The sustainability‐age dilemma: A theory of (un)planned behaviour via influencers

Abstract

This study investigates the relation between age and sustainability awareness for consumers via the third, mediating variable of influencers to reduce the intention-behaviour purchase gap. It proposes that traditional theories of planned behaviour are limited as they do not account for unconscious and indirect pathways to axiological change. A structural model with the 3 constructs of age, influencers, and sustainability awareness is tested with linear structural relations on a sample of 788 consumers, complemented with focus groups and interviews to generate deeper insight into the model's constructs. The results demonstrate a relationship between age and sustainability awareness, as well as between the importance of influencers for increased sustainability awareness in younger consumers, namely, millennials. This suggests that practitioners should work with influencers perceived as trustworthy to increase sustainability awareness for the millennial subset consumer group. The methodology applies a mixed approach, interpreting both qualitative and quantitative aspects, and contributes to the ethical consumerism literature with new knowledge on age differences connected to sustainability awareness, particularly highlighting on the influence of influencers for the younger generations.

Understanding green purchase behavior through death anxiety and individual social responsibility: Mastery as a moderator

“…As noted, there is a widespread environmental deterioration/degradation. The harmful consequences are evident (Hahnel et al, ) and have become a fundamental and a critical social issue (Johnstone & Lindh, ). A serious threat to human survival facing current and future generations has emerged (Dagher & Itani, ).…”

“…Second, this research adds to the stream of research on green consumption and marketing and specifically to the study of the driving forces of purchase intention and behavior (e.g., Dagher & Itani, ; Hahnel et al, ; Schuitema & De Groot, ). In light of the redundancy of the traditional green consumer behavior models (Johnstone & Lindh, ), the current research provides a unique perspective by looking at the important aspect of why consumers take into account temporally distant consequences such as the anxiety of death to determine their green consumption (van Dam & Fischer, ).…”

“…Another limitation of this research is the investigation of green consumption intention instead of actual behavior. Scholars point to the cognitive dissonance between pro‐environmental attitudes and the actual purchase of green products (e.g., Johnstone & Lindh, ; Schuitema & De Groot, ). Although this research's survey design limits its ability to test actual behavior, green‐product purchase attitude/intentions are suggested to have a significant effect on actual green consumption (see, e.g., Albayrak et al, ; Barbarossa & Pelsmacker, ).…”

“…Firms, therefore, are motivated to adopt the green and sustainable concept in their product/service portfolios to cash in on consumers' regard for the environment and responsible consumption (Johnstone & Tan, ; Schuitema & De Groot, ). Scholars have had long‐term, continuous interest in green and sustainable consumption, and various green consumption drivers such as demographics, needs, motivations, beliefs, values, and attitudes have been probed regarding their role in eco‐friendly purchases (see, e.g., Han, Hsu, Lee, & Sheu, ; Hahnel et al, ; Johnstone & Lindh, ). The extant literature, however, only provides a limited explanation of green consumption motivations and behaviors with inconclusive and inconsistent findings (see, Johnstone & Tan, ).…”

The impact of the environmental crisis on the purchasing power of consumers

“…Various researchers have highlighted certain limitations of TPB and TRA and proposed various other frameworks to study consumer sustainable behavior. Johnstone and Lindh [9] suggested that applications of TRA and TPB are restricted as TPB doesn't represent oblivious and secondary pathways to axiological change. Also, TPB and TRA do not consider behavioral aspects such as consumer past behavior and habits [10].…”