Research Article: 2023 Vol: 15 Issue: 5
Impact of ethical marketing on consumers
Neha Singhal, University of Delhi
Pooja Jain, University of Delhi
Sakshi Sharma, University of Delhi
Tammina Vaishnavi, University of Delhi
Garima Khosla, Joyce Tom, University of Delhi
Ashish Sharma, University of Delhi
Tushar Mudai, University of Delhi
Ria Saxena, Ishita Sud, University of Delhi
Akshita Nasa, University of Delhi
Arshita Bizla, University of Delhi
Citation Information: Singhal. N(2023). Impact of ethical marketing on consumers. Business Studies Journal, 15(S5), 1-15.
Abstract
The study details the purchase intention of consumers toward companies practicing ethical marketing. It conceptualizes, reinforces & substantiates consumer behaviour as strongly influenced by environmental consciousness & marketing mix. The scope of the study explores the marketing mix & environmental consumerism in detail. Ultimately, the purpose of the study is to analyse and comprehend if favourable ethical claims made by the brands induce positive purchase intention amongst the consumers. The variables undertaken in the study have been extensively tested through empirical research by analysing the responses of 162 respondents overa diverse set of demography. The data, thus, collected has been tried using basic statistical tools. The present study will equip potential researchers, academicians, and practitioners with tools to investigate further.
Keywords
Marketing Mix, Environmental consumerism, Ethical marketing
Introduction
The present study is of considerable importance since in today’s age & time; brands are embracing ethical practices to outplay their competitors. The study seeks to analyse if such displays perceived by consumers can be translated into positive purchase decisions. Brands are eager to gain a competitive advantage by building relationships with consumers & constructing a loyal consumer base through marketing. To enhance consumer-brand relationships, it becomes a pressing priority to adopt ethical marketing practices. Furthermore, the study seeks to bridges research gap about consumer purchase decisions with respect to ethical marketing in the Indian context.
It is to be noted that consumers should possess a comprehensive understanding of ethics to make an informed decision. Özbek (2012) claimed that the purchase decision of an individual is loosely based on several individual, circumstantial & incidental factors. Consumption as a social activity has been heavily induced by ethics which in turn define their decision, choice & behaviour. Thus, ethics give meaning to the consumption choice of an individual.
It is regarded that behaviour has stemmed from concern toward social and environmental issues. With this growing concern towards environmental and social issues, ethical consumer behaviour has emerged as a mainstream trend. Coinciding with this shift, research in the discipline of ethics has witnessed a monumental increase, as per Chow and Chen (2012).
The goal of the current study is to evaluate customer purchasing habits in light of various moral concerns regarding marketing techniques and strategies. This study aims to investigate the various elements connected to ethical dilemmas in marketing applications and practices and to evaluate the potential of the aforementioned components' catalytic effect on the action of consumer responsibility in decision-making.
Numerous unethical marketing techniques, including those involving product quality, safety, unlawful price-fixing, forceful sales methods, bribery, and deceptive or fraudulent advertisements, have been revealed by prior investigations and conclusions. Evidently, engaging in unethical marketing techniques will cast the brand in a negative light. Such a disclosure is more likely than ever to change the brand's reputation and negatively impact the connection between the business and its customers.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer purchase decisions in business-to- consumer (B2C) interactions are influenced by ethical marketing mix components and environmental consumerism. To investigate a number of other significant factors as well, such as the consumers' age, gender, and income level, which have a significant influence on their purchasing behaviour. The paper's conclusion examines the ramifications of the findings from both an academic and practical standpoint, as well as the limits of the study and recommendations for further investigation.
Thus the following are primary objectives of undertaking the study:
• To examine the relationship between marketing mix & consumer purchase intention
• To study the influence of environmental consciousness on the behaviour of consumers.
Our results allow us to evaluate the extent to which changes in our dependent variable are driven by variations in our independent variable. We can also forecast how much the fluctuation in the independent variable will affect our dependent variable. We encountered numerous dependent variables during the course of this research, including the strength of the consumer-brand relationship, perceived product quality and consumer choice. These factors collectively have a significant influence on the dependent variables.
