Racial Differences in Consumer Environmental Concern

Participation in community environmental activism is on the rise in the United States (Bennett, Freierman, and George 1993; Stisser 1994). Hence, the issues of environmental deterioration and environmental concern have become important areas of research, particularly as they relate to consumer behavior. Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, several researchers made significant attempts to profile the environmentally concerned consumer (Balderjahn 1988; Ellen, Wiener, and Cobb-Walgren 1991; Schwepker and Cornwell 1991; Zimmer, Stafford, and Stafford 1994). These studies primarily (1) examine consumers' intentions to purchase ecologically packaged products (i.e., those packaged in such a way that they do not cause harm to the environment); (2) define the role of efficacy in motivating environmentally conscious behaviors; and/or (3) investigate environmentally related consumption patterns. Overall, this research suggests that environmentally concerned consumers form a small but important segment of the market, providing the opportunity to differentiate potential consumers based on their concerns about environmental issues (Balderjahn 1988; Herberger 1975; Kinnear, Taylor, and Ahmed 1974; Tucker 1980; Tucker, Dolich, and Wilson 1981). Environmental concern among different ethnic populations is an area that has also received some research attention over the past two decades (e.g., Baugh 1991; Jones and Carter 1994; Mohai 1990; Taylor 1989). Specifically, a number of studies have examined differences in environmental concern between blacks and whites. A majority of this research has concluded that black consumers are less environmentally concerned than their white counterparts (Kellert 1984; Lahart 1978; Murphy, Kangun, and Locander 1978; Ostheimer and Ritt 1976; Taylor 1989). Thus, based in part on these studies, consumers who are environmentally concerned are often profiled as a homogeneous group, consisting of primarily white middle- and upper-class citizens (Murphy, Kangun, and Locander 1978; Rosenbaum 1973; Tucker 1980). As a result, African-Americans are often overlooked when considering the effects of environmental concern on consumer behavior. This poses potentially serious consequences for African-American consumers and their communities. Black communities are often subject to more environmental hazards (e.g., pollution and disposal of hazardous wastes) than other communities (Mohai 1980), and a perceived lack of concern about the environment may result in less funding for environmental enhancement of these communities. It has been posited that these perceived differences between blacks and whites in their concern for the environment are largely due to generations of separation between African-Americans and the majority white society. This separation has resulted in value systems, attitudes, and beliefs that are often at odds with one another (Berry 1980). There does, however, exist an opposing view which suggests that through greater integration and assimilation with "mainstream" society, blacks have become more informed about the environment and a significant "concern gap" between these groups, in reality, does not exist (Williams 1989). In addition, Taylor (1989) suggested that most of the earlier environmentally related studies did not examine race as a separate variable and many later studies that examined the relationship between race and environmental concern failed to account for other variables such as income and education. African-Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1990) and have purchasing power of more than $300 billion annually (O'Hare and Frey 1992; Schlossberg 1993). Thus, many businesses, as well as policy makers, are economically, as well as ethically, justified in developing a better understanding of the environmental views of this group of consumers. BACKGROUND Some research has indicated that, in comparison to whites, blacks are less informed about the environment (Lahart 1978), less concerned about environmental issues (Horvat 1974; Taylor 1989), and less likely to recycle (Howenstine 1993). …