Tüketicilerin Sürdürülebilir Ambalaja Sahip Ürün Satın Alma Niyeti

Abstract

Sürdürülemez üretim ve tüketim, yenilenemez kaynakların azalmasına bu nedenle de ekolojik dengenin bozulmasına neden olmaktadır. Bu durum insanları, hayvanları ve bitkileri olumsuz olarak etkilemektedir. Tüm dünyada son 20 yıldır insanların çevre bilincinde önemli bir artış vardır. Artık tüketiciler satın alma kararlarını verirken, bir ürünün kendi ihtiyaçlarını karşılayıp karşılamamasının yanı sıra o ürünün çevre üzerinde oluşturduğu etkiyi de göz önünde bulundurmaya başlamışlardır. Çevre daha önemli bir konu olmaya başladıkça, tüketiciler satın aldıkları geleneksel ürünler yerine çevre dostu ürün alternatiflerini araştırmaya başlamışlardır. Tüketicilerin satış noktalarından satın aldıkları ürünlerin büyük çoğunluğu bir ambalaja sahiptir. Tüketiciler çevre konusunda daha fazla bilgi sahibi oldukça, ambalaj konusunda da daha fazla talepte bulunmaya başlamışlardır. Yenilenemeyen kaynakların kontrolsüzce tüketimi, dünyayı sonuçları çok ağır olabilecek sorunlarla karşı karşıya bırakmaktadır. Bu durumun farkında olan birçok sorumlu kuruluş, kaynak temininde, üretim süreçlerinde ve ürünlerin yaşam döngülerinde sürdürülebilirliği sağlamanın yollarını aramaktadır. Ancak, sürdürülebilir gelişim için toplumun her kesiminin katkıda bulunması gerekmektedir. Sürdürülebilir tüketim, bireysel ihtiyaç ve isteklerin yanı sıra sosyal sorumluluğun da göz önünde bulundurulduğu bir karar verme sürecidir. Sürdürülebilirlik kavramı; ekonomik, sosyal ve çevresel hedeflerin şimdiki ve gelecek kuşaklar için karşılanmasını içermektedir. Bu tez çalışmasında sürdürülebilirlik kavramının çevreye ilişkin boyutu ağırlıklı olarak ele alınmaktadır. Bu çalışma, tüketicilerin sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyetinin hangi faktörlere bağlı olarak değiştiğini incelemek üzere tasarlanmıştır. Sürdürülebilir ambalaj ile ambalajın bütün yaşam döngüsü boyunca kaynak kullanımının ve atık miktarının en aza indirgenmesi; malzemelerin geri kazanımının ise maksimize edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Ayrıca, sürdürülebilir ambalaj insanlara ve çevreye yönelik olan sağlık ve güvenlik risklerini en aza indirgeyecek şekilde tasarlanmaktadır. Bu tez çalışmasında ambalaj kavramına, ambalajın fonksiyonlarına, türlerine ve ambalaj tasarım konseptine, çevresel sürdürülebilirlik ve sürdürülebilir tüketim konularına değinilmiş, ambalajın sürdürülebilirlikle ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Ayrıca, sürdürülebilir gelişme ve pazarlama ilişkisi, pazarlama karmasında ambalajın önemi, yeşil pazarlama, yeşil firma, sürdürülebilir ambalaj ile ilgili kavramlar ve konular kapsamlı bir şekilde alınmıştır. Çalışmanın devamında yeşil tüketici, yeşil marka ve yeşil ürün kavramları, yeşil ürün satın alma davranışı ile ilgili konular ele alınmıştır. Bu çalışmada tüketicilerin sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyetini etkileyen faktörlere dayanarak bir kavramsal model oluşturulmuştur. Demografik özellikler temelinde; çevreye ilişkin görüş, inanç ve