Further ahead in the study, hypotheses have been proposed to summarize the research model, which are:
H1: Marketing Mix has a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H1a: Product-related ethics have a significant impact on the Purchasing Behaviour of Consumers
H1b: Price-related ethics influence the Purchase behaviour of consumers
H1c: The place-related ethics have a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H1d: Promotion-related ethics have a significant influence on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H2: Environment Consumerism significantly influences the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
To test the above hypotheses, empirical evidence in the form of 162 responses out of 200 responses were diligently assessed and evaluated on a 7 point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagreeable to strong agreeable. The demographic profile of the respondents were highly diverse, however the sample profile was characterized by a young working population.
The collected data has been studied using basic statistical tools including descriptive statics, correlation and regression. To ensure internal consistency within specified variables, Cronbach’s alpha was used, wherein the results attested the high reliability.
Conceptual Framework
Ethical marketing strategies have been studied for nearly all business areas which are formulated to gain a competitive advantage The importance of ethics in the advancement of business sustainability, and general marketing issues has duly been recognized by corporate managers and vendors As an outcome, an economic behaviour, whether ethical or unethical, is inherently linked with a company’s overall reputation and assessment, and stresses the fundamental factors in keeping the company competitive on the market.
Ethical marketing is defined as “a code of morals and conduct used in marketing practices”. Ethical marketing drives companies to make marketing decisions that are morally acceptable in terms of ties between marketing managers and other stakeholders including customers, employees, competitors, and the general public. It is an important subject for both academia and practitioners because ethical principles require companies to abide by the minimum standards of liability and conduct their marketing activities in ways that make business transparent and acceptable to all.
Gaski defined ethical marketing as “a code of morals and conduct used in marketing practices”. Ethical marketing drives companies to make marketing decisions that are morally acceptable in terms of ties between marketing managers and other stakeholders including customers, employees, competitors, and the general public. Ethical marketing is an important subject for both academia and practitioners because ethical principles require companies to abide by the minimum standards of liability and conduct their marketing activities in ways that make business transparent and acceptable to all.
A marketing mix is a collection of promotional tools or strategies used to market and sell products and services. It involves positioning a product and choosing where, when, and for what price it will be sold. After that, the product will be sold in accordance with the marketing and promotion plan. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion are the 4Ps that make up the marketing mix. The marketing managers in the business sector develop a marketing strategy while taking into account the four Ps. However, the marketing mix now incorporates a number of additional Ps for critical development.
The marketing mix is a fantastic tool for developing the best marketing strategy and putting it into practice using successful approaches. A critical component of your total marketing strategy is the evaluation of the roles played by your product, promotion, price, and location. Positioning, targeting, and segmentation are all part of the marketing mix strategy. Finally, there is interaction between all of the components that make up the marketing mix and the extended marketing mix.
This research has considered practices encompassing ethics related to the extended marketing mix elements, viz. product, price, place, promotion, person, physical evidence, and packaging. Several scholars have highlighted the ethics approach of a marketing combination. The study intends to build a theoretical framework that explains the relationship of the above discussed extended marketing mix elements from an ethical perspective with some specific consumer behavioural outcomes, which we discuss in the following sections.
Conceptual Framework
Ethical marketing strategies have been studied for nearly all business areas which are formulated to gain a competitive advantage The importance of ethics in the advancement of business sustainability, and general marketing issues has duly been recognized by corporate managers and vendors As an outcome, an economic behaviour, whether ethical or unethical, is inherently linked with a company’s overall reputation and assessment, and stresses the fundamental factors in keeping the company competitive on the market.
Ethical marketing is defined as “a code of morals and conduct used in marketing practices”. Ethical marketing drives companies to make marketing decisions that are morally acceptable in terms of ties between marketing managers and other stakeholders including customers, employees, competitors, and the general public. It is an important subject for both academia and practitioners because ethical principles require companies to abide by the minimum standards of liability and conduct their marketing activities in ways that make business transparent and acceptable to all.
