Research On Consumer’s Behavior About Using Degradable Plastic Bags Considering Both Supply And Demand Factors

Plastic pollution control is imminent,and consumers’ choice of biodegradable plastic bags instead of ordinary plastic bags is an important part of plastic pollution control.The research objects of existing literature are mostly reusable shopping bags,ordinary plastic bags and other biodegradable plastic products,and little literature has taken the use behavior of biodegradable plastic bags as the research object.Most of them explore the formation of consumers’ plastic use behavior from the perspective of demand-side influencing factors and government intervention policies,but rarely from the perspective of both supply and demand.In addition,the existing literature lacks research on the path of influence of biodegradable labels on the use behavior of biodegradable plastic bags.In this study,we take the theoretical model of planned behavior as the basis and construct an extended theoretical model to explore the influencing factors of consumers’ biodegradable plastic bag use behavior from both supply and demand side perspectives.The supply-side factors include perceived product quality and price agreement,and the demand-side factors include label perception,label trust,behavioral attitude,subjective norm,perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention.Firstly,through literature combing,we define the concept of supply-side and demand-side influencing factors,and also elaborate the relevant theories.Then,the research hypothesis is proposed according to the existing literature combined with the actual situation,and the conceptual model of this study is constructed.Referring to the mature scale combined with the context of this study,the initial scale was modified and then revised again after a small-scale pre-study to form a formal scale.The 924 valid questionnaires were processed and analyzed,and the empirical analysis steps,such as reliability analysis,model goodness-of-fit analysis,model basic hypothesis test and mediating effect test,were used to verify the paths of both supply and demand factors on consumers’ behavior of using biodegradable plastic bags.Finally,based on the results of empirical analysis,countermeasure suggestions are proposed from both supply and demand sides.The main conclusions of the study are:(1)Among the supply-side factors,both perceived product quality and price recognition can have a direct impact on consumers’ behavioral intention to use biodegradable plastic bags,and the former has a slightly larger role than the latter.Both of them can also act on some of the demand-side influences: perceived product quality can play a role in promoting behavioral attitudes and perceived behavioral control,and price recognition can enhance consumers’ preference for using biodegradable plastic bags.In comparison,the role of perceived product quality on demand-side influences is greater.(2)The positive effect of label trust on consumers’ behavioral intention is significant,and the effect size is between perceived product quality and price identity.However,the effect of label perception on consumer behavioral intention was not supported.(3)The positive effects of subjective norms(excluding males aged 36 and above)and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention in the theory of planned behavior were not supported.Among all the supply and demand bilateral factors in this study,behavioral attitudes had the greatest effect on consumer behavioral intention.