Consumer's Willingness to Purchase Green Home Appliances in UAE

Abstract

Subsequent to UAE's high ranking among countries with high energy consumption per capita, carbon foot print and ecologically wasteful countries, series of green initiatives and campaigns were introduced by various stakeholders to uplift the country's green image. With the country's energy consumption per capita being very high above the global average, many awareness and educational programs were rolled out to rationalize consumption and bring down the per capita consumption levels among the people. Replacing conventional models of home appliances with appliances having energy saving features or green home appliances (GHA) is a definite way to bring down the consumption per capita and save energy. This study explores the consumers awareness, preference and willingness to pay for green hone appliances in the UAE. While there are many studies done on consumer willingness to adopt green products world wide, green home appliances  and their role in saving power consumption has not been studied. This study aims to fill this research gap. Data was collected in Dubai from 210 respondents. Stratified convenience sampling was used to represent the multicultural population of Dubai in the sample. Primary data was collected with a questionnaire. The findings reveal that there is fair awareness and preference for GHA among the consumers who are also prepared to pay premium for the green features. The future prospects for GHA looks bright in the country with the legislations on rating appliances based on their energy ansumption being enforced and majority of the consumers expressing interest in GHA.