Abstract
The significant increase in the effect of global warming has given more attention to consumers to protect and preserve the environment. This is evident as we see the purchasing trends of consumers moving towards environmentally friendly products. In Malaysia consumers consist of three main generations with varied purchasing behaviors. The aim of this study is to investigate the variables affecting Gen Y consumer’s green purchasing behavior. Phase 1 being qualitative in nature, involved five focus group interview sessions and a pilot study, while phase 2, being quantitative, involved the distribution and collection of questionnaires to Gen Y consumers of green products. The independent variables that affect green purchasing behavior are environmental concerns, attitudes towards the environment and environmental knowledge. Awareness of environmental problems was found not to be the variable that affects Gen Y green purchasing behavior. The implications of this study are that it supports energy conservation and environmental preservation businesses to better understand the green market environment, its opportunities and potential, enables businesses to better market their products, create products with competitive advantages and encourage the consumer’s green purchasing intentions. Subsequently, this study assists the government or policy makers to promote green purchasing behavior among the Malaysia population.
Highlights
The term environmentalism is widely used for various environmental and ideological reasons
It was shown that the current Gen Y purchases green products such as organic foods and they have started to consider other categories as purchasing options
These findings will act as a guide for producers to incorporate energy conservation and environmental preservation elements into the manufacturing process of their products
Summary
The term environmentalism is widely used for various environmental and ideological reasons. It is a word in common usage by stakeholders, business policy makers and even consumers. The concept of environmentalism, or perhaps better known as green growth, was endorsed as a new policy to focus on the long-term need to protect natural resources which are critical to economic development and human survival [1]. Initiated in 2005, the concept has evolved to look further into the environmental and energy related challenges, which are a driving factor to transform the energy ecosystems. A recent UNESCAP conference held in Bangkok in 2017 looked into four environmental and energy related challenges which included a reduction of environmental impacts. Businesses are forced to develop their own strategies to invest in business sustainability [10]
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