Environmentally Responsible Behavior among Consumers in Tanzania: A Descriptive Analysis of ECOSCALE Dimensions

Abstract

This study examined how Tanzania consumers are environmentally responsible as an intervention to ensure sustainable environmental protection. This is an area which contain anecdotal findings in Tanzania despite growing world-wide debate on its importance in the current era. Despite many efforts of the government to protect the environment, environmental associated challenges are still highly prevalent in different parts of the country, requiring some serious interventions. Data for this study were gathered using self administered questionnaire from 300 respondents who were selected through convenience and purposive sampling in Dar es Salaam City. The environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) of consumers was measured in a form of Mean Score Value (MSV) by using the ECOSCALE. Descriptive Statistics analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics software was used to obtain the MSV. The MSV revealed that consumers in Tanzania have a medium-high ERB. The T-Test and ANOVA revealed insignificant mean differences of ERB between gender, age, education level and occupation. Due to the attained ERB scores, this study recommends strategies to impart environmentally responsible behavior among consumers. This can be through inculcating environmental responsible behavior among consumers by having environmental related courses at different levels of the study. Keywords: Environmentally Responsible Behavior, Pollution, ECOSCALE, Consumer, Environmental Protection