Gaski defined ethical marketing as “a code of morals and conduct used in marketing practices”. Ethical marketing drives companies to make marketing decisions that are morally acceptable in terms of ties between marketing managers and other stakeholders including customers, employees, competitors, and the general public. Ethical marketing is an important subject for both academia and practitioners because ethical principles require companies to abide by the minimum standards of liability and conduct their marketing activities in ways that make business transparent and acceptable to all.
A marketing mix is a collection of promotional tools or strategies used to market and sell products and services. It involves positioning a product and choosing where, when, and for what price it will be sold. After that, the product will be sold in accordance with the marketing and promotion plan. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion are the 4Ps that make up the marketing mix. The marketing managers in the business sector develop a marketing strategy while taking into account the four Ps. However, the marketing mix now incorporates a number of additional Ps for critical development.
The marketing mix is a fantastic tool for developing the best marketing strategy and putting it into practice using successful approaches. A critical component of your total marketing strategy is the evaluation of the roles played by your product, promotion, price, and location. Positioning, targeting, and segmentation are all part of the marketing mix strategy. Finally, there is interaction between all of the components that make up the marketing mix and the extended marketing mix.
This research has considered practices encompassing ethics related to the extended marketing mix elements, viz. product, price, place, promotion, person, physical evidence, and packaging. Several scholars have highlighted the ethics approach of a marketing combination. The study intends to build a theoretical framework that explains the relationship of the above discussed extended marketing mix elements from an ethical perspective with some specific consumer behavioural outcomes, which we discuss in the following sections.
4 P’s of Marketing
Product
A product is any good or service that fulfils consumer needs or desires. It can also be defined as a bundle of utilities that comes with physical aspects such as design, volume, brand name, etc. The type of product impacts its perceived value, which allows companies to price it profitably. Prior to establishing a product, it is crucial to do in-depth research because the product's life cycle fluctuates from the growth period through the maturity phase and the sales drop phase. A product has a certain life cycle, which encompasses the phases of growth, maturation, and sales decline. Once a product enters the phase of declining sales, it is critical for marketers to reinvent it to increase demand. Customers should be left with an impression of the product that is unique and distinctive from that of the competition.
Price
A key element of the marketing mix concept is price. The sum a consumer must pay to use a product is essentially its pricing. Because it determines a company's ability to survive and make money, price is the most important component of a marketing strategy. Even a small change in the product's pricing can have a significant impact on the overall marketing plan, as well as sales and demand for the product. The price of the product's competitors, the list price, the customer's location, the discount, the terms of the sale, etc. are things to consider when figuring out the cost of the goods.
Promotion
Promotion involves decisions related to advertising, sales force, direct marketing, public relations, advertising budgets, etc. The primary aim of promotion is to spread awareness about the product and services offered by a company. It helps in persuading consumers to choose a particular product over others in the market.
Place or Distribution
Place involves choosing the place where products are to be made available for sale. The primary motive of managing trade channels is to ensure that the product is readily available to the customer at the right time and place. It also involves decisions regarding the placing and pricing of wholesale and retail outlets.
Consumer decision making by consumers can be called problem solving. In the decision-making process, consumers have goals or behaviors that they want to do to achieve these goals. According to (Setiadi) (2008), the purchasing decision process for a product can be divided into five stages:
(1) Recognizing Needs.
(2) Seeking Information to meet their needs in the best way
(3) Evaluating Alternatives
(4) Making a Decision
(5) Evaluation after Purchase.
But, after keen research and analysis, we found one dependent variable which came out as utmost important i.e. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR. All the independent variables like price mix, place mix etc. have a huge impact on it.
Consumer Behaviour
Consumers are individuals or organizations who pay a certain amount of money to consume goods and services offered by companies or producers. Consumers have an important role in the supply and demand chains in the economic system of every country. Producers of goods and services will have no motive or incentive to carry out production activities without a demand for their products and services. The purchasing decision is a process by which an individual chooses, buys, and behaves post-purchase of goods or services. Consumer behavior involves when individuals or groups choose, buy, use, or assist products, ideas, or experiences to satisfy consumer needs and desires. Purchasing decision is a process by which an individual chooses, buys, and behaves post-purchase of goods or services.