farkındalığın, yeşil tüketici değerlerinin, çevreye ilişkin bilginin, sürdürülebilir ambalaj bilgisinin ve çevre duyarlılığıyla ilgili eylemlerin sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutum üzerinde nasıl bir etkisi olduğunu anlamak için araştırmaya katılan kişilere bu değişkenlerin etkisini ölçmeye yönelik ifadeler yöneltilmiş ve bu ifadelere verilen yanıtlar değerlendirilmiştir. Sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutumun sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyeti üzerinde nasıl bir etkisi olduğunu anlamak için ise, araştırmaya katılan kişilere sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutumu ölçmeye yönelik ifadeler yöneltilip, bu ifadelere verilen yanıtlar değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmadaki değişkenler için geliştirilen ölçeklerin güvenilirliğinin belirlenmesi için Cronbach alfa katsayısına bakılmıştır. Çevreye ilişkin görüş, inanç ve farkındalık, yeşil tüketici değerleri, çevreye ilişkin bilgi, sürdürülebilir ambalaj bilgisi, çevre duyarlılığıyla ilgili eylemler, sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutum ve sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyeti için geliştirilen ölçeklerin Cronbach alfa katsayıları 0,6'dan büyük olduğu için ölçeklerin güvenilir oldukları görülmüştür. Çevreye ilişkin görüş, inanç ve farkındalık, yeşil tüketici değerleri, çevreye ilişkin bilgi, sürdürülebilir ambalaj bilgisi, çevre duyarlılığıyla ilgili eylemler, sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutum ve sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyetini ölçmek için kullanılan değişkenler açıklayıcı faktör analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırma için anket formu hazırlanmıştır. Anket formu internet ortamında hazırlanıp, dağıtılmıştır. Veriler 17.08.2014-23.09.2014 tarihleri arasında 257 kişiden toplanmıştır. Anket aracılığıyla toplanan veriler SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) versiyon 19.0 bilgisayar programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Toplanan verilerin analizi için Pearson Korelasyonu, tek yönlü varyans analizi (tek yönlü ANOVA) ve bağımsız örneklemler t testi (independent samples t test) kullanılmıştır. ANOVA testinde Levene test istatistiğinin p değeri 0,05’den küçük çıktığı durumlarda Welch ve Brown-Forsythe testlerinden yararlanılmıştır. Testlerin sonucunda anlamlı bir farklılık var ise bu farklılığın hangi grup ya da gruplardan kaynaklandığını anlamak için Tukey HSD (varyanslar homojen ise) ve Tamhane’s T2 (varyanslar homojen değil ise) testlerine bakılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre çevreye ilişkin görüş, inanç ve farkındalık, yeşil tüketici değerleri, çevreye ilişkin bilgi, sürdürülebilir ambalaj bilgisi, çevre duyarlılığıyla ilgili eylemler ile sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutum arasında pozitif bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca, sürdürülebilir ambalaja yönelik tutum ile sürdürülebilir ambalaja sahip ürün satın alma niyeti arasında da pozitif bir ilişki bulunmaktadır.

