Why do we adopt environmentally friendly lawn care? Evidence from do-it-yourself consumers

ABSTRACT

This study identifies the factors determining the purchase frequencies of organic/natural fertilizers (ONFs) with a focus on do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers’ perceptions and motives. The estimation results of the generalized ordered logit model provide statistical evidence that environmental perceptions are critical factors in directing DIY consumers to purchase ONFs frequently. The results imply that educational programmes, informational campaigns, or advertisements to improve their perceptions on the potential negative impacts of fertilization on the environment may increase the purchase frequencies of ONFs. In addition, the results show that DIY consumers perceive that it is worth using ONFs despite their higher prices than chemical fertilizers. Their purchase frequencies will increase if they positively perceive the values of ONFs and are willing to pay a premium for ONFs. Moreover, the purchasing behaviour of DIY consumers is associated with their perceptions of neighbourhood landscaping. If neighbours or homeowner associations encourage landscaping improvements in their community, DIY consumers may increase their purchase frequencies of ONFs accordingly.

KEYWORDS:

• Turfgrass
• residential landscaping
• organic fertilizers
• natural fertilizers
• perceptions

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D12
• Q53
• Q35

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ In strict definition terms, there is a discrepancy between organic and natural fertilizers (Easton and Petrovic 2004; Washington State Department of Agriculture 2011). According to four different sources of ingredients used to make lawn fertilizers, we can categorize fertilizers into ‘natural organic,’ ‘synthetic organic,’ ‘natural inorganic,’ and ‘synthetic inorganic’ fertilizers. Natural organic fertilizers are made from all natural and organic materials such as plant and animal matter, while synthetic organic fertilizers are made from organic materials such as urea, which is not natural. Natural inorganic fertilizers are those made from naturally mined materials such as powdered limestone, mined rock phosphate, and sodium nitrate. However, synthetic inorganic fertilizers represent those composed of simple chemicals and minerals, which are not organic or natural. In this study, synthetic inorganic fertilizers are excluded from ONFs.

² Compared the purchase frequencies of fertilizers with those of other more frequently purchased products, it is difficult to define the exact frequencies according to the number of purchases of fertilizers. Since homeowners typically buy fertilizers less frequently in a year than other products, this study focuses on the ordered frequencies of individual homeowners. In our survey, the following instructions were given to the respondents: ‘The questions concern your experience with lawn care practices and purchase of lawn care products. When answering these questions, please think back over the last 2 years.’ The respondents ordered their purchase frequencies and answered correctly according to our intention.

³ A summary of the demographic statistics is displayed and compared with the national statistics in Appendix. Our sample does not correspond to the U.S. population because we target homeowners with specific criteria: The respondents who lived in a house with a lawn, applied fertilizers to their lawns by themselves, and had experiences in purchasing lawn fertilizers. Readers should be aware that our survey targets a specific homeowner group.