Consumer behaviour in Papua New Guinea : its social and ecological implications

Abstract

The study presented here is an investigation of consumer behaviour in Papua New Guinea where the majority of people have only relatively recently become involved with a monetary economy and been exposed to a wide range of consumer products. In order to obtain a broad picture of presentday consumer behaviour, fieldwork was conducted with small samples of Papua New Guinean households in a rural village in Chimbu Province, in a self-help settlement in Lae, in a low cost government housing estate in Lae and in high cost housing in Lae; in addition, a sample of expatriate households in high cost housing in Lae was included. Members of each of these households participated in one or more surveys of expenditure and consumption and in interviews designed to investigate their future goals and expectations with respect to material wealth. As anticipated, expenditure increased from the poorest to the richest; from the village to the expatriate households. The tendency was generally towards greater consumption of imported goods, particularly imported food; higher energy consumption, particularly the increased use of fuel for transport; and a greater emphasis on 'luxury' items such as appliances. Notable was the extent to which money and the goods which it can buy have become a part of the daily lives and the goals, aspirations and expectations for the future not only of the richer and more educated householders, but even of the rural villagers. The findings of the fieldwork are consistent with and support the conceptual framework for the study, which stresses both environmental and biopsychic determinants of consumer behaviour. Important environmental influences in Papua New Guinea include the media, the education system and the expatriate and national elites who play a prominent role in business and decision-making. Important biopsychic influences include the behavioural tendencies to seek status and approval and to seek novel situations. The expression of these tendencies now depends in many cases on consumer commodities. These pressures result in a growing demand for money and consumer goods of all kinds, and generally in an increased dependence on the products and processes of the industrialized world. The observed patterns of consumer behaviour have numerous implications both for the policies of the Papua New Guinean Government and for the health and well-being of individual Papua New Guineans. These consequences are considered in some detail in this thesis. One of the most striking of these is the reliance of Papua New Guinean consumers on imported commodities, despite the Government's long-expressed concern to minimize such dependency. The second obvious general consequence of new consumption patterns is change in individual and societal health. Most important in this, are new dietary habits and the increase in tensions and anxiety which accompany rapid social change and new goals and aspirations. The thesis includes a discussion of consumer behaviour in Papua New Guinea from a wider ecological perspective. Rising consumer aspirations are to varying degrees a feature of most contemporary societies. They contribute to a number of the formidable social and environmental problems confronting both the developed and developing world. The study indicates that the commonly held belief that increasing individual income and access to goods and services will necessarily lead to a real improvement in the quality of life is not justified. Show more