createaspilloverofpositiveecologicaleffectsasfurthercompaniesmighttrytofulfillthestandardsofsuchcertificates.Suchpositiveecologicalspillovereffectsareabasicideaofecologicallabelsfromtheecologicalperspective.Withrespecttosustainabilitylabels,afitbetweenthestandardsofalabelandthestandardsoftheconsumermightbedescribedbyapositiveattitudeoftheconsumertowardsthestandardsguaranteedbythelabel,whichbasesontheidentityorsimilarityofthevaluesoftheconsumerandthevaluesunderlyingthecertificationcriteria.Thisfitcanleadtopositiveidentificationwiththelabel,toeffectivecommitment,andattitudinalloyalty（DickandBasu,1994,Gundlachetal.,1995andChaudhuriandHolbrook,2001）.Accordingly,consumershavinghighstandardsconcerningprotectionoftheenvironmentwillpreferproductswithecologicallabels,whichemphasizetheecologicalproductionoftheseproducts.Consumershavingstronginternalstandardsconcerningsocialaspectswilltendtopreferproductswithlabelsthatemphasizesocialstandards,suchasfairtradelabels.Therefore,itappearsinterestingtomeasurepeople'sindividualtendenciesconcerningtherelativeimportancetheyattachtothethreesustainabilitydimensionsandtosubsequentlyrelatethismeasurementtopreferencesforlabeledwood.Adirectquestioningofpersonsconcerningthepersonalweightingofecological,social,andeconomicaspectsdoesnotseemtobeappropriateforthisassessment,astheseconceptsareveryabstractandbecausepre-orunconsciousinfluencesoncognitioncanhavedistortingeffectsontheanswers（HuberandMandel,1994andSchutt,1999）.Similartopsychologicaltests,thedevelopmentofastandardizedquestionnaireappearsappropriate,withscalesthatmeasuretheseabstractconceptsthroughvariousitems.Forthepresentstudy,acorrespondingquestionnairewasdeveloped,whichshouldmeasureaperson'ssustainabilityorientationconcerningforestsandwhich,consequently,shouldbeable,atleasttosomeextent,topredictthestatedintentionsofconsumerstoprefertimberproductsthatarelabeledwithcertificatesemphasizingecologicallyandsociallyappropriatewoodproduction.

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