Willingness to pay for a refillable packaging system

: investigating the effect of the consumers’ perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and pro-environmental attitude

Abstract

In a society where environmental concerns and demand for environmentally friendly products are increasing, businesses are adapting to meet their consumers’ expectations. Consumers believe that an efficient way to reduce companies’ environmental impact is by managing plastic waste. This dissertation focuses on a refillable packaging system in which the Refill on the Go solution is included. The study intends to identify what determines the Willingness to Pay for a Refill on the Go solution and how the consumers’ environmental attitude impacts this relationship. Additionally, this research takes the Technology Acceptance Model as the initial point and examines how Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness predict the Willingness to Pay. An online survey was conducted where some respondents were exposed to a traditional Single use shampoo package from an established brand within the industry and the other respondents to a Refill on the Go solution plus a refillable package from also an established brand within the industry. The results show that with a higher consumers' Pro-Environmental Attitude, the Willingness to Pay for a Refill on the Go solution is also higher and with a lower Pro-Environmental Attitude, the Willingness to Pay for a Refill on the Go solution is also lower. Although, it was not possible to prove that Willingness to Pay can be explained by neither Perceived Ease of Use nor Perceived Usefulness. Nevertheless, it was possible to find that Willingness to Pay is explained by how useful consumers between 18 and 24 years old believe the packaging system is.

Date of Award	29 Apr 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Romeiro (Supervisor)