Green consumption has become an important academic and practical topic. However, a recurring theme in the literature has been the attitude-behavior gap in green consumption. Taking the cognitive view in studying consumer behaviors, this study theoretically developed and tested two key moderators to the relationship between green consumption intention and behavior, namely green product availability and perceived consumer effectiveness. Under high levels of the moderators, the relationship between the intention and the behavior were hypothesized to be stronger. Our data sample of 416 consumers in two large cities in Vietnam provided support for the hypotheses. Our study results thus contribute to the green consumption literature by explaining the attitude-behavior gap. Our study also contributes to the broader literature by explaining the inconsistency in consumer behavior. Implications and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

Purpose Nowadays, the issues related to pro-environmental, sustainable and green consumption behaviors are attracting significant attention from both scholars and practitioners. However, in the context of emerging countries, less research effort has been invested in this topic, especially in investigating young consumer purchase behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors driving young adult Vietnamese consumers’ purchase intention toward green apparel products with emphasis on the role of materialistic values. Design/methodology/approach In this research, a conceptual framework is proposed integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model with an important consumer value, materialism. To test the research model and hypotheses, a survey of a sample of 245 young adults (under 25 years old) was conducted in Hanoi, the capital city and one of the two most populous cities in Vietnam. All the scales used in this study were established in the literature, and the scales’ reliability and validity were assessed through Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Findings In this study, six hypotheses were tested and five out of six received support from the data. Specifically, the results of SEM showed that all three antecedents from the TPB model (i.e. attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) were positive contributors to green apparel purchase intention, of which subjective norms were found to be the most influential predictor of purchase intention. With regard to the roles of the three components of materialism, the findings provided empirical evidence for supporting the positive impact of “success” and the negative impact of “centrality” on the attitude toward green apparel purchase, while “happiness” component was not found to have a significant impact on attitude. In this study, income as a control variable was found to be positively related to purchase intention toward green apparel products. Originality/value There is a little research on the relationship between specific values and environment-friendly behaviors, especially in the context of emerging economies such as Vietnam. In addition, it has been suggested that the relationship between materialistic values and green purchase behavior is still unclear. Thus, it is important to have a deeper understanding of the role of materialistic values in green apparel purchase among young adult consumers in the context of Vietnam, an Asian emerging country where only modest research effort has been given to explore this important topic.

PurposeThe paper aims to provide an alternative view to green consumption behaviors of millennials. In fact, studies on green consumption have usually assumed a common attitude–behavior model for different generations. Instead, the view in this paper highlights two other constructs, online product review and self-image congruence, as the key antecedents to the behavior among the generation.Design/methodology/approachTo test our proposed model, an online survey with a sample of 305 millennials in Vietnam was conducted. The sample shares similar demographic features with the millennials in the country. The data were collected in popular social networks and then validated before being analyzed with AMOS.FindingsThe model analysis results provided supports for the key roles of online product review and self-image congruence among millennials. In particular, online product review was found to have both direct and mediational impacts on green product purchase intention. Self-image congruence was also found to be a key antecedent to the intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe model in this paper only examined the purchase intention. Moreover, only a single sample of millennials in Vietnam was investigated. Future research may incorporate the green consumption behavior to enhance the external validity and/or directly compare models for different generations or across countries to further confirm the differential generational patterns.Practical implicationsThe paper includes recommendations for managers to use the online channels and to promote green product self-matching among millennials. These recommendations are not contrary to but go beyond the frequently suggested ones for attitude-related training or communication campaigns for green consumption.Originality/valueThis paper fills an identified gap to provide an alternative view to green consumption behaviors of millennials. Different from the common attitude–behavior view in green consumption research, two key constructs of online product review and self-image congruence are highlighted for the generation in this paper.

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PurposeThis paper employs the theoretical foundations for subjective well-being to examine the impacts of two underlying dimensions of subjective well-being (psychological well-being and social well-being) on pro-environmental consumption behaviors (PECBs). In this research, the moderating role of exposure to positive environmental messages on media in the relationship between subjective well-being and PECBs is also examined.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a quantitative research method with data collected from an online survey questionnaire posted in Facebook groups related to PECBs in Vietnam.FindingsPsychological well-being and social well-being are found to be separate significant predictors of PECBs. More importantly, exposure to positive environmental messages on media was found to reinforce the impacts of psychological well-being on PECB but not moderate the relationship between social well-being and PECB.Originality/valueThis research offers a new insight for encouraging PECB from the perspective of subjective well-being. Different from the extant perspectives, which usually examine subjective well-being as a unidimensional antecedent of PECB, the authors highlight that subjective well-being can influence PECB in two separate dimensions. Moreover, this research extends existing literature by accentuating the role of exposure to environmental messages in the association between different types of social well-being and PECB.