Efficacy beliefs regarding purchases of environmentally friendly products on holiday

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the relative importance of different facets of efficacy beliefs in explaining the purchasing of products with environmentally friendly attributes. These facets differed based on whether they addressed individual versus collective action, in addition to whether they focused on behavioural execution versus goal attainment. Separate explanatory models were tested for organic food, refillable products, and bio-degradable food, each including goal attractiveness as a covariate. Behavioural self-efficacy was significantly associated with all types of purchases, but behavioural collective efficacy and goal self-efficacy showed only significant associations with purchases of bio-degradable food. Goal collective efficacy and goal attractiveness did not explain additional variance in any of the purchases considered. These findings align with past literature suggesting that efficacy beliefs can have a part in explaining purchasing behaviour, though stressing that the predictive value of specific facets may not generalize across different product types. Future research could investigate these beliefs for other forms of exerting influence as a consumer and/or in respect to social and economic issues related to sustainable development.