Does It Matter Who Exhibits More Green Purchase Behavior of Cosmetic Products in Asian Culture? A Multi-Group Analysis Approach.

Farzana Quoquab,Jihad Mohammad,Azila Jaini

doi:10.3390/ijerph17145258

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the moderating effect of gender on value-belief-norm relationships. In addition, this study aims to investigate the factors that affect green purchase behavior of cosmetics products. Particularly, this study investigates the causal relationships between values and pro-environmental beliefs, pro-environmental beliefs and personal norms and personal norms and green purchase behavior. An online survey was carried out which yielded 240 usable responses among which 79 responses were obtained from males and 161 from females. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, partial least square (PLS-SEM) approach and multi-group analysis (MGA) technique. Results revealed that all direct relationships were supported by the data. It was also found that gender moderates the relationships between altruistic values and pro-environmental beliefs, pro-environmental beliefs and personal norms and personal norms and green purchase behavior. Nevertheless, gender did not moderate the link between hedonic value and pro-environmental beliefs. This study contributes to the existing literature by considering gender as a moderator, which is comparatively new in the green purchase behavior literature. In addition, this study examines few new linkages: more specifically, incorporating hedonic value in value-belief link and adapting value-belief-norm (VBN) theory in measuring consumers’ green purchase behavior.

Highlights

Green purchase behavior (GPB) can be considered as one of the major contributors towards environmental sustainability [1]
Partial Least Squares (PLS)-Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a nonparametric technique that is suitable for multi-group analysis (MGA) [70,71]
This study aims to shed some light on the effect of gender on consumers’ green purchase behaviors

Summary

Introduction

Green purchase behavior (GPB) can be considered as one of the major contributors towards environmental sustainability [1]. Consumers became more aware about the green purchase behavior by considering the environmental welfare and quality of life [2]. It mobilized the production and sales of green products worldwide. The sale of green products has increased from $209 billion in 2011 to $845 billion in 2015 [3]. This growth can be seen in the cosmetics industry [4]. It is reported that the Asian market of cosmetics has become one of the fastest growing markets [5]

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Conclusion