Willingness to Pay and Barriers in Gen Z's Pro-Environmental Product Consumption

. This study investigated the characteristics and preferences of Generation Z consumers concerning pro-environmental products, focusing primarily on their willingness to pay (WTP) and the factors that inhibit such a willingness. Data from 140 respondents were garnered through a 2023 survey. Results indicate a robust willingness within Gen Z to pay a premium for environmentally sustainable products. However, barriers to consumption were also identified, with the price premium being the most significant deterrent. Other inhibitors include perceived benefits, product availability, limited informational sources, product variety, and individual income levels. Female undergraduate students, predominantly single, were the major demographic displaying these characteristics. The findings elucidate that while there's a strong pro-environmental inclination among Gen Z, the price remains a primary concern. These insights hold crucial implications for stakeholders in the agricultural and environmental sectors, offering direction for producers, marketers, and policymakers aiming to capitalize on this generation's environmental consciousness while addressing the identified barriers.


Introduction
The crisis in the environmental sector is still difficult to resolve and has hugely impacted living being.The implementation of the SDGs by UNDP aims to promote sustainable development.One of the goals is to ensure the realization of sustainable consumption and production patterns.As much as 17% of the food wasted is generated at the consumer level (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/).Based on the data published by of Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning, environmental degradation produced by food waste has made Indonesia the world's second-largest waste contributor country, with food waste production reaching 300 kg per capita per year.This shows that the role of consumers in preserving the environment is quite significant.
The study of sustainable consumption is currently growing and spreading quickly.One of the main goals of sustainable consumption is to reduce the environmental impact of waste generation.However, sustainable consumption in Indonesia is still facing a negative trend due to a low level of knowledge regarding the impact of using unsustainable packaging.This impacts consumer behavior that is not responsible for the food waste produced [1].In the digital-based information era, one of the efforts that can be made to promote sustainable low-carbon consumption to the public is through information incentives and social and environmental influences.Information incentives in the form of motivation and emotion are proven to be more influential in supporting sustainable consumption than rational information.Meanwhile, concerning social influence, the influence exerted by peer imitation dominates compared to endorsements and social norms [4].
One of the most frequently found wastes is single-use plastic.The current paid plastic use policy has been implemented in various regions in Indonesia to limit the consumption of single-use plastic.In formulating policies, it is necessary to conduct a study on the profile description of sustainable plastic consumers based on their behavioral and psychological characteristics.In their study, scholars [4] proved that personal responsibility and self-proclaimed knowledge act as strong predictors of the behavior of using sustainable plastics.Therefore, consumer characteristics are vital in developing an appropriate and effective market for environmentally friendly products and in planning policies to resolve the problem of plastic pollution.Consumer's characteristics related to the topic can be observed by the willingness to pay more on green product.
Personal responsibility, described as a deep concern for environmental issues, is owned by a group of people often referred to as Gen Z [5].Those who belong to the Gen Z age group are often known to have a high awareness and desire to make a breakthrough in social and environmental issues.Many researchers have carried out studies that prove Gen Z's character in this regard.In promoting sustainable consumption, it is necessary to conduct studies on the sociodemographic conditions of consumers, which are supported by behavior, and what factors support or hinder consumer behavior towards sustainable living.Some of these things become the focus of which will be discussed in this paper.
2 Materials and method 2.1 The study Location and Data was conducted using a survey method of young consumers in Indonesia's Generation Z category.The research was conducted from March to May 2023 by distributing questionnaires online.The questionnaire is divided into two parts, which consist of (1) the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; and (2) items to measure the impact of consumption-inhibiting factors on consumers' willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products.Consumers' willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products and inhibiting factors were collected using a 5-point Likert scale.Furthermore, 139 respondents were obtained who had been filtered and met the analysis criteria.

Data analysis method
Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer the objectives of this study.The descriptive method in this study is used to identify consumers' socio-economic conditions as one of the essential things in consumer profiling and to analyze Gen Z consumers' willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products.The categorization of consumers' willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products and inhibiting factors is based on the Likert score obtained.

