Environmentally friendly behaviour and green purchase in Austria and Lithuania

Abstract

The promotion of environmentally friendly and green purchase behaviour is one of the ways to minimise the environmental impact. Thus, the objective of this paper was to analyse how green purchase behaviour is related to environmentally friendly behaviour. Moreover, considering the goal-framing theory that a separate item of environmentally friendly behaviour is influenced by different goals, in this analysis was revealed how green purchase and environmentally friendly behaviour are related with the importance of product price and environmentally friendly social norms in two countries: Lithuania and Austria. Therefore referring to the 2012 Eurobarometer's survey and applying the approach of structural equation modelling, the results showed that green purchase behaviour was significantly related with environmentally friendly behaviour, however the determinants were different. The environmentally friendly social norms and gender had significant impact on both green purchase and environmentally friendly behaviour. Meanwhile, the importance of product prices negatively influenced only purchase behaviour. These findings reveal that policy makers should use different tools promoting the environmentally friendly and green purchase behaviour. Furthermore, analysing the differences of green purchase and their determinants between Lithuania and Austria, the suggestions were provided for Lithuania seeking the promotion of green purchase and environmentally friendly behaviour.