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.     

Consumer confidence and green purchase intention: An application of the stimulus-organism-response model

Environmental commentators have speculated, but not empirically validated, that consumers’ positive (negative) evaluation of the economy will lead to more (less) green consumption. The purposes of this study were to (1) ascertain whether consumer confidence affects green consumption and (2) uncover the psychological mechanisms of this relationship, in a non-recession context. Drawing upon the stimulus-organism-response model, we developed a conceptual model, which we tested via mediation analysis, using data from a sample of Chinese consumers (n = 1,184). Results show that there is a positive relationship between consumer confidence and green purchase intention. Environmental and status consciousness partially mediates the positive relationship between consumer confidence and green purchase intention. We contribute to the literature on antecedents of green consumption by being the first to empirically establish the salience of consumer confidence in this domain. Investigating green purchase intention, which differs depending on consumer confidence level, has the potential to assist retailers in developing better marketing tactics. Our study also benefits economists and environmentalists by helping them better understand how consumer confidence fluctuations play critical roles in addressing economic growth-driven major environmental challenges.     

In green consumption,why consumers do not walk their talk: A cross cultural examination from Saudi Arabia and UK

Green consumption is evolving and has received much attention from retailers and academic. Previous studies reveal a gap among green purchase intention and green purchase actual behaviour under different cultural contexts. This intention-behaviour gap is unresearched in the green consumption context. Therefore, our examination seeks to plug this gap by exploring the mediating role of implementation intention and the moderating role of action self-efficacy, environmental knowledge, coping self-efficacy, and green value on the link among intention and behaviour in two different cultural contexts. Data were gathered from two different countries (i.e., Saudi Arabia and UK) consumers who are familiar with green consumption. We analysed our data using structural equation modelling to test the suggested model. The findings revealed that implementation intentions fully mediate the relationships between purchase intentions and purchase behaviour. They also indicated that action self-efficacy, environmental knowledge, coping self-efficacy, and green value moderate the association between intention and actual behaviour. Moreover, results indicated that the influence of green purchase intentions and implementations intentions on green purchase behaviour was stronger in the UK sample than in Saudi Arabia sample. This paper provides managers and retailers with meaningful implications that show how to convert green purchase intentions into green purchase behaviour within different cultural contexts.     

Relax Your Fear—The role of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) in green advertising

As a novel approach in green advertising, the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), which induces relaxation and pleasure, is expected to relieve the excessive negativity caused by a negative environmental message. Drawing from the fear-relief theory, mating attraction strategy, and rational choice theory, this experimental study investigated the effectiveness of embedding ASMR within a negative green ad in controlling viewers' fear. It also explored the effects of ASMR on buying intention between two different perceived-difficulty eco-friendly products. The study involved 240 young adults. The findings reveal that, compared to non-ASMR exposures, interplaying negative appeal with ASMR could significantly decrease young adults' fear. Young male adults experienced lower fear than females when seeing a female ASMR-tist. In contrast, male and female adults' fears were relatively equal when seeing male ASMR-tist in a negative green message. Yet, no direct and indirect effects of lower fear on green buying intention mediated by attitude toward the ad were observed. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical contributions.     

How anticipated pride and guilt influence green consumption in the Middle East: The moderating role of environmental consciousness

This research empirically tests the combined effect of anticipated pride, anticipated guilt, and environmental consciousness in parallel to the Theory of Planned Behavior's main components on green purchase intention. For the first time, it also explores the interaction of environmental consciousness, anticipated pride, anticipated guilt, and attitude, respectively, on green purchase intention. Analysis of 304 responses collected from consumers in the United Arab Emirates revealed that environmental consciousness, attitude towards green products, anticipated pride, and anticipated guilt positively influence the intention to purchase green products, but not perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. Interestingly, anticipated pride increases green purchase intention under low level of environmental consciousness, while anticipated guilt decreases purchase intention. In contrast, anticipated guilt positively influences green purchase intention under high environmental consciousness, while anticipated pride does not. This study extends current knowledge related to green purchase behavior and provides a nuanced understanding of the influence of anticipated emotions. It also provides practical implications for marketers in the Middle East to formulate effective strategies to stimulate green products consumption.     

Do they shop to stand out or fit in? The luxury fashion purchase intentions of young adults

A three‐study examination of young adults suggests that their motivation for status in terms of their luxury fashion purchase intentions is impacted by a bandwagon effect. In Study 1, qualitative research informs what fashion items represent status to young adults, how they view these items, and how they view others owning these items. In Study 2, survey research establishes the link between the motivation for status (status consumption) and purchase intention/ownership of these fashion items. In Study 3, a national survey of young adults examines what mediates and moderates the motivation for status to lead to luxury fashion purchase intentions. Results from the three studies indicate that status consumption has a positive impact on purchase intention of luxury fashion. This research also finds that cultural variables have an impact (mediate) the relationship between status consumption and purchase intention. Specifically, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity mediate the relationship between status consumption and purchase intention. Finally, the moderating impact of the bandwagon effect has a significant effect on the relationship between status consumption and fashion purchase intention for the cultural variables of uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and power distance. Implications for marketers are provided based on the findings.     

Purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products: A conceptual framework and empirical study

Although there are some instances of prior research on the relationship between attitude and purchase intention for environmentally sustainable products, literature is scant about mediating role of attitude on the relationship between environmental knowledge and purchase intention for environmentally sustainable products. Following the theory of planned behaviour, this study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which provides several insights. First, the attitude towards environmentally sustainable products mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and purchase intention. Next, this mediated relationship is moderated by the environmental knowledge. Third, the subjective norm is not significantly related to the purchase intention - contrary to established findings - in a collectivistic culture considered in this study. And last but not the least, the direction of subjective norm as a moderator on relationship between environmental knowledge and attitude is not supported. The findings of this study offer some important guidance for marketing theory, retailing practices for environmentally sustainable products and public policy.     

Exploring consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market: The role of consumers’ perceived readiness

Consumers’ awareness of green products has increased in the last few years, but studies show that the demand for green products has been stagnant. The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of consumers’ perceived readiness to be green and subsequently, how readiness to be green affects consumers’ purchase intention towards green products in an emerging market, Indonesia. A total of 916 survey responses were collected in three universities, two major shopping malls and several housing areas in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings reveal that consumers’ attitude (ATT), subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), pro‐environmental self‐identity (PEI), ethical obligation and consumers’ readiness to be green are the determinants of intention to purchase green products. Consumers’ readiness to be green mediates the effects of ATT, PBC, PEI and perceived sense of responsibility on purchase intention. The study provides further insights into the discrepancy between professed positive attitudes towards the environment and the slow uptake of green behaviour in an emerging market.     

‘I'm like you,and I like what you like’ sustainable food purchase influenced by vloggers: A moderated serial-mediation model

Internationally, researchers have shown an increased interest in customer decision-making regarding sustainable food choices that could be changed through tailored interventions. This study examines how vloggers influence customer purchase intention toward sustainable food. Based on the similarity-attraction theory, we undertook a serial mediation model in which health-related Homophily between vloggers and viewers was related to higher purchase intention of sustainable food via audience participation and parasocial interaction (P.S.I.). In addition, we tested whether these potential relationships were more substantial for young people from higher product-vlogger congruence and lower advertising recognition in the celebrity endorsement context. A statistical analysis of 382 youth questionnaire data from the steaming media platform was tested through the partial least squares structural equation model. The results show that (1) health-related homophily was related to greater audience participation and P.S.I., which, in turn, were related to higher purchase intention of sustainable food; (2) the positive indirect effects of health-related Homophily on purchase intention through audience participation and P.S.I. decrease as the advertising recognition increase, while increase as the product-vlogger congruence increase. These findings highlight the effectiveness of digital celebrity endorsement in young people's choices for sustainable food.     

Does environmentally responsible purchase intention matter for consumers? A predictive sustainable model developed through an empirical study

Rapidly increasing demand for eco-friendly products is an example of responsible purchasing intention of customers. That responsible behaviour forces businesses not only to understand their responsible purchase intention, but also helps them to sustainability in the market for the long term. In this regard, very little discussion is available in current literature, especially in the context of apparel product consumption. Therefore, to contribute to literature in this field, this work aims to build a predictive sustainable model through an empirical study to examine the relationships among different factors such as attitude, social norms, perceived behaviour control, environmental consciousness, willingness to pay (WTP) premium and consumer purchase intention for environmentally friendly apparels. The data of two hundred and thirty-two respondents were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). With the help of the findings, it can be concluded that Indian consumers are aware of green apparels, have a positive attitude to them and show a responsible purchase intention to protect the environment. This is in contrast to the old saying that Indians are price sensitive given the emergence of higher WTP premiums for green apparel products. Other factors such as subjective norms, perceived behaviour control and environmental consciousness are also positively affecting consumer purchase intention. From the study findings, retail managers can benefit through more focused strategies for environmental protection to make a reduction in apparel material while educating their consumers about green apparel.     

Unveiling ways to reach organic purchase: Green perceived value,perceived knowledge,attitude, subjective norm,and trust

This paper aims to investigate organic food consumption based on the perspectives of an extended research model by integrating the theory of consumption value (TCV) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA). First, we tried to find out how five consumption values of functional, social, emotional, conditional, and epistemic in classic TCV influence consumption choice especially in the sustainable consumption domain of organic food, interpreted as green perceived value (GPV) in the reflective-reflective second-order latent. Second, as an attempt to extend the classic TRA, this study included trust and perceived knowledge in the research model in addition to the subjective norm, attitude, and behavioral intention. A partial least square structural equation method (PLS-SEM) was adopted to examine our research model with 251 samples. Our results revealed that GPV significantly affects consumer attitudes. Consumer attitudes and subjective norms also have a significantly positive effect on purchase intention. As an extended TRA, GPV has a significantly positive effect on trust while trust significantly impacts purchase intention. Further, perceived knowledge positively influences attitude and trust. By jointly considering TCV and TRA, this study proposes several implications emphasizing how GPV and perceived knowledge affects consumers’ organic food consumption choice based on the role of increased trust.     

