Title: Examining consumers' response to plastic bag free shopping in an emerging market: a stimulus-organism-behaviour perspective

Authors: Asphat Muposhi

Addresses: Marketing Division, School of Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract: This study examines South African grocery shoppers' response to the practice of plastic bag free shopping using the stimulus-organism-behaviour model. A structured questionnaire was used to collect cross sectional data from 529 grocery shoppers. Structural equation modelling was used to conduct path analysis. Media influence and green advertising were found to be less effective in providing the stimuli necessary to encourage shoppers to embrace the concept of plastic bag free shopping. The results also showed that the promising strategy to promote plastic bag free shopping is through social norms when they are internalised as personal norms or assimilated in the form of green self-identity. The findings of this study underscore the importance of developing credible and informative green advertising messages to de-activate entrenched habits of using single-use plastic shopping bags. This study accentuates the importance of promoting normative self-regulated behaviour as a sustainable strategy for managing plastic shopping bag litter.

Keywords: plastic bag free shopping; stimulus-organism-response model; plastic bag free retail outlets; South Africa.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2025.149521

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2025 Vol.38 No.3, pp.259 - 281

Received: 11 Apr 2023
Accepted: 31 Oct 2023
Published online: 05 Nov 2025 *

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