38 Devleena Ghosh and Amit Jain
Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, governments, and major corporations
have been conscious of sustainability as an important factor for their consumers
and citizens. However, “powerful vested interests, a deeply entrenched and
environmentally-hostile management paradigm, and a global economy on a
trajectory to conventional economic growth” (Peattie and Charter 2003, p. 726)
means that the greening of production is still a work in progress even though this
rapidly growing section of consumers with high disposable incomes can no longer
be ignored.
In the hyper-globalized and super-diverse twenty-first century, ethical
consumption has both temporal and spatial ramifications. Commodity chains span
transnational and virtual borders, material desires have far-reaching environmental
consequences, and the relations of production also represent the complex positions
of workers and consumers. Most studies dealing with these topics assume that
consumers live in the Global North and producers in the Global South. This article
argues, using an empirical survey, that such a framing is now outdated due to the
growth of middle-class populations in emerging economies in the Global South and
that the promotion of green marketing practices in a country such as India may align
corporate and philanthropic goals only if all actors make long-term commitments to
such objectives. Our survey consisted of a questionnaire to which we received 106
responses. The questionnaire covered topics such as awareness of environmental
degradation, the gravity of such environmental problems, knowledge of government
and corporate green initiatives, and skepticism toward such initiatives.
Background
In an illuminating article in the Harvard Business Review, Lubin and Esty claim
that whereas “sustainability” is a business mega-trend, most business executives
do not recognize it as a priority strategy (Lubin and Esty 2010) even though,
over the past 10 years, environmental issues have had substantial impact on
market value for customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Globalization
of workforces and supply chains has added to environmental demands and
business liabilities while the rise of new world powers, notably China and India,
has intensified competition for natural resources (especially oil) and added a
geopolitical dimension to sustainability (Lubin and Esty 2010). “‘Externalities’
such as carbon dioxide emissions and water use are fast becoming material—
meaning that investors consider them central to a firm’s performance and
stakeholders expect companies to share information about them” (Lubin and Esty
2010). Green issues are now global phenomena and sustainable consumption a
worldwide concern.
Green consumers and green consumerism began to enter mainstream research
in the 1970s and 1980s. The upsurge of environmental concern in the 1970s
regarding highly polluting industries produced the concepts of “ecological
marketing” and environmentally conscious consumers (Henion and Kinnear
1976). Antil (1984) describes green consumerism as a specific type of socially
conscious consumer behavior focused primarily on environmental protection,