Research on the influencing factors of consumers’ green purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era

The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world has caused consumers to think about environmental issues. Although green products are very important to environmental sustainability, the factors that influence consumers' purchase behavior of green products is unclear. This study aims to explore the impact mechanism of social media marketing on consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study constructs an extended TPB model to understand the influencing factors of Chinese consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. The empirical results of 489 questionnaires show that social media marketing, product knowledge and crisis awareness have a direct or indirect positive influence on purchase intentions. Perceived behavioral control and intentions have positive effects on behavior. The attribution of responsibility facilitates the relationship between intentions and behaviors. The results have important implications for enterprises’ sustainability strategies and provide a framework for investigating green buying behaviors in Chinese culture in the post-pandemic era.     

Examining the role of receptivity to green communication,altruism and openness to change on young consumers’ intention to purchase green apparel: A multi-analytical approach

The current study aims to examine the impact of receptivity to green communication, altruism and openness to change on young consumers' purchase intention towards green apparel in India. Using a two stage approach, the research model is assessed with data collected through an online survey from a sample of 549 young consumers. In the first step, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to determine the linear relationship among factors in the theoretical model. In the second step, artificial neural network (ANN) analysis is used to determine the predictive accuracy of the significant factors obtained from the SEM. The results from the SEM analysis reveal that receptivity to green communication, altruism and openness to change, along with the three predictors of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) significantly affect consumers’ purchase intention towards green apparel. Further, there is an indirect effect of altruism and openness to change on purchase intention through attitude supporting the value-attitude-behavior cognitive hierarchy (VABH). Besides, perceived behavioral control is found to mediate the impact of openness to change on intention to purchase green apparel. The root mean square of error (RMSE) values obtained from the ANN analysis suggest that the models show good predictive accuracy. The study contributes to the existing literature by confirming the applicability of the TPB and the VABH as well as suggesting a robust predictive framework by using ANN for green apparel purchase intention.     

Predicting green product consumption using theory of planned behavior and reasoned action

The extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) incorporates environmental concern, a critical variable in green marketing literature, intending to achieve triple bottom line (TBL). In this context, this study aims to validate TPB and its extended form (mediating role of TPB variables), as well as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), to predict Indian consumers’ green product purchase intention. We collected primary data from 521 respondents as input, establishing validity through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Our empirical results of structural equation modeling (SEM) show that extended TPB has higher predictability than TPB and TRA in green marketing settings. Consumer attitude and perceived behavioral control significantly predicts purchase intention whereas subjective norm does not. Our findings also suggest that TPB mediates the relationship between environmental concern and green products purchase intention. An additional construct in the new model considerably contributes to improving the understanding of green products purchase intention formation and could become a sustainable mainstream variable.     

Exploring purchase intention of green skincare products using the theory of planned behavior: Testing the moderating effects of country of origin and price sensitivity

Increased community awareness on various environmental problems has changed consumers’ behaviors and induced purchasing decisions on green products. Applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aims to explain the effects (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) on purchase intention of green skincare products; it also aims to determine if country of origin (COO) and price sensitivity moderate the links between purchase intention and its antecedences. Data collected from 300 respondents in Taiwan are tested against the research model by using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control have a significant impact on purchase intention of green skincare products, and that country of origin and price sensitivity can enhance the positive effects on the links between purchase intention and its antecedences. The findings of this study present important theoretical and practical implications for consumer green product purchase behaviors.     

Optimizing customer engagement content strategy in retail and E-tail: Available on online product review videos

The present study attempts to examine how the various emotions expressed in customer engagement content available on online product review videos reflect purchase intentions. The study identified 97 popular review videos of different technical products on YouTube, with a total of 93,181 comments posted between January 2018 and June 2021. After filtering, the final set of data consisted of 18,452 comments. The paper employed both Poisson and negative binomial regression to test the hypotheses and strengthen the findings. The study explores new insights for predicting purchase intentions of potential customers with the help of a four-factor model based on customer engagement content available on online product review videos. Thus, this research supports the applicability of MRT, CET and SOR theories in the existing literature on retailing and e-tailing by developing a four-factor model. A wide range of consumer responses, both quantitative and qualitative, have been taken into account to predict purchase intentions using sentiment analysis, which makes this study unique and robust. Additionally, the paper entails several significant managerial implications for retailing and e-tailing firms to reformulate their marketing strategies.     

