Effects of Demographics, Environmental Knowledge, and Consumer Motivation on High School Students' Pro-Environmental Consumer Behavior

Abstract

The effects of demographic factors such as age, gender, grade level, school type, environmental knowledge, and consumer motivation on students’ pro-environmental consumer behavior (PECB) were surveyed by administering a Likert-scale questionnaire to 269 public high school students and 173 private high school students. This correlational study believed that several factors can be accounted for students to behave pro-environmentally as consumers. This is related to the understanding that consumer concerns about environmental issues do not easily translate to pro-environmental behaviors. Pro-environmental consumer behavior pertains to the individual’s environmental consciousness in the stages of the buying process to help build conditions that are not harmful to the environment. The findings of this study showed that demographics, age, and school type were differentiating factors in students’ pro-environmental consumer behavior. It also found out that environmental knowledge and consumer motivation had weak positive correlation to students’ pro-environmental consumer behavior, with the latter having a higher r-value. These findings may suggest new research ideas focused on high school students as consumers and can help teachers develop instructional materials and school programs that will enhance their students’ environmental knowledge. The findings can also help in the study of the other barriers, and factors to further help encourage students to behave as pro-environmental consumers.

Keywords: consumer motivation, environmental knowledge, pro-environmental consumer behavior