This research project aims to evaluate the marketing strategies related to communication to understand how specific packaging design elements can affect consumer behaviour, and effectively promote the use of eco-sustainable packaging and products.
It will be evaluating the instinctive reactions like visual attention and emotion using innovative tools like eye-tracker and facial coding, of young people in responses to different products (conventional or sustainable products), focusing on millennials and Generation Z.
Sustainability is a hot topic through the world as there is a consensus that humans (and companies) are impacting the global environment. Companies can contribute to reduce the environmental impact associated with the consumption of a product or service by offering green, products and using eco-sustainability packaging.
Communicating correct information to consumers about the recyclability of packaging raises their awareness, guides their purchasing choices, and helps with proper waste disposal. So, it becomes very important to adopt action to promote sustainability among people but especially in younger generations, future of our society, that are sensitive to this issue, but that often have limited knowledge about that.
In this research, the pro-environmental self-identity participant disposition will be considered for a clearer understanding of how people perceive the green-marketing actions. This information will allow to get insights about the efficacy communication to convey in different subgroups.
Finally, the cognitive bias to the environmental sustainability will be considered too, to identify the presence of barriers among younger generations concerning this topic.
The research¿s results could provide an important contribution to the definition of the most suitable communication for the promotion of sustainable products and packaging to increase the awareness of this specific target and for people with low pro-environmental behaviours.
This research will advance knowledge about the effectiveness of sustainable food packaging. The research will show which extrinsic cues/elements of packaging influence consumer perceptions, providing useful insights to marketing for properly communicate the issue of sustainability.
The main innovation of the project is based in the integrated methodology (quantitative, neurophysiological and psychometric). The goal is to cover the existing gap in the literature, through the integration of these techniques to improve knowledge in the study of sustainability communication of these product categories. This integrated approach to research will become a natural development of marketing research that aims to learn more about consumer behaviour.
There will be an advancement of several insights from the state of the art:
1. Study of the current debate on the importance of the topic of sustainability and consumer choice. Specifically, in the debate over the accuracy/effectiveness of packaging information.
2. Contribution to the literature on visual attention and emotion generated during the fruition of stimuli for two subgroups of interest (people attentive to sustainability and people less attentive)
3. Contribution to the literature on the main unconscious resistance to the topic of sustainability for younger generations
4. Integrated information obtained through questionnaires (sustainability attitude, liking, purchase intention), interviews and neurophysiological indicators will provide insights into sustainable behaviour and consumption choices of the population.