Several factors influence consumer behavior, Adnan (2018) argues that purchasing decisions made by consumers will not be done by themselves. Every decision taken will go through several stages first. These stages include product introduction, analyzing users' needs, the benefits to be obtained, and various other stages:
(1) Cultural factors: Cultural factors have a broad and deep influence on consumer behaviour. Marketers must understand the role played by culture, subculture, and social class.
(2) Social factors: Consumer behaviour is also impacted by social factors, such as small groups, families, and consumers' role and social status.
(3) Personal factors: Buyer decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics such as age and stage of the buyer's life cycle, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality, and self-concept.
(4) Psychological factors: A person's purchase choice is influenced by four main psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes.
The consumer's view of the company's operations will have a significant impact on their behaviour. Brands that are socially and environmentally responsible are preferred by consumers. Companies should collaborate with marketing and business activities that have the ability to impact consumer perceptions. The companies should participate in positive activities which are seen by the consumers as a well-defined effort from the firm for appealing to their customer base and thus the consumers may incline towards that company’s products and services.
Consumers have to be motivated to buy ethical products. Such a nature of consumption behaviour is explained by Maslow's theory that describes the hierarchy of needs (Dye, Mills and Weatherbee, 2005).
According to Maslow’s theory, human beings are motivated by their own needs, which are arranged in a hierarchical order, according to this view. The requirements begin with the most fundamental and progress to the least basic.
As a result, an individual will work to meet the wants at the bottom of the hierarchy first, then progress up once these basic needs have been met. The theory can explain why consumers should choose ethical products.
By studying and making a thorough research on the various journals and articles published on the study of consumer behaviour and marketing ethics the following variables were most commonly identified:
• Redressal of grievances
• Positive behaviour towards stakeholders and consumers
• Product safety
• Place related ethics
• Promotion related ethics
• Social environment friendly product
• Gender related variable
• Education level of consumers
• Ethical endorsement of a brand
The various articles, journals and research papers that were studied while writing this paper helped identify a key variable which was common in almost every paper which is Demographics Figure 1. Here is a list of the demographics which are considered in this study: -
Figure 1 Research Model Summarizing the Proposed Hypotheses
1. Gender:- whether the person is male or female
2. Age: - The age of the person taking part in the survey.
3. Work status: - Whether the person is studying, unemployed or working.
4. Educational qualification:- Education status of the person
5. Household income: - what is the household income of the person.
Hypotheses
1. Consumers' purchasing decisions toward businesses that engage in ethical marketing are moderated by gender.
2. Age impacts the purchase behaviour of consumers towards companies practicing ethical marketing.
3. Work status significantly influences the purchase behaviour of consumers towards companies practicing ethical marketing.
4. Educational qualification greatly affects the purchase behaviour of consumers towards companies practicing ethical marketing.
5. Household income has an effect on the purchase behaviour of consumers towards companies practicing ethical marketing.
H1: Marketing Mix has a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H1a: Product-related ethics have a significant impact on the Purchasing Behaviour of Consumers
H1b: Price-related ethics influence the Purchase behaviour of consumers
H1c: The place-related ethics have a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H1d: Promotion-related ethics have a significant influence on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
H2: Environment Consumerism significantly influences the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
Research Methodology
The objective of this study is to shed light on the Consumer behaviour towards companies practicing ethical marketing. The goal of this study is to examine how the ethical components of the marketing mix and environmental consumerism influence consumer purchasing decisions in business-to-consumer (B2C) interactions. Also, to examine a number of other crucial variables, such as the consumers' age, gender, and income level, which have a big impact on how they make purchases.
For this study, a convenience sampling technique has been used. A questionnaire was floated online through various social media platforms to survey the participants within India itself. The structured non disguised questionnaire was distributed to over 200 respondents during the period of July to August. Out of which, we had received 162 usable responses.