Theory of planned behavior in consumer behavior research: A systematic literature review

This study aimed to systematically review and categorize studies on consumer behavior based on theory of planned behavior (TPB), its core constructs, or extensions, and to provide directions for future research agenda. Scopus and the Web of Science were consulted for studies based on TPB, its parts, or extensions. The inclusion criteria were studies published in peer-reviewed journals, in English, and within the past decade (i.e., between 2012 and 2021). Graphical methods were used to visually display research findings. For the purpose of literature clustering, MAXQDA 2020 software was employed. In total, 118 scientific, peer-reviewed sources were included in the review. Two categories, five clusters, and seven subclusters emerged from the literature set. The results revealed a significant research tendency toward exploring consumer green behavior and consumer purchase intention of food products. The least-explored research themes were focused on consumer intention toward and purchase behavior of clothing, green vehicles, and green personal care products. The review confirmed the growing prevalence of TPB in consumer behavior research aimed at exploring factors preceding behavior.     

Consumers’ Intent: In the Organic Food Market

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the determinants that influence consumers' intention to purchase organic products. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) provides the conceptual framework of the research and the appropriateness of the theory is tested. A survey of 144 consumers was used to determine the beliefs which determine consumers’ intent to purchase organic food. Furthermore, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were examined to determine whether they affect consumers’ intention to make organic products purchases. The findings offer considerable support for the robustness of the TPB in explaining intention in the sample. In addition, empirical evidence suggest that price, availability of organic products, product information and the subjective opinions of others are important determinants of consumers intent to buy organic products. The results are consistent with previous research.     

Social and personal factors influencing green customer citizenship behaviours: The role of subjective norm,internal values and attitudes

Several models have previously been proposed, suggesting factors influencing customers’ citizenship behaviours against the background of the need to care for the environment. The current research sets out to contribute to the conversation by providing an integrated understanding of the extent to which the social factor, subjective norm and the personal factors internal values and attitudes, framed by VABH, may influence green customer citizenship behaviours. A sample of 444 green customers provided insight into these phenomena. The findings indicate that internal values influence green attitudes, which motivate green customer citizenship behaviours. Subjective norm influences both green attitudes and green customer citizenship behaviours and contributed to the largest portion of the variance in green customer citizenship behaviours. Ultimately, the findings present a novel solution for promoting actual green customer citizenship behaviours, through the VABH and additionally advance understanding of the important role other customers perform in influencing green customer citizenship behaviours.     

Energy efficient household appliances in emerging markets: the influence of consumers' values and knowledge on their attitudes and purchase behaviour

This research integrates both motivational and cognitive approaches to better understand consumers' purchase behaviour of energy efficient household appliances in emerging markets. A unique values, knowledge, attitudes and behaviour model was developed, and then validated by obtaining data from Vietnamese consumers which yielded 682 usable responses. The findings confirm that consumers with stronger adherence to egoistic values are more likely to develop negative attitudes towards environmental protection, and they tend to formulate positive attitudes towards individual inconvenience associated with the purchase of energy efficient appliances. In contrast, biospheric and altruistic values facilitate consumers' purchase behaviour by enhancing their attitudes towards environmental protection, and by also reducing their attitudes in relation to individual inconvenience. Interestingly, consumers with high knowledge about energy efficient appliances tend to believe that the purchase of such products is important for environmental protection, and they are likely to negate the perception of inconvenience associated with the purchase. Attitudes were found to be significant determinants of both purchase intention and behaviour. The implications for policymakers, marketers and other stakeholders are discussed and future research directions presented.     

Positive and Negative Antecedents of Purchasing Eco-friendly Products: A Comparison Between Green and Non-green Consumers

This study aims to analyze what drives and prevents the purchasing of eco-friendly products across different consumer groups and develops a conceptual model embracing the positive altruistic (care for the environmental consequences of purchasing), positive ego-centric (green self-identity and moral obligation), and negative ego-centric (perceived personal inconvenience of purchasing eco-friendly products) antecedents of eco-friendly product purchase intention and behavior. We empirically validate the conceptual model for green (n = 453) and non-green (n = 473) consumers (i.e., consumers who engage in a set of pro-environmental behaviors for environmental reasons versus consumers who do not engage in these behaviors). Data are analyzed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis of the two groups. The results confirm the relevance of the determining factors in the model and show significant differences in eco-friendly product purchasing patterns between green and non-green consumers. Altruistic motives are more important for green than for non-green consumers. Negative ego-centric motives affect the purchase intentions of non-green consumers more than the intentions of green consumers, whereas the impact of negative motives on behavior is stronger for green than for non-green consumers. The first contribution of this paper is the development and testing of a parsimonious model of eco-friendly products purchasing that embraces both positive (altruistic and ego-centric) and negative (ego-centric) antecedents, which have been theoretically suggested in the past but have rarely been empirically tested together. The second contribution of this study is that it develops insight into the specific antecedents of eco-friendly products purchasing for green and non-green consumers to assess potential similarities and differences in eco-friendly products purchasing process, the hypothesized antecedents, their impact on eco-friendly products purchase intention and behavior, and the intention–behavior relation.     

