Modeling Environmentally Conscious Purchase Behavior: Examining the Role of Ethical Obligation and Green Self-Identity

Abstract

Due to environmental degradation, using environment-friendly products has become necessary to reduce carbon emissions. However, the consumption of such products is still below expectations because these products are usually costlier than their traditional counterparts. The current study aims to investigate consumer behavior towards environment-friendly products using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior as a theoretical model. The study seeks to examine the role of the key determinates of environmentally conscious purchase behavior, such as ethical obligation and green self-identity. A total of 386 responses were collected from consumers living in a few major cities of northern India using purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in Amos 22.0. The results demonstrated that attitudes towards environment-friendly products perceived behavioral control and green self-identity as the major determinants of green purchase intentions. In addition, attitude was reported to mediate the effect of ethical obligation on green purchase intentions and green self-identity was found to moderate the effect of attitude on green purchase intentions. Additionally, green self-identity was also reported to moderate the relationship between ethical obligation and attitude. The study adds value to the existing literature by signifying the role of green self-identity and ethical obligation in stimulating consumers’ green purchase intentions. The findings of the study are also meaningful for marketers and policymakers.

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“…Contrary to Ref. [46], demonstrating that attitude does not influence intention, the results of this research are in alignment with those revealing that attitude influences the intention to buy [33][34][35][36][37][38], which is also grounded by the theory of planned behavior. The assumption could be made that analyzing the context of waste separation behavior [46] is the reason for the difference in the results.…”

“…Based on the theory of planned behavior, attitude influences the intention to behave (buy); this has been proven by many authors [33][34][35][36][37][38]. Hence, this relation stands as a basis and must be verified in the context of FMCG from recycled materials; moreover, this should allow seeing the big picture of relations between income, motives, attitude, and intention.…”

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