Green Marketing Adoption and performance of Kenya Tea Firms

Abstract

The study sought to explore the influence of adoption of green marketing on performance of the Kenya tea firms with performance measures being environmental performance, competitiveness, operational performance, and net income generated over a period of five years. The study was guided by specific objectives which included establishing the extent of adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; evaluating the relative influence of drivers for adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; and assessing the influence of green marketing on performance of the Kenya tea firms. Consequently, four hypotheses were tested: regulations positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; customer pressure positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; expected business benefits positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; corporate social responsibility positively influences adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; and adoption of green marketing is positively related to performance of the Kenya tea firms. A descriptive survey was undertaken, the population of study being all tea factories in Kenya operating under East Africa Tea Traders Association, whose number stood at 73 as at June 30th 2010. A sample of 63 tea factories was selected to' participate in the study and primary data was collected with the aid of a self-administered questionnaire, targeting environmental management representatives of the selected factories. Data analysis was undertaken using Statistical Package for Social Sciences package version 19.0. Factor analysis was undertaken to explore the underlying variance structure of a set of correlation coefficients. Confirmatory Factor Analyses was used to determine the ability of the adopted conceptual model in fitting the observed set of data. In order to determine the relationship between the adoption of green marketing practices and performance of the Kenya tea firms, correlation and regression analyses were undertaken. Hypothesis testing, the process of using statistics to determine the probability that a specific hypothesis is true was undertaken. The findings are presented with the aid of bar charts, frequency tables, percentages, standard deviations and mean scores. The information was presented and discussed as per the objectives. The findings show that all the five hypotheses of the study were supported: HI: regulations positively int1uence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms ; H2: customer pressure positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; H3: expected business benefits positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; H4: corporate social responsibility positively influence adoption of green marketing by the Kenya tea firms; and H5: adoption of green marketing is positively related to performance of the Kenya tea firms. It is hopes that findings of the study will contribute several practical tools for the tea sector in order to ensure environmental sustainability.