Awareness of eco-labeling of students of higher education in Hong Kong

Abstract

Eco-labels inform consumers about the environmental aspects of a product or a service. Consumers who are concerned with environmental issues can use the information on eco-labels to learn the environmental aspects of the products that they buy.

The aim of this study is to determine how often the students of higher education pay attention to eco-labels when they are purchasing and the levels of the five internal factors that may motivate the consumers to pay attention to eco-labels. These factors are pro-environmental attitude (willingness to pay higher prices for products with eco-label), perceived consumer effectiveness (how much they believe that individual actions can improve the environment), belief in environment-friendly buying, trust in eco-label and knowledge in eco-labels. This study provided an opportunity to learn if the students consider the environmental aspects when they are buying and what teachers and education professionals can do to encourage the students to pay attention to eco-labels.

Three textbooks used for General Studies for Primary students, three textbooks used in Integrated Science for Secondary 1-3 students and six teaching materials published by publishers (there is no textbook for Liberal Studies that is standardized by Education Bureau) used in Science, Technology and the Environment in Liberal Studies for Secondary 4-6 students were reviewed to find if the topic of eco-labeling was mentioned in them. It was found that none of the textbooks used for General Studies for Primary students mentioned eco-labeling, all textbooks used in Integrated Science used for Secondary 1-3 mentioned the Energy Efficiency Label and all teaching material used in liberal studies also mentioned Energy Efficiency Label, among them, one book mentioned the European Union’s Eco-label.

A survey was carried out to assess how often students pay attention to eco-labels and how much they agree to statements relating to the five internal factors that may motivate them to pay attention to eco-labels. A test was given to assess their knowledge in the Energy Efficiency Label Scheme (EELS) issued by the Electrical and Mechanical Service Department and eco-labels issued to food and wood products respectively.

The mean was 2.8(on a scale of 6, in which 1 means strongly disagree and 6 means strongly agree), when asked if they agreed that they often pay attention to eco- label when they were buying 3.5 for pro-environmental attitude, 4.2 for perceived consumer effectiveness, 3.4 for belief in environmental buying, 3.6 for trust in eco-labels and 3.6 in perceived knowledge in eco-labels. 63.2% of the students correctly answered that there are five grades in EELS, 40% of students correctly chose that the lower the grading, the more efficient is the electrical appliance. 8.4% of students correctly chose all five kind of electrical applicants that are mandated to show EEL. 2.1% attempted to name any eco-labels issued to wood products and 3.1% attempted to name any eco-labels issued to food products.

It was concluded that students do not often pay attention to eco-labels when they are buying and that the limited knowledge in eco-labels was the potential cause.