Clustering Of Indonesian Young Millennial Consumers Based On Green Values

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to conduct clustering of young millennial consumer based on green values. After grouping, the clusters are analyzed based on altruism, materialism, pro-social attitudes and green behavior. This study was carried out on millennial young consumer aged 18-25 years. The results showed that respondents could be classified into three groups, namely the fresh green consumers, the light green, and the dark green consumers (do not look green). The fresh green consumers are most concerned about the effects on the environment, while the dark green is the opposite. Nearly half of the respondents are the light green, who consider environmental impacts in decision making, but are not always reflected in purchasing decisions. Among the three, Fresh Green clusters have the highest altruistic character. Consumer materialism in all clusters shows a moderate level. Fresh Green consumers are most prosocial, and their green behavior is quite high and the highest compared to the other two clusters.

Keywords: Clustergreen valuepro-social behavior

Introduction

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia), in 2017 Indonesia's population aged 19 years to 37 years is 33.75% of Indonesia's total population (Budiarti et al., 2018). These are the millennial generation. Compared to the previous generation of millennials known to be the most consumptive (Sullivan & Heitmeyer, 2008), interestingly, millennials tend to have social, cultural, and caring awareness of their environment (Sheahan, 2005). In Indonesia the study and assessment of the green clustering of millennial generation has not been done.

Millennials are people who born between 1985 and 1999 (Pendergast, 2009). Unlike its predecessor generation, millennial grows in a global life, thus they tend to have sensitivity to ethical issues, can accept diverse cultural values, and like to express themselves. Millennials tend to have social, cultural, and caring awareness of their environment (Sheahan, 2005), are loyal to family, friends, community, and themselves but not at the company they work for (Hira, 2007).

Millennials have a direct contribution to the economy, they have high purchasing power which has an impact on the world economy (Farris et al., 2002). They also have indirect contributions (Morton, 2002; Taylor & Cosenza, 2002) through their role in purchasing decisions in families. Among generations, millennial is the most consumptive generation (Sullivan & Heitmeyer, 2008).

Millennials have a relaxed lifestyle; listening to music, going out with friends, watching movies, eating dinner outside and watching TV (Morton, 2002). They like comfort, value oriented, and are interested in what reflects their lifestyle, not because of the appearance of the product. They respond more positively to humorous and emotional ads, advertisements that offer lifestyle and excitement, rather than advertisements that inform product features and specifications (Morton, 2002). Celebrities and athletes have the greatest influence on this generation (Morton, 2002).

In terms of social behavior, millennials have a concern for social problems. Many social activists come from this generation, they volunteer not for personal gain but to help others and contribute to society. Research in America shows that among students there is a positive response to social advertising and environmentally oriented advertising (Hyllegard et al., 2010). The problem that concerns this generation is primarily the problem of education, poverty, environment, health and disease, attention to this problem affects their purchases (Hyllegard et al., 2010). Millennial in US recommends products produced by companies that are responsible for the environment. Millennial can be involved in sustainability activities, with suitable methods and approaches (Paulin et al., 2014). Previous research shows that through an appropriate message approach, Indonesian millennials can be influenced to engage in green behavior, including making donations for environmental conservation (Laksmidewi & Soelasih, 2019). So that a green campaign against the millennial generation is successful, then the problem must be emotionally relevant.

Problem Statement

In order to influence young millennial consumers, especially those related to green behavior, it is necessary to understand how their characteristics are. The problem is that the cluster or young millennial consumer groups in Indonesia are not yet known, as well as how they are characterized in these clusters.

Research Questions

This research was conducted to answer the research questions: Are there groups in young millennial consumers based on green values, and how are the characteristics of each group according to altruistic, materialism, pro-social attitudes, and green behavior.

Purpose of the Study

This research is a preliminary study of millennial prosocial behavior. The purpose of the study is to conduct clustering of young millennial consumer based on green values. Then analyze the characteristics, and behavior of millennial consumers in each cluster. Characteristic analysis was carried out including materialism, altruism, prosocial attitude, and green behavior of young millennial consumers.

Research Methods

The method used is K-means Clustering (Jain, 2010), in this case we use the green value as the basis for clustering. Research is limited to millennial young people aged 18-27 years. Based on Howe and Strauss (2007) the current millennials are aged 18 to 37 years (age range is 19), so in this study we define young consumers as millennials aged 18 to 27 years (half of the age range of 19). Our respondents consist of 235 young consumers aged 19-25 years, 7.1% is 19 years old, 3,6% is 24 years old, and 89.3% is between 20-23 years old. Consisting of 96% of students and 4% of young employees. 58.6% of men and 41.4% of women. Grouping of respondents based on green value using the cluster method (Jain, 2010). Then from the cluster formed, the mean difference test was conducted on One-way Anova based on materialism, altruism, prosocial attitude, and green behavior. Green value measurement adapted from doPaço et al. (2019). The materialism measurement was adapted from Richins and Dawson (1992), consists of dimensions of success, centrality, and happiness. Altruism measurements were adapted from Khanna et al. (1992), consists of 20 indicators, with scale: never - very often. Prosocial attitude measurement adapted from doPaço et al. (2019).

Findings

With the aim of segmenting green consumers, we do clustering based on their green values. Table 01 shows that all significant green value indicators are factors that are the basis for grouping respondents. The results of the K-means cluster formed three groups consisting of the first group of 104 people, the second group of 83 people, and the third group of 38 people (Table 02 ).

Table 03 shows a significant difference in green value between 3 clusters (F = 443.751 p =0,000). Consumers in cluster 2 have the highest green value (M =5.2088), followed by Cluster 1 (M =4.3702), and finally Cluster 3 has the lowest green value (M =3.4271)

Conclusion

Based on the adopted green value, respondents can be classified into 3 groups: the first, the consumer group that gives the most attention to environmental problems, they are willing to be uncomfortable so that the environment is maintained. We call the fresh green consumers, because the greenest are the two other groups. The second group is less green than the previous fresh green group, so we named the consumers of light green. This group is aware of the importance of environmental sustainability but has not been reflected in its buying behavior. The third group is the least green group, so we call it dark green because it doesn't look green. The environment is important to them, but decisions and buying behavior are not affected.

This research is a preliminary research, in which we want to know what young millennial consumers are, especially in their values and attitudes towards the environment. The results of this study are expected to provide an overview of how young millennial consumers, so that it can help green product marketers design marketing and promotion tactics for these consumers. The limitation of this study is that the number of samples is too small, so it is necessary to add the number of samples and use the same clustering method. Taking samples that were less spread, caused our respondents to be mostly final year students, so that they did not reflect the whole young millennial. Future studies are expected to explore more of the variables related to green behavior, and examine their relevance.

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