The questionnaire consisted of 45 most relevant questions based on our chosen variables of ethical aspect of marketing mix and environmental consumerism. For the collection of data, a 7- point Likert scale was used, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, as 7-point Likert scale items are more reliable and provide a better representation of a respondent's real judgment. For the collection of data, a Seven-point Likert scale was used, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, as seven-point Likert scale items are more reliable and provide a better representation of a respondent's real judgment.
The population's responses were chosen to use convenient selection. Respondents are primarily made up of academics from different universities and colleges. The other respondents either worked for themselves or for a corporation industry, as well as in numerous governmental posts. Each of these respondents has actively participated in the buying of durable goods for consumers. The survey utilized in this research and dependent and independent variables are associated based on the literature review.
To analyse and study the data received, the statistical tools used are excel for descriptive statistics. Since the objective is to study the impact of consumer behaviour on companies practicing the ethical market, therefore we have used regression.
Along with this, Correlation and Cronbach Alpha have been used to further analyse the respondent’s behaviour towards ethical marketing.
Cronbach's Alpha has been utilized to check for internal consistency among the study's specified variables. This action will aid in the investigation of the scale accuracy of the constructs applied in the research scale items as well as its associated dependability score which has been summarized in Table 1. The Cronbach's alpha results demonstrate the reliability of all the constructs, indicating a high likelihood that they will operate effectively in a given environment. In the table, the independent variables i.e. product-related, price-related and place-related variables and also the dependent variable i.e. consumer purchase behaviour have a Cronbach value of ranging between 0.753 to 0.890 which reveals strong correlation between the variables. Promotion-related variables and environmental consumerism have a high α of 0.923 and 0.944 since more no. of statements were used for these variables. This all indicates that the data utilized in this study is reliable and suitable for future examination.
| Table 1 Reliability Results for Scale Used in the Study | ||||
| S No. | Variable | No. of Items | Cronbach’s Alpha Value (α) | |
| 1 | Independent Variables | Product-Related | 7 | 0.753 |
| Price-Related | 6 | 0.774 | ||
| Place-Related | 4 | 0.81 | ||
| Promotion-Related | 10 | 0.924 | ||
| Environmental Consumerism | 14 | 0.945 | ||
| 2 | Dependent Variables | Consumer Purchase Behaviour | 6 | 0.89 |
Profile of the Respondents
The demographic profile of the participants in which their gender, age, education and household income is shown is presented in Table 2.
| Table 2 Sample Profile of Respondents (N=162) | |||
| Demographic Factors | Factor Groupings | No. of Respondents | Percentage |
| Gender | Male | 92 | 56.8 |
| Female | 70 | 43.2 | |
| Age Category | 18-25 | 113 | 69.8 |
| 26-40 | 17 | 10.5 | |
| 40-55 | 27 | 16.7 | |
| More than 55 | 5 | 3 | |
| Work Status | Working | 49 | 30.2 |
| Non-Working | 113 | 69.8 | |
| Education Level | High School | 47 | 29 |
| Graduation | 86 | 53.1 | |
| Post-Graduation | 15 | 9.3 | |
| Professional | 7 | 4.3 | |
| Others | 7 | 4.3 | |
| Monthly Household Income | Below 10,000 | 24 | 14.8 |
| 10,000-30,000 | 29 | 17.9 | |
| 30,000-50,000 | 29 | 17.9 | |
| More than 50,000 | 80 | 49.4 | |
To summarize the contents of Table 2, respondent size is 162 which comprises 56.8% as male respondents and 43.2% as female respondents. Most of the respondents belong to the age group of 18-25 (69.8%) who are pursuing their graduation (53.1%) and belong to the income group of more than 50,000 (49.4%). Briefly, the study primarily represents a youthful working population because they participate more actively in the process of choosing to purchase consumer durables.