The Eureka moment in understanding luxury brand purchases! A non-linear fsQCA-ANN approach

Although substantial research has been conducted to understand the luxury brand consumption at a global level, especially in the Western market, far less attention has been dedicated to the identification of factors driving such purchases in the Asia-Pacific region. This gap is addressed in the present study, which draws upon the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) and complexity theory (CT) to identify the non-linear causal pathways pertaining to Chinese consumers’ luxury brand purchase intention. An online survey was conducted with a sample of Chinese consumers to gather data related to their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, self-congruity, power distance beliefs, and gender. An asymmetrical-based approach was adopted by combining fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with artificial neural network (ANN) analysis. The fsQCA results showed that there are seven solutions (i.e., various combinations of causal antecedents) that can facilitate the formation of luxury brand purchase intention, four of which are gender-specific. After completing the fsQCA, the ANN analysis was conducted to rank the causal conditions in terms of their importance, indicating that attitude and subjective norms are the most relevant antecedents. The present study contributes to the existing luxury branding literature by reevaluating and extending the well-established TPB with new variables and new research lens (i.e., asymmetric thinking). More specifically, this study represents the pioneering effort to apply set theoretic approach in understanding luxury goods consumption, thereby yielding more insightful results that reflect the complexity of reality, and thus advance the findings yielded by past studies that relied on variance-based methods.     

Understanding consumption behaviours for fair trade non‐food products: focusing on self‐transcendence and openness to change values

Using the Schwartz value system, this study explored the personal values of consumers related to fair trade product consumption. This study further investigated how the values determine beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions associated with fair trade non‐food products. Data were collected using an online survey from a random sample of 1824 nationwide consumers. The results of this study revealed that fair trade purchasers show a higher level of self‐transcendence (universalism, benevolence) and openness to change values (self‐direction, stimulation) than non‐purchasers. These values also have positive effects on the formation of beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions pertaining to fair trade non‐food products. Fair trade purchasers were also found to possess distinctive socio‐demographic characteristics concerning age, education and income. Findings can offer marketers specific information regarding consumers' motivations to purchase fair trade goods, which can improve targeting of products and ultimately increase the business and benefits of fair trade.     

Maximizing Profits for a Multi-Category Catalog Retailer

It is a common trend in the retail industry for catalog retailers to mail multiple catalogs, each promoting different product categories. The existing catalog mailing models do not address the issue of optimizing multi-category catalog mailing. We address this research gap by introducing a model that integrates the when and what components of a customer's purchase decision into the how much component (number of catalogs) of a firm's cross-selling strategy. In addition to comparing the impact of category-specific versus full product catalogs in generating sales in a specific category, the study also finds relative impacts of various category-specific catalogs. We jointly estimate the probability of purchase and purchase amounts in multiple product categories by using multivariate proportional hazard model (MVPHM) and a regression based purchase amount model in a Hierarchical Bayesian framework. The model accounts for unobserved heterogeneity, and uses a control function (CF) approach to account for endogeneity in catalog mailing. The results from the Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimization suggest that the catalog mailing policy as per the proposed model would be able to generate 38.4 percent more customer lifetime value (CLV) from a sample of 10 percent of the households as compared to the current catalog mailing policy of the retailer by reallocation of the catalogs across customers and mailing periods based on their propensity to buy.     

Store format choice in an evolving market: role of affect,cognition and involvement

Store choice has been studied extensively in the literature, but store format choice has had limited research attention. The store format choice for bulk grocery purchase being a rational context is well conceptualized in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. Attitude behaviour linkages are well explored but there is rare consensus on the components of attitude, their interrelationship and resultant impact on conation. The Theory of Reasoned Action has evolved over time to incorporate perceived behavioral control and past behavior to improve its explanatory capability as TPB; however, it has maintained its unidimensionalist approach and has not tested affect and cognition independently for its impact on behavior. This paper explores a Converging framework of the Affect and Cognition components of attitude and tests their independent impact on store format choice behaviour. The results indicate that Affect operates independently and has stronger impact on format choice especially in more evolved and familiarized contexts whereas cognitive evaluation is strong in relatively newer formats. There seems to be an interplay between Cognition and Affect over time with cognition transitioning into affect as familiarity with choices increases.     