Needs are limitless but resources which meet needs are limited. Especially last years, scientists express that natural resources have been used in a way that would not allow people to have a natural life in the future. This situation makes necessary to raise environmental awareness in the whole society and take precautions against environmental destruction which shows up by various reasons. Unsustainable production and consumption cause reduction in irreplaceable sources and unbalance the ecology, consequently. Human being, animals and plants are affected because of this situation. Frantically consumption of irreplaceable sources places the world into issues which may be big with consequences. Many responsible facilities which are aware of this problem look for the ways of maintaining sustainability in allocation of resources, production processes and life cycle of the products. In order to achieve sustainable development, all segment of society must contribute to maintaining sustainability. Stating the quantity of pressure on natural resources and from which factors it takes root are the prerequisites of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is required for long term continuity of ecosystem. Environmental factors are related with the physical facet of sustainability concept. The changes like loss of ground, extinction of biodiversity, generation of solid waste, being on short rations as a result of increase in population present a threat for the quality of life of coming generations. Last 20 years, there has been a significant increase in environmental consciousness all around the world. Sustainability concept has loomed to be very important for continuation of meeting living beings' needs, prevention of environmental pollution, protection of limited natural resources and hand them down to the next generations. Sustainable consumption is a process of decision making which social responsibilities are taken into considerations together with personal requirements and wishes. In sustainable consumption, while satisfaction of people is guaranteed, the resources which render environmental harm reduce to minimal are being used. Recently; when the consumers decide what to buy, they have begun to take into account of the products' impact on the environment, right along with whether the products meet their needs. Along with the environment has become a more important subject, consumers have started to investigate green product alternatives, instead of conventional products. Majority of the products which consumers buy from the markets have a package. That is why the more knowledge of environment the consumers have a thorough, the more they started to demand for packing. The sustainability as a concept includes to be met of economical, social and environmental goals for present and coming generations. Sustainable production and consumption are two important factors which maintain sustainable development. In the most recent years, the importance of ecological and natural balance has become a more spoken subject. Companies have not remained unresponsive to the sustainability concept and have begun to develop strategies in the direction of sustainability. The companies pay attention to sustainability subject in their strategies of manufacturing processes and product designs, the consumers pay attention to sustainability subject by considering whether the products and packages are harmful for environment or not. As a result of interaction between the producers and consumers, environmental consciousness and insight for conservation of natural balance started to be gained prominently. Sustainable packaging concept takes place in the strategies and actions which have been made in the direction of sustainability. Sustainability expresses determination of how should be got from today to future and also which strategies should be applied by moving from today to future. By sustainability, it is intended to restrict the consumption of unsustainable products accurately and seriously and reuse of sustainable products sparingly. It is stated that packaging is closely related with social, economical and environmental dimensions of sustainability therefore packaging has an important role for sustainable development. With the help of the sustainable package, it is intended to reduce the utilization of resources and to decrease the amount of waste; also to maximize the amount of recycled materials. Furthermore, sustainable package is designed in a way that reduces the health and security risks upon environment and living beings. Consumers who buy sustainable products decide to do so by taking into account of the products' economical, social and environmental impacts. The more knowledge of the importance of the sustainability the consumers have a thorough, the more they started to demand for sustainable products and packages. As a result of increase in the environmental problems, the importance of green products has been rising in consumer's esteem. In this context, sustainable package concept looms large more and more. It is necessary for packaging not to increase environmental load during its life cycle. By eliminating the toxic components; consuming less material, but more recyclable material; making them reusable, producing as easy recyclable, packages can be made more sustainable. Biodegradables are indicated as fast growing segment in the sustainable packaging sector. Bioplastics have an increasing demand within the biodegradables. Bioplastics are called as reformer plastics which compose of renewable raw materials such as starch, cellulose and sugar. It is stated that the costs of bioplastics are greater than the conventional plastics, moreover attaining efficient raw materials, even all agricultural fields are used for this purpose, to meet bioplastic need is impossible at the present time. This situation creates an obstacle for sustainable packaging development. Since the raw material of package is a determining factor for sustainability of packaging, the companies and environmental unions collaborate to decrease the negative effects of products and packages on the environment. Packaging sector is working in detailed for manufacturing package by using minimum material. Thus it can be achieved to manufacture of a sustainable package by consuming