An investigation into the relationship between materialism and green purchase behavior in Vietnam and Taiwan

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of materialistic values on purchase intention (PI) toward green products among consumers in Vietnam and Taiwan, two Asian countries with different levels of economic development. Design/methodology/approach This research employs the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) with an integration of materialism. To serve the purpose of this study, two consumer surveys were conducted in Hanoi (Vietnam) and Taipei (Taiwan). The structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Findings This study examined the impact of some antecedents of green PI among consumers in Vietnam and Taiwan, focusing on the indirect impact of materialistic values (through attitude). All five hypotheses received support from the Vietnam data, confirming the significant impacts of materialistic values (i.e. success and happiness) on attitude, and all three antecedents from the TPB model (i.e. attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) as positive predictors of green PI. For the Taiwan data, the findings were similar to those from the Vietnam data, except insignificant impact of success value on attitude toward buying green products. Originality/value This research is expected to contribute to the extant literature by enriching the knowledge of the interesting and important relationship between materialistic values and green purchase behavior among consumers in two Asian markets where, to the author’s best understanding, only modest research effort has been given to explore this topic.

Antecedents of green purchase intention: a cross-cultural empirical evidence from Vietnam and Poland

“…However, the influential degree of impact of perceived environmental knowledge on green purchase willingness and intention in Vietnam was much lower than in Poland. Perhaps, with an emerging economy at a lower developmental level, consumers' knowledge and understanding in regard to green products and green consumption is still considered to be at an early stage (Nguyen, 2019;pp. 247-258;Nguyen et al, 2017, pp.…”

Reviewing Studies on Green Consumer Behaviour in Vietnam During the 2008-2020 Period

“…Attitude, which can be referred to as the judgements of consumers when buying green products, is the most important contributor to the green consumption of Vietnamese people. This result contradicts the figure from Taiwan, as attitude ranks last, while the number one contributor is subjective norm, which is the perceived pressure from society that motivates consumers purchasing and using green products (Nguyen, 2019). Nguyen (2019) explains this difference by highlighting that Vietnam is still an emerging economy where perception about green purchase behaviour is nascent, thus establishing an encouraging attitude toward green products is vital for boosting consumers' purchase intention.…”

“…This result contradicts the figure from Taiwan, as attitude ranks last, while the number one contributor is subjective norm, which is the perceived pressure from society that motivates consumers purchasing and using green products (Nguyen, 2019). Nguyen (2019) explains this difference by highlighting that Vietnam is still an emerging economy where perception about green purchase behaviour is nascent, thus establishing an encouraging attitude toward green products is vital for boosting consumers' purchase intention. To further add on the matter, Nguyen et al (2018) analyse the gap between green consumption intention and behaviour and affirm that the readiness of green products, together with consumers' perception of the products' environmentally friendliness, will more likely to actualize people's intention of purchasing green products.…”

“…The green offering stress on the individual benefits of customer, and it is the main reason why green products are preferred by those having collectivistic mindset (Le et al, 2018). Nguyen (2019) complements the discussion by pointing out the factors determining consumers' green purchase intention. Attitude, which can be referred to as the judgements of consumers when buying green products, is the most important contributor to the green consumption of Vietnamese people.…”

“…The foremost priority is to expand the availability of green products (Nguyen et al, 2018). Once the supply is increased, the products will become more approachable and presumably more affordable, which in turn will motivate the purchasing intention of consumers (Nguyen, 2019). Besides supply, retailers should also pay attention to advertising programs to further enlarge the coverage of products (Nguyen et al, 2019).…”