Consumer antecedents towards green product purchase intentions

Abstract

This study analyzed how consumers' previous purchase experiences influence environmental consciousness and attitude towards green product purchase intentions. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, it is assumed that previous purchase experience has a direct and positive influence on attitude and environmental consciousness, which in their turn are also factors of positive influence on purchasing intentions. In order to test the hypotheses, a structural equation modeling technique was applied. The results identified that attitude was one of the antecedents of green products consumer's purchasing intention, but previous purchase experiences neither influenced attitudes nor environmental consciousness, contrary to the initial proposition of this study. Even though the results didn't confirm the model proposition, this study showed important outcomes that validated the attitude influence on purchase intention and the observation on the analysis discussion section that previous purchase experiences and environmental consciousness influence over green products individual purchase intention is dependent on buying situation and characteristic of the product. Understanding the antecedent influences on individual choices at consumption moments in which green products are available can highlight the gap between the pro-environmental consumers discourse and their real actions of purchasing mentioned on consumer behavior literature, contributing to a better comprehension of the phenomenon. The main contribution of this study is therefore to highlight the perspective of green products previous purchase experiences in order to analyze the influence over environmental consciousness and attitudes purchase intention, which wasn't mentioned in previous consumption behavior studies.