The effects of environmental consciousness and menu information on the perception of restaurant image

PurposeThis research examines the influence of consumer environmental consciousness and perception of menu information in the formation of restaurant image. The concepts of mindfulness and mindful consumption were used as the theoretical background for the study.Design/methodology/approachUsing a quasi-experimental setting, data were collected from restaurant consumers dining at an upscale casual restaurant in the southeastern United States over a four-week time. Structural equation modeling, multi-group analysis and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesized relationships between research constructs.FindingsResults suggested that consumer environmental consciousness does not have a direct effect on the formation of restaurant image. However, consumer environmental consciousness influenced consumers' perception of menu information, and the perception of menu information consequently influences the restaurant image.Practical implicationsFoodservice industry increasingly interested in sustainability practices. Consumers want to know the connections between food and its impact on their health and the environment. Findings reveal that environmentally conscious consumers actively sought out menu information, and that once the information they were seeking was perceived, it significantly strengthened the perception of restaurant image.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first research that investigated the environmental consciousness construct in a live restaurant context.

Dreamworld or Dystopia?

The Nordic Model was originally understood as a compromise between Western and Soviet systems. The Soviet Union has been gone for a generation, but the Nordic Model survives. Much of this has to do with the Model's change from an economic to a largely cultural model. In particular the Model has come to emphasize human (especially women's) rights; environmental consciousness; and cultural innovation. While these each contain an element of fantasy, they retain sufficient substance to provide encouragement to 'progressive' circles in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries. Important in its own right, the Nordic Model provides a fascinating case study of the transmission of goods and ideas between different regions, and the ability of a small and out of the way region to maintain its own identity in a globalized world.

Examining the Mediating Role of Altruism in the Relationship between Empathic Tendencies, the Nature Relatedness, and Environmental Consciousness

A study was conducted using a correlational screening model to determine the mediating effect of altruism in the relationship between empathic tendencies, the nature relatedness and environmental consciousness. The participants of the study, selected via random cluster sampling design, are composed of 305 pre-school teachers working in pre-schools and kindergartens in a city located in Turkey’s Aegean region. The ‘Empathic Tendency Scale’, ‘Altruism Scale’, ‘Nature Relatedness Scale’, and ‘Environmental Consciousness Scale’ were used as data collection tools. The analyses of the sub-purposes were carried out using the PROCESS macro (Model 4) developed by Andrew Hayes using the SPSS infrastructure. When the study results were examined, the indirect effects of the empathic tendency on nature relatedness and environmental consciousness were found to be significant. Thus, altruism was the mediator for the relationship between the empathic tendency and nature relatedness (β=.13, 95% BCA CI [.08; .19]) and for the relationship between emphatic tendency and environmental consciousness (β=.36, %95 BCA CI [.18; .57]).

'Mid-Life Greenness': Environmental Consciousness among European Consumers

<p>Identifying characteristics of green consumers has proven to be a complex undertaking for many researchers and no clear consensus yet exists. This is particularly true of the effect of age on awareness of environmental effects. My aim in this study is to model the relationship between age and environmental consciousness using a large sample of over twenty six thousand respondents in 28 countries to a specially designed survey requested by the European Commission. I use the 2009 Flash Eurobarometer survey (no. 256) designed to address European attitudes towards sustainable consumption. I choose six questions from the survey in order to capture measures of environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. Using multiple regression analysis, I test for the influence of age on environmental consciousness after controlling for gender, education level, occupation and urban vs. rural residence. The results reveal an interesting ‘inverse U’ shape of environmental consciousness by age for both men and women implying that environmental consciousness peaks at middle age. Extending the regression into multilevel modelling, allows me to test for variations in the inverse U shape across countries of Europe. The results indicate country level variations in both the level and shape of the curve from one country to another. Although similar in many countries, caution is required in making gross generalisations about age related sustainable consumption patterns in Europe as a whole.</p>

'Mid-Life Greenness': Environmental Consciousness among European Consumers

<p>Identifying characteristics of green consumers has proven to be a complex undertaking for many researchers and no clear consensus yet exists. This is particularly true of the effect of age on awareness of environmental effects. My aim in this study is to model the relationship between age and environmental consciousness using a large sample of over twenty six thousand respondents in 28 countries to a specially designed survey requested by the European Commission. I use the 2009 Flash Eurobarometer survey (no. 256) designed to address European attitudes towards sustainable consumption. I choose six questions from the survey in order to capture measures of environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. Using multiple regression analysis, I test for the influence of age on environmental consciousness after controlling for gender, education level, occupation and urban vs. rural residence. The results reveal an interesting ‘inverse U’ shape of environmental consciousness by age for both men and women implying that environmental consciousness peaks at middle age. Extending the regression into multilevel modelling, allows me to test for variations in the inverse U shape across countries of Europe. The results indicate country level variations in both the level and shape of the curve from one country to another. Although similar in many countries, caution is required in making gross generalisations about age related sustainable consumption patterns in Europe as a whole.</p>

Youth, faith, climate change and environmental consciousness: A case for sustainable development

No abstract available.