Determinants of Shoppers’ Recycling Behaviour of Green Secondary Packaging.

Abstract

Kenya aspires to become a middle-income economy by 2030, hence the government through NEMA is working extra hard to have a clean environment before then. There have been widespread plastic bags littering the country, hence plastic waste issues have attracted widespread concern and attention in Kenya for the last five years. This has rekindled the idea of green marketing right from product/service design, packaging to distribution through retail outlets. A lot of research has been done on effects of characteristics of primary packaging on purchase behavior in both developed and developing countries. However, from the accessible literature, there is no quantitative tests to show the factors driving post-purchase behavior in respect to recycling of packaging by shoppers in Kenya. This study investigated the effects of packaging characteristics and information processing on shoppers’ recycling behavior of green secondary packaging. Shoppers personal characteristics were controlled, and the study adopted a survey design where a sample of 600 supermarket shoppers in three Nairobi metropolitan towns of Kiambu, Ruiru and Thika were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Results were analyzed using regression analysis method, and showed that, size had a positive and significant effect on post-purchase behavior towards green secondary packaging recycling behavior, (coefficient 0. 0.503 p-value = 0.000) and that graphics and price also have positive significant effect in recycling (Coefficient 0.264, p-value 0.000) and (Co-efficient 1.282, p-value= 0.000) respectively. Brand name and logo had positive but insignificant effect on recycling behavior while technology related attributes (durability) had positive and significant effect on the recycling behavior (Coefficient 1.143, p-value = 0.000). Information processing also had positive and significant effect on recycling behavior (Coefficient 0.605, p-value 0.000) and all consumers’ individual characteristics except for the gender (Coefficient -040, p-value 0.171) had positive and significant effect on recycling behavior. Knowledge generated in this study is important to the business community in Kenya and the Kenya government in that, manufacturers and retailers can use it to plan their marketing strategies in order to promote the green marketing agenda, while the government through NEMA can use it when developing policies to guide waste disposal. Based on the results, it is concluded that green secondary packaging, an intervention by NEMA has Book of Abstracts, 2018 41

contributed to acceptance of recycling of green packaging and it will go a long way in improving the environment in Kenya.