Table 3 provides the questions used in the questionnaire along with their source in the literature.
| Table 3 Details of Scale Items Used for Measured Variables | ||
| Dimensions | Statements | Sources |
| Product-related | I prefer to buy the product when the details of product safety are appropriately indicated on the packages. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) |
| I buy products that do not cause any environmental pollution | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I tend to buy products that have a fair shelf life. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I often buy products that offer a free exchange, repair, compensation, or refund when defects are found in products. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I try to buy untested products that lead to social hazards. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I prefer to buy those products which are appropriately compensated for damages caused by defective products provided. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I buy products that have appropriate safety certification marks like ISI, Eco mark, etc. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| Price-related | I feel that a few sellers quote improper prices of products. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) |
| I believe deceptive prices hamper the relationship between a customer and the company. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I prefer good-priced products that increase my trust in a particular brand. | Lee, J. Y., & H. (2019) | |
| I buy products that are properly priced. | Tanveer, M., Ahmad, A. R., Mahmood, H., & Haq, I. U. (2021) | |
| I prefer products with low prices. | Tanveer, M., Ahmad, A. R., Mahmood, H., & Haq, I. U. (2021) | |
| I prefer manufacturers who refrain from changing the prices of the products. | Tanveer, M., Ahmad, A. R., Mahmood, H., & Haq, I. U. (2021) | |
| Place-related | I am less likely to buy from a company if the manufacturer promises shipment despite knowing delivery wouldn't be possible by the promised date. | Lee, J. Y., & Jin, C. H. (2019) |
| I am less likely to buy from a company if it manipulates the availability of a product with an aim of exploiting the customers. | Ahmed, S., & Rahman, M. H. (2015) | |
| I prefer not to buy from a company if there are unnecessary delays. | Ishak, M. S. B. H., & Abdullah, O. C. (2012) | |
| I am less likely to buy if the manufacturer hides mistakes or errors in product or service delivery. | Madhani, P.M. (2020) | |
| Promotion- related | I prefer to purchase from a company if the manufacturer does not falsely advertise low- quality products as popular products. | |
| I prefer to purchase products that are a true reflection of the displayed advertisement. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I tend to purchase when correct information about the characteristics of the product is demonstrated in the advertisement. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I am more likely to purchase when claims made in the advertisement are true & factual. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I prefer not to purchase if the advertisements are fraudulent & exaggerated. | Lee, J. Y., & Jin, C. H. (2019) | |
| I am less likely to purchase if the manufacturer bluffs their product as having higher quality & cheaper price in comparison to their competitors. | Lee, J. Y., & Jin, C. H. (2019) | |
| I prefer to purchase if the company refrains from bluffing, making vague statements & subjective opinions which are not supported by facts & accurate figures. | Lee, J. Y., & Jin, C. H. (2019) | |
| I tend to purchase if the manufacturer doesn't engage in coercive sales activities using sales & gift promotions. | Lee, J. Y., & Jin, C. H. (2019) | |
| I am less likely to buy from a company if it treats customers unfairly or neglects customer requests. | Madhani, P.M. (2020) | |
| I am more likely to buy a product if the company is able to deliver promises made during promotion whether it is through direct selling, advertising, sales promotion, or any methods. | Ahmed, S., & Rahman, M. H. (2015) | |
| Environment consumerism | I prefer to purchase products that cause less pollution. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) |
| I tend to purchase products which are low on pollutants & contaminants. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I purchase products that can be recycled & do not result in e-waste. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I convince my friends & family members to purchase products which are not harmful for the environment. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I purchase products which are environmentally certified as per the prescribed industrial standards. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I restrict my consumption (food, energy, clothing etc.) to what I really need. | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
| I contribute to the preservation of the environment through everyday actions. | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
| To reduce my contribution to global warming, I consume ethically. | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
| When there is a choice, I always choose the product that contributes to the least amount of environmental damage. | Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016) | |
| I have switched products for environmental reasons. | Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016) | |
| I do not buy household products that harm the environment. | Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016) | |
| Whenever possible, I buy products packaged in reusable or recyclable containers. | Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016) | |
| I normally make a conscious effort to limit my use of products that are made or use scarce resources. | Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016) | |
| I think that organic agriculture can make a difference in the environment | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
| Consumer Behavior | I purchase from socially responsible companies. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) |
| I purchase from companies who make donations to charity. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I purchase from companies that do not discriminate between customer segments & minorities. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I purchase from companies that project women in a favorable manner. | Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) | |
| I purchase from companies who are environmentally conscious. | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
| I purchase from companies who practice ethical behavior. | Toti, J.F., & Moulins, J. L. (2016) | |
Data Analysis
1. Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics are calculated to describe the basic features of data in the study. Quantitative descriptions are presented in a manageable form using descriptive statistics. The most common descriptive statistics include measures of: central tendency, dispersion, and association.