raw material, natural resource and energy in a minimum amount. National and international legislations impose legal obligation for package producers and package consumers to carry out works on this subject. However; the complexity of product marketing systems, maintenance of commercial advantage, capital investment necessitated by new technologies, detection of technologies which support sustainable packaging and difficulties encountered in sustainable packaging adoption cause an obstacle for sustainable packaging development. In addition to those factors one of the most important impediments to sustainable packaging development is that cannot be clearly understood of what the sustainable package consists of. It is very important to be understood the sustainable packaging concept and that is a prerequirement for long term development of sustainable packaging. Therefore, in the extent of this study, it is purposed to expose which factors contribute to intention of consumers to buy products which consist of sustainable materials. In this dissertation study; package concept, functions and types of package, package design concept, environmental sustainability and sustainable consumption are mentioned. The relation between package and sustainability is analyzed. Besides that, the relationship between sustainable development and marketing, importance of packaging in marketing mix, concepts and subjects like green marketing, green company and sustainable package are contained inclusively. Afterwards; the concepts like green consumer, green brand and green product; and subjects related with green product purchase behavior are discussed. In this study, a conceptual model is formed based on the factors which affect intention of consumers to buy products consist of sustainable package. Research was done through exploratory literature survey and following this, using explanatory research method. In the literature survey, previous studies were analyzed and the information obtained from those were used as data for explanatory research. In the extent of this research, the main population is consumers who have intention to buy products which have sustainable package. Since it is not possible to reach every single person, sampling was considered to be appropriate. As a method of sampling; taking into account of time wise and financial limitations, convenience sampling method was used. A questionnaire form was created and distributed via a web based media. Before applying the questionnaire, a pilot study has been made. Based on the feedbacks of participants in the pilot study, questionnaire form has been revised. Questionnaire form has been composed of 14 questions. In questionnaire form, 5 point Likert scale which was graded from strongly agreed to strongly disagreed was used. At the last section of form, questions related with their demographical features (age, sex, marital status, educational degree, job, the city/district they live in and monthly income of household) were asked. The data was collected from 257 participants. Since there was no discrepancy between the answers of questions and no missing data, all the collected data was used in the study. Related statements have been asked participants to measure how opinions, beliefs and awareness related to environment, green consumer values, environmental knowledge, sustainable packaging knowledge and actions done with environmental conscience impact attitude towards to sustainable packaging. Moreover, related statements have been asked participants to measure how attitude towards to sustainable packaging impact buying intention of products which have sustainable packaging. Afterwards all the answers have been evaluated based upon demographical features. Cronbach alpha coefficient is used to determine the reliability of the scales which have been developed for the variables in this study. Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scales developed to measure opinions, beliefs and awareness related to environment, green consumer values, environmental knowledge, sustainable packaging knowledge, actions done with environmental conscience, attitude towards to sustainable packaging and intention of products which have sustainable package is greater than 0.6. Since Cronbach alpha coefficient is greater than 0.6, it can be said that all the scales in this study which have been developed to measure the variables have reliability. Variables, which are opinions, beliefs and awareness related to environment, green consumer values, environmental knowledge, sustainable packaging knowledge, actions done with environmental conscience, attitude towards to sustainable packaging and intention of products which have sustainable package, have been subjected to exploratory factor analysis. To minimize the number of variables in the study, exploratory factor analysis has been applied. Collected data has been analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 19.0. To analyze the collected data; Pearson Correlation, one way ANOVA and independent samples t test have been used. If p value of Levene's test statistic is smaller than 0.05 in ANOVA test, then Welch and Brown-Forsythe test have been used. After that the results of applied tests have been evaluated. If there was a significant difference in the results, to determine from which group it was coming from, Tukey HSD (if variances are homogeneous) and Tamhane’s T2 (if variances are not homogeneous) tests have been used. According to the results of this research, there is a positive relationship between opinions, beliefs and awareness about environment, green consumer values, environmental knowledge, sustainable packaging knowledge, actions done with environmental conscience and attitude towards to the sustainable packaging. Moreover, there is also a positive relationship between attitude towards to the sustainable packaging and buying intention of the products which have sustainable package. In this dissertation study, convenience sampling method was used. The sample has not been chosen by the random sampling based on probability principles, to generalize the results of this study would not be appropriate. Environment dimension of sustainability concept has been mainly handled and a specific product category has not been centered upon in this study.