The Impact of External Attributes of Green Food Packaging on online purchasing behaviour

Green packaging is a crucial topic as it can significantly reduce the problematic waste generated by food packaging. The use of packaging in the grocery industry is becoming an increasingly pressing concern as the amount of waste generated by this sector continues to rise. Furthermore, with the relatively new and unexplored e-grocery sector, there may be a vast array of opportunities for the implementation of sustainable packaging solutions. The physical characteristics and design elements of packaging refer the external attributes, which can influence consumer's perception and their likelihood to purchase the product. Gaining a deeper understanding of how consumers react to the external attributes of green packaging can contribute to existing knowledge and facilitate the development of more effective solutions.

A conceptual model is created based on previous literature. Since consumers use quality marks labels, and material to evaluate the sustainability of the packaging, these attributes were expected to have a positive effect on perceived sustainability. However, interviews led to the exclusion of labels and the introduction of an eco-score. Moreover, according to the cue utilization theory, consumers also value food packaging through perceived benefits. Therefore, the conceptual model that was tested in this research included the factors: material, logos, ecolabel, perceived sustainability, perceived benefits and purchase intention. Given that the concept perceived benefits was measured with five different sub-scales, a principal component analysis was conducted. From this conceptual model, a factorial ANOVA was used to test whether the external packaging attributes were positively related to other factors. We then tested for mediation of the perceived sustainability and perceived benefits variables.

The results indicate a significant positive effect of material, logos, and ecolabels on perceived sustainability. However, when examining the effect on purchase intention, only logos and ecolabels have a significant positive relationship. In terms of mediation effects, perceived benefits mediate the effect of all external attributes on purchase intention. Additionally, perceived sustainability only mediates the effect of material and ecolabels on purchase intention. Finally, it was found that the effect of perceived sustainability on purchase intention is fully mediated by perceived benefits.

The research findings indicate that external attributes of green food packaging play a significant role in increasing online consumers' sustainable purchase intention. The cue utilization theory suggests that external packaging attributes act as cues for consumers to recognize the benefits of a product, leading to an increase in their confidence value. Results show that consumers are positively influenced by external attributes of green food packaging, such as material, quality mark, and eco-score, which can signal environmental friendliness and increase perceived sustainability. This, in turn, can influence consumers’ perceived benefits, as well as purchase intention. Overall, this research highlights the importance of external attributes in promoting sustainable purchasing behaviour among online consumers.