Impact of Consumer Environmental Responsibility on Green Consumption Behavior in China: The Role of Environmental Concern and Price Sensitivity

Jiaqi Xu,Guanghua Sheng,Shengxiang She,Beibei Yue

doi:10.3390/su12052074

Abstract

Research on influence factors for green consumption has greatly advanced in recent years. However, little research has explored the effect of consumers’ environmental responsibility on green consumption and how this effect was mediated by environmental concern and moderated by price sensitivity, especially when consumers simultaneously pay close attention to environmental and personal interests. This study investigates the impact of environmental responsibility on green consumption via the mediation of environmental concern and the moderation of price sensitivity. The questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from 680 Chinese consumers via an online questionnaire. The empirical results reveal that environmental responsibility can promote environmental concern and enhance green consumption. Specifically, environmental responsibility has a positive impact on environmental concern and also has different positive effects on green consumption intention. Environmental concern positively affects green consumption intention and plays a partial mediation role in the relationship between environmental responsibility and green consumption intention. Price sensitivity plays a negative moderation role in the relationship among environmental responsibility, environmental concern and green consumption intention. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings were discussed.

Highlights

With the energy crisis, climate change and increasingly serious environmental problems, there has been increasing public concern about environmental issues [1]
Existing research has mainly focused on the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate environmental responsibility (CER) on pro-environmental behavior and considered that green marketing is the source of sustainable competitive advantage for enterprises [9,10,11]
To test whether the relationship between environmental responsibility and green consumption intention was mediated by environmental concern, we used the bootstrap confidence intervals test method in AMOS software (Version 21.0) [72]

Summary

Introduction

Climate change and increasingly serious environmental problems, there has been increasing public concern about environmental issues [1]. Green consumption is an environmentally responsible behavior characterized by advocating nature and protecting the ecology, which has attracted enterprises’ and consumers’ attention in recent years [4,5,6]. The norm activation model claims that a sense of responsibility is the moral quality and mental state of an individual for altruistic behavior under the constraint of personal norms [12]. The model assumes that when an individual internalizes social norms into personal norms, the individual’s sense of responsibility will be activated, his or her altruistic behavior will be promoted. Environmental responsibility will drive individuals to pay close attention to environmental issues, motivate them to take the initiative to take responsibility for environmental protection and promote their positive practice of pro-environmental behavior. The theory of ascription of responsibility, originated from the norm activation model, provides insight into the forming and driving of green consumption behavior

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Conclusion