IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v60y2021ics0969698921000096.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Age-related effects on environmentally sustainable purchases at the time of COVID-19: Evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Peluso, Alessandro M.
  • Pichierri, Marco
  • Pino, Giovanni

Abstract

The present research investigates whether the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has modified consumers' spending on environmentally sustainable products by focusing on the role of age. An empirical study conducted in Italy during the first wave of the pandemic finds that consumers' age affected their reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak, and such age-related effects may have led to an increased propensity to spend on sustainable products. Indeed, the results show that consumers' age is inversely related to their negative affective reaction to the rise of contagion, which, in turn, is inversely related to their level of optimism experienced when the contagion slowed down due to public health interventions. Furthermore, this level of optimism is positively related to consumers’ pro-environmental attitude and, thus, to their tendency to increase sustainable purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Peluso, Alessandro M. & Pichierri, Marco & Pino, Giovanni, 2021. "Age-related effects on environmentally sustainable purchases at the time of COVID-19: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:60:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000096
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698921000096
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102443?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prentice, Catherine & Chen, Jinyan & Stantic, Bela, 2020. "Timed intervention in COVID-19 and panic buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    2. Kumar, Anil & Prakash, Gyan & Kumar, Gaurav, 2021. "Does environmentally responsible purchase intention matter for consumers? A predictive sustainable model developed through an empirical study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    3. Sheth, Jagdish, 2020. "Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 280-283.
    4. Tullio Jappelli & Luigi Pistaferri, 2014. "Fiscal Policy and MPC Heterogeneity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 107-136, October.
    5. Kumar, Bipul & Manrai, Ajay K. & Manrai, Lalita A., 2017. "Purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products: A conceptual framework and empirical study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Laato, Samuli & Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Farooq, Ali & Dhir, Amandeep, 2020. "Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    7. Kirk, Colleen P. & Rifkin, Laura S., 2020. "I'll trade you diamonds for toilet paper: Consumer reacting, coping and adapting behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 124-131.
    8. Richins, Marsha L, 1997. "Measuring Emotions in the Consumption Experience," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(2), pages 127-146, September.
    9. repec:cup:judgdm:v:3:y:2008:i::p:64-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Cesare Amatulli & Matteo Angelis & Alessandro M. Peluso & Isabella Soscia & Gianluigi Guido, 2019. "The Effect of Negative Message Framing on Green Consumption: An Investigation of the Role of Shame," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 1111-1132, July.
    11. Emanuela Calandri & Federica Graziano & Martina Borghi & Silvia Bonino, 2018. "Depression, Positive and Negative Affect, Optimism and Health-Related Quality of Life in Recently Diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis Patients: The Role of Identity, Sense of Coherence, and Self-efficacy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 277-295, January.
    12. Zhang, Baobao & Mildenberger, Matto & Howe, Peter D. & Marlon, Jennifer & Rosenthal, Seth A. & Leiserowitz, Anthony, 2020. "Quota sampling using Facebook advertisements," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 558-564, July.
    13. Phua, Peilin & Kennedy, Rachel & Trinh, Giang & Page, Bill & Hartnett, Nicole, 2020. "Examining older consumers’ loyalty towards older brands in grocery retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. Cox, Anthony D. & Cox, Dena & Anderson, Ronald D., 2005. "Reassessing the pleasures of store shopping," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 250-259, March.
    15. Pantano, Eleonora & Pizzi, Gabriele & Scarpi, Daniele & Dennis, Charles, 2020. "Competing during a pandemic? Retailers’ ups and downs during the COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 209-213.
    16. Diamantopoulos, Adamantios & Schlegelmilch, Bodo B. & Sinkovics, Rudolf R. & Bohlen, Greg M., 2003. "Can socio-demographics still play a role in profiling green consumers? A review of the evidence and an empirical investigation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 465-480, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jimin Xiong & Zhanfeng Tang & Yufeng Zhu & Kefeng Xu & Yanhong Yin & Yang Xi, 2021. "Change of Consumption Behaviours in the Pandemic of COVID-19: Examining Residents’ Consumption Expenditure and Driving Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Shang, Dawei & Wu, Weiwei, 2022. "Does green morality lead to collaborative consumption behavior toward online collaborative redistribution platforms? Evidence from emerging markets shows the asymmetric roles of pro-environmental self," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Huang, Yung-Chuan, 2022. "How marketing strategy, perceived value and brand image influence WOM outcomes—The sharing economy perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Rosa Maria Dangelico & Valerio Schiaroli & Luca Fraccascia, 2022. "Is Covid‐19 changing sustainable consumer behavior? A survey of Italian consumers," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1477-1496, December.
