Sustainability, green IT awareness and online shopping: An Australian perspective

Abstract

The Internet has significantly influenced society in many ways, shapes and forms. There is no doubt that one of the most important inventions of the 20th century is the Internet and the World Wide Web. Humans have advanced far more rapidly than their ancestors at an exponential rate and generated numerous new information and opportunities than their predecessors. Online shopping can be perceived as a product of this technological change and a crucial component of the Industry Revolution 4.0. However, due to the difference in social contexts and social fabrics, people from different countries are not necessarily behaving the same way when it comes to spending their hard-earned money via a hyperconnected network. This research is particularly concerned with how Australian people perceive online shopping in terms of their behaviours, and provides business operators, decision makers, marketers, consumers and policy-makers with important insights. Given the ever-increasing global concerns about sustainable development and the conservation of natural resources, this paper also attempts to determine whether online shopping might contribute to sustainability either positively or negatively. The chosen research approach involves mixed methods which has a heavy focus on quantitative data collection via web-based and paper-based survey and a component of qualitative research. The findings suggest many Australian shoppers believe that online shopping, if operated properly, might contribute to reducing the carbon footprint as well as air pollution and global warming. It is acknowledged that the survey research design might cause this research to be subject to cognitive bias while the sample frame narrows the representation to largely Western Australia so future research is encouraged to review it from this standpoint. A set of recommendations is also developed based on the findings and the characteristics of different groups of special interest.