Importance of Consumer-based Green Brand Equity: Empirical Evidence

Abstract

Due to increasing awareness towards environmental issues and consumer demand for environmental-friendly products, companies are shifting their management from brand equity to green brand equity. This will lead to the novel marketing phenomenon: green brand equity. Most of the previous studies on green branding, green marketing initiatives and social economies have been conducted in developed countries, and there is a lack of such studies in fast developing Asian countries like India. Therefore, this research tries to fill in the gap to measure the green brand equity in developing economies like India. This research measures green brand equity and its impact on consumer attitude. In addition, this research also measures the difference in the degree of green brand equity in metro and non-metro city. Consumer behaviour of metro and non-metro cities in India has found similarity and dissimilarity in many ways. The present study presents the different dimensions of green brand equity and its impact on consumer attitude. Green brand image, satisfaction, trust, loyalty, reference group and green advertisement emerged as a strong influencing agent of customer attitude towards green brand equity. The result of measurable difference of these construct revealed that there is a significant difference in all constructs, except green advertisement. Marketers have to understand these differences and formulate different market strategies while moving from metro to non-metro cities. This research not only provides green brand equity dimensions as a conceptual contribution, but also establishes the relationship between green brand equity and consumer attitude as an empirical contribution.