How social distance affects the intention and behavior of collaborative consumption: A study based on online car-hailing service

In recent years, advances in mobile communications technology have enabled collaborative consumption or product sharing between consumers on a large scale. Unlike traditional consumption, collaborative consumption is based on collaboration among individuals, so that the decision-making mechanisms of individual consumers may be different from those in traditional consumption scenarios. The current study focuses on how the social distance between consumers and drivers affects collaborative consumption intention in the case of online car-hailing services. In this study, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) is used as the foundational framework, and we innovatively add the concept of social distance to the TPB to form a new, and integrated model. We test the model based on data collected from 315 online car-hailing users. The results shows that behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, positively influence collaborative consumption intention and behavior. More interestingly, we find that social distance has both direct and indirect impacts on collaborative consumption intention: The greater the social distance, the lower the collaborative consumption intention. Moreover, social distance also moderates the influence of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on collaborative consumption intention. To be specific, the influence of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on collaborative consumption intention is weakened when consumers perceive less social distance. The results suggest that the integrated model has a stronger explanatory power on collaborative consumption behavior. This study enhances the traditional TPB model and offers insight into promoting collaborative consumption in the context of the sharing economy.     

“I got it FIRST”: Antecedents of competitive consumption of a new product

When a new product of a well-known brand is released, consumers wait in line as early as possible to increase their chances of purchasing the product. This research investigated the two-stage competitive arousal model of a new product purchase competition. Results of a structural equation modeling with a multi-group analysis approach showed that competitive arousal was a central psychological state stimulated by product uniqueness, scarcity, popularity, need for uniqueness, and self-enhancement value, influencing the intention to queue in line. Practical insights in targeting the right consumers and promoting a new product to draw optimal attention from consumers were further discussed.     

Impact of trust and knowledge in the food chain on motivation-behavior gap in green consumption

The motivations and barriers of the actual green purchase behavior are as real as the product itself, which makes it a systematic process to examine the inconsistency between consumers' motivations and their actual behavior (motivation-behavior gap). The study aimed to clarify the direct and indirect effects of motivations on the purchase behavior of green food. The proposed conceptual model was adopted from the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework and was extended by adding the serial mediation of consumer perceived knowledge and trust as major constructs. Data were collected from 1788 consumers in China. Results provided support for the model and showed that perceived knowledge about the food supply chain could be both barrier and a positive factor of consumers’ purchase behavior, which mainly depends on the trade-off between certification and planting knowledge. Differences in trust exist and consumers hold authorities and certification bodies more accountable than farmers and retailers. For the direct effects, food safety concern is positively associated with behavior, whereas environmental concern is not. Policymakers shall use the results to narrow the motivation-behavior gap, especially for emerging economies.     

Does green morality lead to collaborative consumption behavior toward online collaborative redistribution platforms? Evidence from emerging markets shows the asymmetric roles of pro-environmental self-identity and green personal norms

The collaborative consumption toward online collaborative redistribution platforms can potentially ease sustainability problems. Although it has attracted the attention from academics and practitioners, research on its determinants and influencing mechanism is limited. This study develops an integrated theoretical framework to explore the impact of green morality and platform quality as potentially essential yet previously unexamined antecedents of collaborative consumption behavior toward online collaborative redistribution platforms. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a crucial emerging market, and consumer responses were assessed using a structural equation model. The results reveal that the green morality motive (i.e., pro-environment self-identity and green personal norms) and platform quality are determinants of collaborative consumption behavior. Second, platform quality moderate the relationship between green personal norms and attitude. Accordingly, the asymmetric roles of pro-environmental self-identity and green personal norms as green morality components are revealed. Third, attitude and intention play mediating roles in the relationship between collaborative consumption actions and antecedents. Finally, implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Identifying the critical factors of customer behavior: An integration perspective of marketing strategy and components of attitudes

The purpose of this empirical study is to operationalize the relationship of green marketing's influence on consumer attitudes via the mediating role of marketing mix towards green products to validate the proposed research model in the Taiwanese context of explaining consumers' willingness to be environmentally friendly. The model is based on structural equation modeling (SEM) from data collected from 977 online consumers. The findings revealed that green consumption intention was significantly and indirectly driven by attitude to green products. Additionally, the effect of perceived quality on marketing mix and consumer willingness in environmental concern is both significant and positive. However, when a restaurant has high consumer social responsibility (CnSR) for marketing mix, the consumer attitudes of cognitive, affective, and behavioral model (C-A-B model) is less effective. These findings have contributed to the revival of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and offer a comprehensive understanding of consumer attitude, consumer social responsibility, marketing mix and perceived quality impact that a restaurant has on the ability to raise consumer willingness to purchase green products or food. We provides valuable suggestions to marketers to design from the perspective of green marketing policies and strategies in order to accommodate Taiwan's indigenous green restaurants.