The table 4 shows the mean, median, mode (measures of central tendency), standard deviation (measure of dispersion), and correlation (measure of association) between the independent and dependent variables of this study.
| Table 4 Descriptive Statistics of Measured Variables | |||||
| Variables | Mean | Median | Mode | Standard Deviation | Correlation |
| Product | 4.92 | 5.14 | 5.28 | 1.01 | 0.53 |
| Price | 5.21 | 5.33 | 5.66 | 1 | 0.38 |
| Place | 5.23 | 5.6 | 6 | 1.32 | 0.45 |
| Promotion | 5.4 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 1.25 | 0.54 |
| Environmental Consumerism | 5.07 | 5.14 | 6 | 1.24 | 0.69 |
| Consumer Behaviour | 5.08 | 5.16 | 5 | 1.19 | NA |
Mean is the sum of a variable's values divided by the total number of values. The middle value of a variable is represented by the median and mode finds the value that occurs most often. The mean, median and modal value of the promotion variable is the highest amongst all the variables. The mean is 5.40, the median is 5.60 and the mode is 6.20.
Standard deviation is a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean. The place variable has the highest standard deviation value, which is 1.32.
Correlation coefficient is used to measure the strength of the relationship between variables. With a correlation value of 0.69, environmental consumerism shares a significant relation with consumer behaviour.
2. Regression
The table 5 depicts about the regression
| Table 5 Reliability Analysis of Scales | |||
| R | R Square | Adjusted R square | Std. error of estimate |
| 0.73 | 0.53 | 0.52 | 0.83 |
| Variables | Standardized Coefficients(beta) | t Stat | P-value |
| Product Variable | 0.19 | 2.12 | 0.04 |
| Price variable | 0.01 | 0.07 | 0.94 |
| Place Variable | 0.02 | 0.28 | 0.78 |
| Promotion Variable | 0.10 | 1.16 | 0.25 |
| Environmental Consumerism Variable | 0.51 | 7.50 | 0.00 |
Hypothesis 1: Marketing Mix has a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers.
Hypothesis 1a: Product-related ethics have a positive impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers.
The results of regression analysis indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between product related ethics and consumer behaviour towards firms practicing ethical marketing since (p= 0.04 and b= 0.19). The path outcome for product-related ethics and the consumer-brand relationship quality reflects the results found in the extant literature.
Hypothesis 1a is, therefore, supported.
Hypothesis 1b: Price-related ethics have a positive impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers
The results of regression analysis indicate a statistically insignificant relationship between price related ethics and consumer behaviour towards firms practicing ethical marketing since (p= 0.94 and b= 0.01). Hypothesis 1b is, therefore, rejected.
Hypothesis 1c: Place-related ethics have a positive impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers.
The results of regression analysis indicate a statistically insignificant relationship between place related ethics and consumer behaviour towards firms practicing ethical marketing since (p= 0.78 and b= 0.02). Hypothesis 1c is, therefore, rejected.
Hypothesis 1d: Promotion-related ethics have a positive impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers.
The results of regression analysis indicate a statistically insignificant relationship between promotion related ethics and consumer behaviour towards firms practicing ethical marketing since (p= 0.25 and b= 0.10). Hypothesis 1d is, therefore, rejected.
Hypothesis 2: Environment Consumerism has a significant impact on the Purchase Behaviour of Consumers.
