| dc.description.abstract | Environmental conservation is a key activity that any organization would put into consideration for sustainable development of the organization, its customers, suppliers, stakeholders and the public. Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company (KIWASCO) formed in the year 2003 to mitigate against water scarcity. The water coverage in Kisumu is below 50% and sewerage 8%. Therefore, access to safe and affordable water and dignified sanitation are the main challenges facing the residents of Kisumu. Due to low sewerage coverage, most low-income residents use self-constructed pit latrines for sanitation. As is the case for many cities in the developing world, sewerage networks are limited in Kisumu, serving only 20% of households. Green marketing practices such as green product, sustainable distribution and green pricing have an upper hand in improving quality of product delivered and contribute to achievement of organizational environmental performance. Previous studies have explored various aspects of green marketing practices such as green purchasing, green supply chain management, green process and green supplies. None of these studies established the link between green marketing practices and environmental performance particularly in the context of water utilities. Consequently, the effect of green marketing practices on environmental performance of KIWASCO Company is not known. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of green marketing practices on environmental performance. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of green product, sustainable distribution and green pricing on environmental performance. The study is guided by stakeholder’s theory in correlation study design. The study population constituted 181 employees of KIWASCO, out, of which a sample of 168 respondents constituted mostly was the technical team at various plants, drawn using a proportionate stratified sampling technique. Pilot results showed reliability test of a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient between 0.701 and 0.777. Validity of the study was determined through expert review. The findings revealed that green marketing practices collectively accounted for 55.6% (R2 =0.556, p=0.000) variation in environmental performance at KIWASCO. It was further revealed that dimensions of sustainable green product (B = 0.466, p= 0.001) and sustainable distribution (B =0.343, p = 0.000) both had significant positive influence on environmental performance at KIWASCO. The study concludes that both sustainable green product and sustainable distribution practices are all critical antecedents of environmental performance. Therefore, the study recommends to the management of KIWASCO to intensify the implementation of practices such as sustainable green production and sustainable distribution as they are positively associated with environmental performance. The results of the study will be useful for the managers in public water utilitie as it give insight on how to re-design their green marketing practices in order to contribute better organization performance. Additionally, the study provided new knowledge on the areas of green marketing practices and their likely effects on environmental performance. | en_US |
