Unpacking Sustainability: Exploring the Effects of Packaging Cues on Consumer Perceptions

This dissertation explores packaging cues in relation to sustainable perception. It comprises of introduction, three essays and concluding remarks. The dissertation begins with an overview on sustainable consumption and the role of packaging. The first chapter systematically reviews research on consumer perception of sustainability related cues on product packaging. The second chapter validates the Italian version of the ESE-10 scale through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The third chapter explores the impact of ecolabels and textual claims on perceived environmental friendliness and willingness to pay, includes two lab experiments, one behavioral study and one utilizing eye-tracking methodology. The studies focused on testing the effect of two packaging cues (ecolabel and textual claim) on willingness to pay and perceived environmental friendliness, in a 2x2 factorial design. The results reveal that perceived environmental friendliness mediates the relationship between packaging cues and consumer willingness to pay. Moreover, environmental self-efficacy moderates the mediated relationship between packaging cues and willingness to pay. Eye-tracking measures provide some insight on the process; however this aspect of the research needs to be investigated further.