Imperial College London Imperial College Business School Exploring self-based consumer behaviour approaches to understanding demand reduction for rhino horn and ivory Vian Sharif A thesis submitted to Imperial College London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 ABSTRACT Within our lifetimes, iconic species that walked the earth for some 50 million years - elephant and rhino, for example - could vanish. Why? In making sense of the mystery that finds buyers paying inflated prices of some $97,000 per kilo for some wildlife commodities that are without obvious utility, governments, NGOs and law enforcement agencies recognise that demand for illegal wildlife products must be better understood if the trade is to end. An influential premise cited by Belk (1988) and developed in the consumer marketing literature is that “we cannot hope to understand consumer behaviour without first gaining some understanding of the meanings that consumers attach to possessions. That we are what we have is perhaps the most basic and powerful fact of consumer behaviour.” (1988, p.139). Despite this foundational principle, research informed by this concept has not been widely applied to understanding consumer decision-making for illegal wildlife products. To address this, the present research is one of the first to test dimensions conferred upon two illegal wildlife products using theory based on this evidence with the aim of understanding the drivers behind consumers’ buying decisions. In three studies, I demonstrate that it is possible to fill a gap in the literature by applying self-based customer brand frameworks to explore consumer relationships to high profile illegal wildlife products. Findings show that while attributes conferred by consumers on rhino horn and ivory may be aligned to positive self-actualisation through the bestowing of status and affluence, inconsistencies in brand image and with moral values discourage self-relevance. The effect of the latter implies that purchase behaviour would be negatively impacted. The research highlights the role of self-relevance and awareness campaigns in driving consumer intentions to adopt new behaviours and reverse environmentally deleterious consumption decisions, whilst providing insights for both research and practice. 2 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is my own composition. Unless otherwise referenced and specified, the material presented herein is my own original work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Unless otherwise indicated, its contents are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC). Under this licence, you may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. You may also create and distribute modified versions of the work. This is on the condition that: you credit the author and do not use it, or any derivative works, for a commercial purpose. When reusing or sharing this work, ensure you make the licence terms clear to others by naming the licence and linking to the licence text. Where a work has been adapted, you should indicate that the work has been changed and describe those changes. Please seek permission from the copyright holder for uses of this work that are not included in this licence or permitted under UK Copyright Law. 3 DEDICATION To my mother, father, Tom and Wendy 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to offer my deepest thanks to the individuals and organisations who have made this PhD possible. Without them this research simply would not have happened. Their support has come in myriad forms. As a grateful recipient, I have been truly blessed. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland and Professor Andreas Eisingerich. These two extraordinary individuals have contributed so much to my life and work over these last years with such consideration, kindness and vision. My thanks go to Professor Milner-Gulland, for exceptional qualities too great to number. Her knowledge, pragmatism, energy, foresight, vision, support, and capacity for seeing both the detail and the bigger picture are just some of these qualities. She is a true visionary. Professor Milner-Gulland made it possible for me to obtain a role as part of the Defra-WWF-UK project team and an accompanying grant from Defra to use towards my PhD field work for which I am truly grateful. I also cannot find enough words to describe or thank Professor Andreas Eisingerich. Some that come to mind include gratitude for his unending patience, kindness, curiosity, optimism and encouragement that this accomplishment was even possible. At times when I was ready to stop, he believed in something I couldn’t imagine. Without him I would simply not have completed this undertaking. The difference that these two individuals have made to this aspect of my life cannot be understated. As important here to acknowledge is the role of Catherine Lester, without whom completing this work would simply not have been possible. I greatly appreciate the support received through the collaborative work undertaken with the Defra/WWF-UK team, Heather Sohl (WWF-UK), Gayle Burgess and Sabri Zain 5 (Traffic International) and my colleagues at Imperial Collage Harriet Ibbett and Alegria Olmedo Castro. I am especially grateful to Harriet Ibbett for her patience and application in being part of this team; her excellent work following data collection has made an invaluable contribution towards my PhD. Thank you to Alegria Olmedo Castro who believed in the work and allowed it to come to life. This work would not have been possible without the corporation and support extended by the communities with whom I worked in Vietnam and the openness of the conservation organisations involved. To them I owe a huge vote of thanks. Thank you to Hendrik du Toit and Jeremy Gardiner, who were my trusted leaders and colleagues during this time, for believing in my research and making it impossible to give up. Their love of Africa and nature began and catalysed my own journey, through their asking questions about what could be done to preserve our natural heritage, and simply delighting in the magnificence of the natural world. Thank you also to Duncan Coombe, who guided me through the application process and made me believe a PhD was possible, and Kim McFarland who offered a message of resilience that I will always remember. Thank you to John Bernstein of Generation, an extraordinary individual whose belief and willingness to challenge the status quo has inspired me since we met. To the nature and people of Africa, and the indigenous tribes of the Kogi and Arhuaca for their inspiration – I am truly in your debt and offer this as a contribution to you and your work on behalf of us, your ‘little brothers’, that we may become elders. Pete Morkel, Pablo and Amado, Emmanuel de Merode – thank you for being inspirational. 6 My thanks also go to Dr Aniket Shah, who motivated this project in the first place. I have had the pleasure of watching his work go from strength to strength, earning his own doctorate in the process and dedicating himself to academia. I am indebted to my wonderful friends and family in so many ways. First I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to my incredible mother and father not only for their unending support, kindness and generosity, but also for being my biggest inspiration each day in life. I would like to offer my special thanks to my friend and guide Wendy Mandy whose support, love and kindness has literally been life-changing. This path is dedicated to what she helped me remember. Thank you to my beloved partner Tom who has been my partner, advisor, and inspiration. Your resilience, advice and love have helped, supported and grounded me through this time. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction 13 1.1 Motivation & research questions 13 1.2 Summary of thesis and main findings 19 1.3 Summary of contribution 23 2 Literature Review 26 2.1 Introduction 26 2.1.1 Transdisciplinary approaches 28 2.1.2 Background: Rhino horn & ivory – a summary of usage 31 2.2 Who are the buyers: Consumer relationships to purchase decisions 37 2.3 Products, purpose, brands, and symbolism 53 2.3 Geographical and economic context 73 2.4 Illegality in context 76 2.5 Summary 83 3 Study 1 86 3.1 Design & procedure 86 3.2 Results 93 3.3 Discussion 104 4 Study 2 114 4.1 Design & procedure 114 8 4.2 Results 123 4.3 Discussion 133 5 Study 3 142 5.1 Design & procedure 142 5.2 Results 153 5.3 Discussion 187 6 General Discussion 195 6.1 Contributions to theory 195 6.2 Managerial implications 200 6.3 Limitation and future research 205 REFERENCES 210 APPENDIX A: STUDY 1 252 APPENDIX B: STUDY 2 271 9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Categories and subcategories using a deductive approach to a quantitative content analysis on the meaning of wildlife products to consumers 99 Table 2 Categories and subcategories analysed using a deductive approach to quantitative content analysis using Vigneron and Johnson’s (2004) framework of luxury dimensions applied to rhino horn, ivory, tiger and pangolin products 102 Table 3 Themes and subthemes using an inductive approach to quantitative content analysis on whether attitudes and perceptions of consumers regarding material, social, and cultural attributes of items are aligned to positive self-actualisation 103 Table 4 Alternative frameworks for brand dimension enquiry 111 Table 5 Percentage of survey respondents’ selections of most desirable and second most desirable items in Study 2 (n= 327) 124 Table 6 Results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis conducted for rhino horn (n=36) and ivory (n=291) products.