An exploratory predictive model of sustainable consumption behaviour in FMCG packaging markets

This study examines how consumers' overall evaluation of sustainably packaged fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) relates to their purchasing behaviour. Survey data were collected from 206 consumers across eleven Indian cities using a structured questionnaire covering four conceptually distinct facets of this evaluation: perceptions of sustainable packaging, product experience, post-purchase satisfaction, and loyalty-related attitudes, measured through 23 Likert-scale items. Exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and discriminant-validity testing (heterotrait-monotrait ratios) showed that these four facets could not be empirically distinguished from one another in this sample. The items were therefore combined into a single sustainable consumption evaluation (SCE) Index of 21 items, after excluding weakly-loading item (α = .89; KMO = .91). Next, the SCE Index is tested as a predictor of three outcomes measured independently of the index itself: purchase frequency, the share of a respondent's FMCG purchases that are sustainably packaged and stated preference for sustainable over regular packaging. The index significantly predicted all three outcomes (standardised β = .21 and .30 for the two continuous outcomes; odds ratio 3.31 for preference; all p < .01). These findings suggest that, among the consumers sampled, sustainable-packaging perception, product experience, and post-purchase satisfaction function as a single, undifferentiated evaluative judgement rather than as separable psychological constructs, and that this judgement meaningfully predicts sustainable purchasing behaviour and preference.