Title: Life cycle assessment awareness: impact on the behaviour of Lebanese consumers and decision-making

Authors: Lindos Daou; Desiree El Azzi

Addresses: USEK Business School, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon ' Department of Agriculture and Food Engineering, School of Engineering, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon

Abstract: With the rising environmental awareness, consumers worldwide are questioning the impact of products they use on the environment. The Lebanese consumers are still lacking awareness in this regard. Therefore, the introduction of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess water and energy usage in the manufacturing of Lebanese food products was proposed. Concentrated yogurt known as 'labneh' was chosen as a prototype product to understand the Lebanese consumers' behaviour including their awareness, perception and decision making. A discussion of the applications and limitations of LCA in the production of concentrated yogurt as well as its validity as a tool for environmental management and for decision making was done. The study conducted on a sample of 458 respondents concluded that a high LCA awareness gap exists among 'labneh' consumers and the perception of labneh manufacturing factories as eco-friendly, does not influence the decision making of Lebanese labneh consumers. The results provide consumers with a deeper understanding of their food safety and help manufacturers develop better strategies regarding sustainable practices.

Keywords: concentrated yogurt; Lebanese consumers; decision making; life cycle assessment; LCA; eco-labelling; awareness; perception; Lebanon.

DOI: 10.1504/EMJM.2021.117796

EuroMed Journal of Management, 2021 Vol.4 No.1, pp.19 - 33

Received: 16 Nov 2020
Accepted: 15 Mar 2021
Published online: 24 Sep 2021 *

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