Intention to Buy Sustainable Products Based on Consumer’s Information and Perceptions about “Green”: The Mediating Role of Attitudes

Abstract

In the past decades, both research and practice in society related to environmental and sustainability issues have been on the global agenda. The great challenge is to reconcile the interests of consumers, organizations, and the environmental preservation agenda, coupled with economic development in terms of consumption. Within this scenario, this study investigates the intention to buy sustainable products from the information and perceptions of consumers regarding environmental issues, when mediated by the attitudes toward sustainable products. To reach this goal, a survey was applied to Brazilian citizens from a region linked to nature. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, and the series of regressions trough the macro process. The results indicate that the formation of attitudes is more influenced by information about sustainability than by the perceptions of the consumers. Moreover, the data reveal the crucial mediating role of the attitude toward sustainable products to construct an equally sustainable behavior in terms of consumption when measured by the intention to buy sustainable products. These results suggest that a phase of information generation on sustainability is in the transition to a stage linked to the construction and solidification of beliefs.