The implications on competitiveness of a company adopting a green approach

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increased awareness on how individual and company behaviour is negatively affecting the environment around us. In the last seven decades, industrialisation has boomed, and by extension, so have pollution and waste. One can observe that without strict legislation, both consumers and businesses prefer the more convenient way of consuming products or services, at the detriment of sustainability. Lately, more customers are embracing the need to become more sustainable as global warming and its effect become more evident due to the weather extremities being experienced. However, the factors that encourage customers to choose sustainable products are not yet well known. To this end, this study investigated Maltese consumer purchase intentions in relation to environmentally sustainable telecommunication products. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was applied since it is one the most common theories used to investigate how a person’s attitude will affect their behaviour. Findings suggested that attitude was a good predictor of the intent to procure green products or services. Interestingly, this research showed that social norms and perceived behavioural controls were not significant predictors of intention. Furthermore, the company’s marketing and communication effect, as the introduced construct to the TPB, gave more power to the relationship being studied when compared to the standard model. This study provides a justification for considering attitude, and suggests that having companies communicate their 'green behaviours’, could help encourage Maltese customers in general to purchase sustainable products.