Research pick: Green consumerism - "The grass is greener: developing and implementing a green consumer satisfaction index"

Can consumerism ever by environmentally friendly, or “green” to use the common vernacular? And, how does going green tally with customer satisfaction? Researchers in Taiwan are developing a green customer satisfaction index (GCSI) model to explore green consumer behaviour. The model takes into account various factors including perceived quality, corporate social responsibility, expectation, brand image, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.

The research shows that perceived quality has a positive impact on green corporate social responsibility. That perceived quality positive effects perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty. Also that corporate social responsibility improves brand image. Brand image has a positive impact on perceived value and perceived value positively correlates with satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction has a positive impact on loyalty and expectation positively effects perceived quality and brand image.

The bottom line then is that “When the customer’s expectations are higher, the enterprise will pay more attention and strive to meet the customer’s expectations which in turn improves the enterprise’s perceived quality and brand image.” However, the research found that customer expectation has no significant effect on green perceived value and satisfaction.

“Green consumption can drive changes in the mainstream consumption patterns and, prompt companies to introduce green products that, meet customer and environmental protection needs,” explains Kuang-Heng Shih of the Department of International Business Administration, at the Chinese Culture University, Taipei City. “Green products not only enhance business but also benefit social and environmental sustainability,” he adds, paraphrasing earlier work that the present research corroborates.

The work focused on interviewing customers of three eco-smart hotels in northern Taiwan and thus has limitations but the extension of the modelling to a wider geographical region and beyond the hospitality industry could also reveal implications for the greening of other areas of consumerism.

Shih, K-H. (2018) ‘The grass is greener: developing and implementing a green consumer satisfaction index’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp.573–591.