Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Eyewear

Abstract

Sustainability is a complex and multi-faceted concept. It is present in several dimensions in our lives. When we discuss sustainability, we can think of the environment, economies, risks, consumption, energy, innovation, well-being, mitigation, population, and transformation; it is relevant to many aspects, even though its complexity transforms how governments, businesses, and people are shaping the world.

The level of awareness has increasingly risen over the past decades, bringing with it a revolution of consumer behavior, trends, regulations, and innovation in processes, products, and industries. As a result, companies have started to shape strategies and invest in technologies that align with the core values of sustainable development.

This study aims to analyze and understand the relationship between willingness to pay for a product with sustainable attributes in the eyewear industry. This study aims to analyze and understand the relationship between willingness to pay for a product with sustainable attributes in the eyewear industry. To analyze the consumer's "WTP" we examine the personality traits relevant to purchase and decision-making, following the Theory of the "Big Five Personality Traits": Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience.

I conducted a questionnaire and distributed it in Italy, with a sample of 300 people, using “Google Forms”, which is an online survey development cloud-based software platform that allows individuals and organizations to create, distribute, and analyze surveys and questionnaires. It is widely used for conducting various types of surveys, including market research, customer feedback, employee engagement, academic research, and more. The hypothesis has been tested through a quantitative research model, and to analyze the relationships I use the SEM-PLS technique. The results show how "Extraversion" and "Neuroticism" are positively related to the WTP of sustainable eyewear.