    5. Popkova, Elena G. & De Bernardi, Paola & Tyurina, Yuliya G. & Sergi, Bruno S., 2022. "A theory of digital technology advancement to address the grand challenges of sustainable development," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. Malik, Faiza & Ishaq, Muhammad Ishtiaq, 2023. "Impact of minimalist practices on consumer happiness and financial well-being," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Sit, Kokho Jason & Ballantyne, Erica E.F. & Gorst, Jonathan, 2022. "Profiling shoppers’ coping behaviours during a pandemic crisis: A regulatory focus perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán & Mauricio Guerra-Velásquez & Elizabeth Emperatriz García-Salirrosas, 2023. "COVID-19 Effects on Environmentally Responsible Behavior: A Social Impact Perspective from Latin American Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Shang, Dawei & Wu, Weiwei & Schroeder, Daniel, 2023. "Exploring determinants of the green smart technology product adoption from a sustainability adapted value-belief-norm perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Walter Leal Filho & Amanda Lange Salvia & Arminda Paço & Celia Dias-Ferreira & Samara Neiva & Izabela Simon Rampasso & Rosley Anholon & Claudio Ruy Portela de Vasconcelos & João Henrique Paulino Pires, 2022. "Assessing the Connections between COVID-19 and Waste Management in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, July.
    11. Adá-Lameiras, Alba & Antonovica, Arta & de Esteban Curiel, Javier & Aydogan, Merve, 2024. "The impact of health crisis on sports consumption – A longitudinal study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tarek Ben Hassen & Hamid El Bilali & Mohammad S. Allahyari & Sinisa Berjan & Darjan Karabašević & Adriana Radosavac & Goran Dašić & Ružica Đervida, 2021. "Preparing for the Worst? Household Food Stockpiling during the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Katarina Valaskova & Pavol Durana & Peter Adamko, 2021. "Changes in Consumers’ Purchase Patterns as a Consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Mostafa Ghodsi & Ali Ardestani & Arash Rasaizadi & Seyednaser Ghadamgahi & Hao Yang, 2021. "How COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Urban Trips? Structural Interpretive Model of Online Shopping and Passengers Trips during the Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Ali Zackery & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Zahra Heidari Darani & Shiva Ghasemi, 2022. "COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.
    5. Eleonora Annunziata & Tommaso Pucci & Jacopo Cammeo & Lorenzo Zanni & Marco Frey, 2023. "The mediating role of exogenous shocks in green purchase intention: evidence from italian fashion industry in the Covid-19 era," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2023(1), pages 59-79, March.
    6. Guthrie, Cameron & Fosso-Wamba, Samuel & Arnaud, Jean Brice, 2021. "Online consumer resilience during a pandemic: An exploratory study of e-commerce behavior before, during and after a COVID-19 lockdown," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Julia Koch & Britta Frommeyer & Gerhard Schewe, 2020. "Online Shopping Motives during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Lessons from the Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Cruz-Cárdenas, Jorge & Zabelina, Ekaterina & Guadalupe-Lanas, Jorge & Palacio-Fierro, Andrés & Ramos-Galarza, Carlos, 2021. "COVID-19, consumer behavior, technology, and society: A literature review and bibliometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Eger, Ludvík & Komárková, Lenka & Egerová, Dana & MiÄ Ã­k, Michal, 2021. "The effect of COVID-19 on consumer shopping behaviour: Generational cohort perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Stanca, Liana & Dabija, Dan-Cristian & Câmpian, Veronica, 2023. "Qualitative analysis of customer behavior in the retail industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: A word-cloud and sentiment analysis approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Sit, Kokho Jason & Ballantyne, Erica E.F. & Gorst, Jonathan, 2022. "Profiling shoppers’ coping behaviours during a pandemic crisis: A regulatory focus perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Michela Piccarozzi & Cecilia Silvestri & Patrizio Morganti, 2021. "COVID-19 in Management Studies: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, March.
    13. Jiang, Yangyang & Stylos, Nikolaos, 2021. "Triggers of consumers’ enhanced digital engagement and the role of digital technologies in transforming the retail ecosystem during COVID-19 pandemic," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Jiang, Yi & Wang, Xueqin & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2021. "Augmented reality shopping application usage: The influence of attitude, value, and characteristics of innovation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    15. Omar, Nor Asiah & Nazri, Muhamad Azrin & Ali, Mohd Helmi & Alam, Syed Shah, 2021. "The panic buying behavior of consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the influences of uncertainty, perceptions of severity, perceptions of scarcity, and anxiety," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    16. Morimura, Fumikazu & Sakagawa, Yuji, 2023. "The intermediating role of big data analytics capability between responsive and proactive market orientations and firm performance in the retail industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Zielke, Stephan & Komor, Marcin & Schlößer, Andrea, 2023. "Coping strategies and intended change of shopping habits after the Corona pandemic – Insights from two countries in Western and Eastern Europe," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Zaid Obeidat & Mohammad Ibrahim Obeidat, 2023. "A typology of Jordanian consumers after Covid‐19: The rational, the suspicious, and the cautious consumer," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 121-139, January.
    19. Marina Sheresheva & Marina Efremova & Lilia Valitova & Anna Polukhina & Georgy Laptev, 2021. "Russian Tourism Enterprises’ Marketing Innovations to Meet the COVID-19 Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, March.
    20. Tran, Lobel Trong Thuy, 2021. "Managing the effectiveness of e-commerce platforms in a pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:60:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000096. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.