Green marketing : consumer behavior towards environment friendly fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Lebanon

Abstract

Purpose – this paper aims to understand how familiar the Lebanese are with environmentally friendly FMCG and explore the major factors affecting behavior towards these products. In addition to understanding who the Lebanese green conscious consumer is. Ultimately, to have a distinctive study available in Lebanon as a reference for future studies. Design/methodology/approach – this research is mainly confirmatory since it is based on a previous research; however it has an explanatory aspect as well since there were no similar studies published in Lebanon. A deductive approach is used since theories discussed are based on available literature and data collected is mainly quantitative through a questionnaire. Factor analysis, multiple regression and non-parametric tests were used to analysis the data. Findings – some of the main findings are that people are aware are able to distinguish environmentally friendly products. They believe that awareness campaigns are necessary from producers and government. Lebanese people have low trust in environmentally friendly products, prices and quality in the market. Research limitations/implications – limitations of this study include sample age representation, sample size, geographical distribution, questionnaire circulation method and time constraint. Practical implications – actions should be taken by the Lebanese private and public sectors as a long term plan to switch to environmentally friendly lifestyle. Originality/value – this study is unique to the Lebanese market. A similar study has been done in Sweden and which was used as an inspiration. However, the difference between both is that this study focuses on awareness factor rather than word of mouth and satisfaction.