Role of Green Marketing in the Adoption of Intelligent Food Containers

Abstract

The growing human population is causing food security concerns in many countries. As food security is the access by all people to enough food to live a healthy and productive life, the world must reduce food waste. At the consumer level, households are responsible for half of the total avoidable losses due to food becoming out-of-date, developing bad smell or taste, or having been forgotten in the fridge. This study investigates the factors leading to consumer adoption of intelligent food containers (IFC) -an emerging technology that can store food, monitor food quality and minimize food waste. In particular, the study focuses on the role of companies' green marketing in affecting consumers' willingness to adopt IFC. So doing, the study develops and tests a research model and related hypotheses by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach. The model was constructed based on the integration of Technology Adoption Model (TAM) with green marketing. An online survey was used to collect data from 153 households in Canada. The results suggest that improved TAM with the addition of green marketing mix is useful in explaining consumers' purchase intention toward IFC. The findings provide valuable information to marketers in the packaging technology sector to help them convince eco-friendly segment to purchase IFCs and enhance the pro-environmental purchasing behavior in Canada.iii