Gen Z pro-environmental consumer profile
In achieving sustainable development, individuals can contribute by consuming environmentally friendly products and reducing waste.An unsustainable consumption approach has been evaluated to produce several environmental problems and, in turn, raises concerns about environmental sustainability.The trend of environmentally friendly consumption in developing countries such as Indonesia has generated positive support [6].Each generation is generally has different characteristics from other generations.Identifying consumption behavior in each generation provides theoretical and practical opportunities to understand more specific social, economic, cultural, and political characteristics.Young people are often involved in pro-environmental behavior, part of sustainable behavior.
Consumer demographics play an important role in consumption behavior.In Table 1, the sample includes 139 respondents obtained from young consumers of Generation Z who consume pro-environmental products, with 70.5% of respondents being women and the remaining 29.5% being men.Previous literature has stated that the socio-demographic profile of consumers affects pro-environmental behavior [7].The research clearly mentions that gender is essential in influencing individual decision-making.Furthermore, in line with these findings, it confirmed that women are more environmentally conscious than men.Gender in this study is more dominated by women considering that women prefer shopping to men.Furthermore, in this study, the younger generation, female students to be exact, carry out more pro-environmental actions stemming from the attitudes and values held by the environment than men.Most of the respondents, both male, and female, are single individuals and are consumers with undergraduate education.Awareness of the environment is related to attitudes and behavior.Previous research has reported a significant relationship that more educated consumers tend to be more motivated to participate in protecting the environment [8].Individuals with higher levels of education have better information, so they have a stronger desire to protect the environment.Generation Z grew up in the digital world era with the internet and social media, so it is considered an open-minded generation.This reinforces the finding that Gen Z, who has an undergraduate education, will have the opportunity to have better information about environmental awareness.
Students with an average income below IDR 3,000,000 dominated respondents in this study.Likewise, the level of consumer income is a significant determinant of pro-environmental behavior.A clear relationship is known between income groups and increased levels of consumption of pro-environmental products as it relates to increased purchasing capacity.The findings state that Gen Z is the most receptive consumer and tends to buy a product based on the hedonic value principle [5].College students, as the majority of Gen Z in this study, are unmarried individuals who have not earned their income, so they are freer to make decisions without being burdened by family financial considerations.Therefore, generation Z consumers are willing to pay more for products that provide functional benefits and other perceived hedonic benefits (personal, social, and environmental).

Willingness to pay more on pro-environmental product
Consumption of pro-environmental products offers an opportunity for consumers to be able to contribute to the sustainable development of natural markets.Success in promoting pro-environmental products can be seen from consumer behavior towards these products.This behavior can be influenced by, among other things, consumer intentions in buying pro-environmental products.Even so, scholars [9] explained that consumer purchase intentions are not always followed up into an act of purchase.This is said to be influenced by self-efficacy or belief in a person's ability to continue the intention to become an act of purchasing pro-environmental products.Previously, we discussed the characteristics of Gen Z, which have special characteristics in the form of environmental awareness, a sense of equality, and a high desire to create a more sustainable world.Several factors are stated as determining factors for Gen Z's demand for environmentally friendly products, including environmental concerns, future green estimation, and green perceived quality.These factors positively and significantly determine Gen Z's willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products.This, by [10] is associated with the green product signal theory.In this theory, it is stated that sellers of green products will charge higher prices than conventional products.Higher prices can be considered as an incentive for producers because they have reduced the price gap between green and conventional products indicating the characteristics of environmentally friendly products.
In this study, the results of the analysis show that Gen Z has a good level of willingness to pay more.This shows that there is hope for the trend of consumption of pro-environmental products in the future considering that Gen Z is the world's largest consumer group.Purchase decisions and influences that can be spread by Gen Z, especially those linked in the digital world, will provide an upgrade to sustainable consumption, which previously did not care about the impact of product use on living beings.This is supported by research results from scholars [11] which highlight the importance of social platform influence (SPI) that can be utilized by Gen Z in guiding businesses and marketers in promoting their green initiatives.

Fig 1. Gen Z's willingness to pay more on pro-environmental product
The transition from conventional to sustainable consumption requires various efforts from the government, increasing public awareness and developing various studies.This is caused by the factors inhibiting the transition, which are complex and varied.Barrier factors will generally be interdependent in influencing people's consumption behavior [12].In contrast to WTP, which tries to portray consumer behavior towards pro-environmental products, barrier factors predict obstacles that cause consumers to be reluctant to continue the transition process.

Barrier to consume pro-environmental product
Consumer rejection of an innovation, in this case, a product with an environmentally friendly value, can occur as a form of hesitation to try new technology.In other words, it is the main element that hinders or delays the acceptance of new technology.The Theory of Innovation Resistance is used in this study as a theoretical lens in classifying consumer barriers to consuming pro-environmental products.Referring to researchers [13], the theory of innovation resistance suggests five types of barriers to product and service use, value, risk, image, and tradition.Furthermore, based on the five types of barriers in this study, the researchers formulated seven types of consumption barriers concerning two main groups: economic and non-economic.