The results of regression analysis indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between product related ethics and consumer behaviour towards firms practicing ethical marketing since (p= 0.00 and b= 0.51). This is similar to the result in the research paper of Roy, S., & Banerjee, S. (2018) where consumers showed ecological conscientiousness while purchasing washing machines while it did not hold true when a consumer is buying a television, however the hypothesis is partially supported in their research paper Table 6.
| Table 6 Summary of Regression Analysis | |
| VARIABLES | Accepted / Rejected |
| Product Variable | Accepted |
| Price Variable | Rejected |
| Place Variable | Rejected |
| Promotion Variable | Rejected |
| Environmental Consumerism Variable | Accepted |
Hypothesis 2 is, therefore, supported.
Conclusion
In this study, we attempted to investigate the components of marketing mix and the environmental consumerism variable from the ethical point of view to understand its impact on the overall consumer purchase behaviour towards the product and the services of the companies.
The results that we got by applying Cronbach's alpha and the regression analysis in the data we got from the survey responses shows that there is a strong correlation between the variables both Independent and dependent one's. However, the regression analysis shows that only two variables have a significant impact on the consumer purchase behaviour that is the product related ethics and the environmental consumerism variable.
Managerial Implications
The implications that can be drawn from the study are that under the Marketing mix; only H1a demonstrated having a statistically significant relationship.
There is a positive relationship between product related ethics and consumer behavior towards firms practicing ethical marketing. It can be inferred that product-related ethics influence the subjective quality of a product by a consumer. Consumers are more willing to buy your preferred products that do not contribute to environmental pollution and consist of appropriate safety certification marks, especially on the perishable items.
Price related elements of marketing mix, most of the time, consists of the pricing strategy of the companies whether they are charging a proper price from the consumer for the things that they are providing. However, the results that we got in this study show that this element of the marketing mix is very insignificant towards consumer purchase behavior as compared to the rest of the elements.
Place related element of marketing mix is also insignificant towards consumer purchase behavior as per the result that we received in this study.
Promotion related variable of marketing mix is also insignificant towards the consumer purchase behavior however it is much less significant if we compare it with the other two massively insignificant variables of marketing mix stating that for some consumer promotion related factors do play an important role while deciding the commodity to purchase from the company.
There is a statistically positive relationship between environmental consumerism and consumer behavior towards firms practicing ethical marketing. It implies that companies should focus more on environmentally friendly ways of production and distribution to affect consumer behavior and change their perceptions.
Research Limitations
Despite its theoretical and practical significance of, this study has several limitations, which are as follows:
a. The mode of empirical research & limited responses in comparison to preceding research.
b. Besides, being unaware of the authenticity of the respondents, the responses were still taken in as whole.
c. Despite having a quantifiable diverse set of respondents, the findings projected a population bias of the young working class.
d. The responses were geographically restricted to a single metropolitan city.
e. Convenience sampling was adopted as the sampling technique while performing the study.
f. Lastly, potential research prospects should employ advanced statistical tools & techniques to compute the data.
Directions for Future Research
Future researchers should consider that there are certain aspects which also do affect the consumer purchase behavior such as demographic, education etc. which we haven't discussed much about in this study.
They should also keep this thing in mind that consumer behavior will also get affected to different class of products, if it is a need based product then it doesn’t matter if it is priced high or low, it doesn't matter the place from where you would collect it from, it doesn't matter whether it is environment friendly or not, it's a need based product, so you would consume it no matter what the situations are. So researchers who will carry forward this research make sure to include consumer behavior towards different class products as well, and then conclude whether different companies selling different classes of product do get affected if they practice ethical marketing.
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Received: 06-Sep-2023, Manuscript No. BSJ-23-13982; Editor assigned: 11-Sep-2023, Pre QC No. BSJ-23-13982 (PQ); Reviewed: 27-Sep-2023, QC No. BSJ-23-13982; Revised: 05-Oct-2023, Manuscript No. BSJ-23-13982 (R); Published: 13-Oct-2023