A hierarchical analysis of the green consciousness of the Egyptian consumer

This study investigates the influence of various cultural values and psychological factors on the green purchase behavior of Egyptian consumers. Using a large sample of 1093 consumers, a conceptual model has been developed. The survey results provide reasonable support for the validity of the proposed model. Specifically, the findings from the structural equation model confirm the influence of the consumers' natural environment orientation, ecological knowledge, and environmental concern on their attitudes towards green purchase. Consumers' attitudes toward green purchase, in turn, are also found to affect their actual green purchase behavior via the mediator role of green purchase intention. However, one of the other important findings suggests that the link between intention and actual purchase is weak. In other words, on a declarative level, more and more consumers in Egypt express their concern over the ecological situation and declare their willingness to contribute somehow to the protection of environment by buying green products. However, in reality this concern may not be manifested consistently. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

外部线索对消费者绿色品牌购买意愿影响研究：认知风格的调节作用

文章基于S-O-R模型,以自我一致性为中介变量,认知风格为调节变量,构建了外部线索对消费者绿色品牌购买意愿影响的概念模型,并利用550个消费者样本数据对相关假设进行检验。研究结果表明：外部线索对自我一致性有正向影响,创新型认知风格在其中具有正向调节作用;自我一致性对消费者绿色品牌购买意愿有正向影响,并在外部线索对消费者绿色品牌购买意愿的影响中有中介作用;创新型认知风格负向调节了理想自我一致性在外部线索和消费者绿色品牌购买意愿之间的中介作用。     

企业环保主张对消费者绿色购买意愿的影响机制研究

在广告设计中如何使用环保主张是影响广告效果和公司声誉的一项重要决策。基于此，文章引入归因理论和精细加工可能性模型对企业环保主张的效果和发生机制进行分析。结果表明：相较于关联型环保主张，消费者面对实质型环保主张时的绿色购买意愿更高；消费者环境关注调节了环保主张对绿色购买意愿的影响，即相较于关联型（实质型）环保主张，高环境关注（低环境关注）的消费者面对实质型（关联型）环保主张时绿色购买意愿更强；同时消费者的CSR内部动机感知在环保主张对消费者绿色购买意愿的影响中起中介作用。文章丰富了绿色广告理论体系，为增强企业环保主张的说服效果提供了理论依据。     

Examining the effect of flow experience on online purchase: A novel approach to the flow theory based on hedonic and utilitarian value

The literature indicate that when flow is approached as unidimensional, its effects on online purchase intention are always positively significant, however the results of the studies where the flow is approached as a multidimensional level, is far from indicating a general tendency. The inconsistent results appeared in the literature are regarded as a result of overlooking both the utilitarian and hedonic significance of research context and the hedonic and utilitarian characteristics of the flow's sub-dimensions. In this direction, the effects of flow on online purchase intention are examined upon consideration of those two factors. Research's data were gathered via e-mail survey from an online shopping website's database. A total of 490 samples obtained in this study were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results indicates that the flow's most valuable antecedent is feedback in the context of online purchase. The dimensions of “enjoyment”, “perceived control” and “merging of action and awareness” has positive and time distortion has negative significant effects on online purchase intention. However, no significant effects of the concentration and curiosity on online purchase intention were determined.     

绿色属性中心性对消费者购买意愿的影响机制研究：产品类型的调节作用与收益感知的中介效应

以往关于产品绿色属性对消费者购买意愿影响的研究尚未达成一致结论。文章通过两个情境实验系统性地探讨了不同产品类型情境下产品绿色属性对消费者购买意愿的影响机制。结果表明，对于享乐型产品，高绿色属性中心性相较于低绿色属性中心性会激发消费者更强烈的购买意愿。对于实用型产品，低绿色属性中心性相较于高绿色属性中心性会激发消费者更强烈的购买意愿。此外，在享乐品情境下，自我表达收益在高绿色属性中心性提升消费者购买意愿的过程中起中介作用；在实用品情境下，环境功利收益在低绿色属性中心性提升消费者购买意愿的过程中起中介作用。     

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.     

Understanding Green Advertising Attitude and Behavioral Intention: An Application of the Health Belief Model

ABSTRACT

Despite the high interest in green advertising and its potential to foster sustainable consumerism, academic research in this area has been somewhat limited. The current study developed a predictor model of green advertising attitude and behavioral intention using environmental issue-focused factors that included the Health Belief Model, consumption-focused factors, and demographic factors to help understand the significant influences that shape global green advertising outcome. An online survey of 385 participants showed that a number of factors in both issue-focused (e.g., response-efficacy and ecocentric/anthropocentric attitudes) and consumption-focused (e.g., green product purchase frequency and past green product attitude) categories significantly predicted green advertising attitude and behavioral intention. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the findings will be discussed in detail.     

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.