Fig 2. Factors that inhibit the consumption of pro-environmental products
Figure 2 shows various factors inhibiting Gen Z consumers from consuming pro-environmental products from an economic and non-economic perspective.The findings in this study indicate that consumers perceive barriers in terms of using pro-environmental products, such as lack of variety (BF1), difficulty finding in stores (BF2), and inadequate information (BF3).Pro-environmental products are an additional innovation from conventional products.Environmentally friendly attributes attached to products require consumer perceptions of the changes needed to adapt to these innovations.In the case of a developing country like Indonesia, eco-friendly products have been introduced but are still a niche market.Environmentally friendly products are usually still limited in terms of brand and type variations and are only available in big cities, so more emphasis is placed on sales through e-commerce.Consumers of environmentally friendly products such as eco-friendly cosmetics are called by researchers [14] to have limited access.In line with that findings, buying green product tends to be unsustainable because consumers are more familiar with conventional products, which causes resistance.
Another non-economic barrier that hinders consumption is the perceived value of a new product compared to conventional ones.The findings in this study indicate that consumers feel the benefits are the same (BF5), and the money spent is not worth the benefits (BF6).Previous studies stated value barriers are among the most substantial barriers to innovation [15].Some consumers may have a negative stigma towards pro-environmental products by questioning whether the product is truly environmentally friendly.Some products still have pros and cons regarding the truth of environmentally friendly claims.Environmentally friendly products usually appear no different from conventional products, so consumers only depend on trust in the labels or claims of these products.In practice, official certification labels for pro-environmental products are only sometimes available, and it is common to find products with private claims from marketers.This creates confusion and doubt for consumers.
The classical theory of consumer demand has explained that price and income are the main determining factors in consumption.Consumers may strongly desire pro-environmental products, but low purchasing power and price premiums have become a natural barrier to purchase.Therefore, this study considers economic constraints as an essential factor to be involved.The findings in this study reveal that premium prices (BF4) and income (BF7) are the main inhibiting factors for Gen Z consumers' willingness to pay more for pro-environmental products.Following the classic literature, a price change that is more expensive than conventional products will impact responses that vary and, in most cases, react negatively [16].
Premium price barriers have become a significant problem for marketing pro-environmental products, especially in developing countries with average incomes.Even though Generation Z is willing to pay more for pro-environmental products, sustainable consumption may be hampered if the price of pro-environmental products is higher and outweighs consumers' purchasing power of alternative products.Thus, companies must avoid high prices for environmentally friendly products or only target high-income consumers.Companies can invest more to find new processes that can reduce production costs.
The perception of pro-environmental products that are unnecessarily expensive requires better creative communication to produce a normalization of prices for eco-friendly products.Marketers and pro-environmental activists need to organize awareness campaigns so that consumers understand that by consuming pro-environmental products, they will obtain functional benefits and contribute to environmental sustainability efforts.Furthermore, the exposure to knowledge related to pro-environmental products is expected to enable consumers to appreciate the additional costs involved in ensuring that these products have additional benefits.This concerns consumers who believe in something other than the benefits of value will be skeptical of the price paid.Hence, social marketing campaign efforts can be an alternative to more sustainable consumption behavior.
To build public awareness of pro-environmental products, the government can provide support by helping marketers build positive campaigns.The campaign can involve young Gen Z figures (celebrities on Instagram, tick tock, YouTube, etc.) as agents who popularize environmentally friendly consumption.Considering that Gen Z is a generation that lives in the digital era, using social media platforms can be a positive campaign for them.In addition, the government must provide full support to farmers/sellers to certify pro-environmental products, such as organic products.The existence of national certification is expected to overcome many obstacles to consuming organic products.A controlled and consistent way of product certification is called by researchers [17] to help reputation and build consumer confidence in pro-environmental products.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of Generation Z consumers who are willing to consume pro-environmental products.Female undergraduate students with single status dominate consumer characteristics.Gen Z consumers are known to be willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products even though they face various consumption barriers.The factors that hinder the consumption of pro-environmental products have a negative relationship with consumers' willingness to pay more.These obstacles include perceived benefits, product availability, limited information sources, minimal variety, premium prices, and income.The price of pro-environmental products, which is higher than alternative products, is the main obstacle to consumers' WTP.These findings provide practical implications for producers, marketers, and the government.

Table 1 .
Characteristics of Gen Z consumers' pro-