Investigating consumer's buying behaviour of green products through the lenses of extended theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

PurposeThe study aims to predict the drivers of green purchase in extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by investigating direct and indirect role of consumers' attitude toward green purchase along with moderating effects of green trust and willingness to pay on purchase behaviour in an emerging market.Design/methodology/approachA total of 417 useable responses were recorded from three different states of north India to resolve the issues related to demographic diversity in country by using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling, mediation and moderation analyses were used to investigate the hypothesised relationships.FindingsThe research unveiled that environmental concern, subjective norm have significant direct and indirect influence on green purchase intention via attitude. Furthermore, this study also elucidates that green trust significantly moderates attitude–behaviour, and intention–behaviour relationships, whereas willingness to pay does not significantly moderate these relationships in proposed model.Practical implicationsThis study provides interesting insights regarding consumers of emerging market toward green purchase. These insights are useful for marketers to design more focused strategies for enhancing the consumers' preferences for green products and promotion of pro-environmental behaviour in emerging markets.Originality/valueThe novel insights of this study are the mediating role of attitude in an emerging market in extended TPB model and exploration of the moderating role of green trust and willingness to pay premium to reduce the attitude–behaviour and intention–behaviour gaps for enhancing the consumers' preferences for green purchase.