Relation among ecological affect, concern, and knowledge and purchase behavior: a study regarding Mexican consumers

Abstract

The aim of the research was to analyze the sustainability and social development, in the search for the relationship between the constructs: Ecological Affection (EA), Ecological Awareness (EC), and Ecological Knowledge (EK), and green purchasing behavior (GPB) in consumers - as a single field of application, which should not be analyzed for companies, public persons, places, or brands. This is a quantitative descriptive study in a sample of 1,550 consumers - 96% of them valid - chosen according to convenience criteria - men and women between 21 and 55 years of age -, carried out during the first half of 2015 in Mexico, in the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, and Querétaro, with the personal application of questionnaires using the Likert scale. Regarding the measurement of dependent and independent variables, we used various subscales that make up the revised environmental attitudes and knowledge scale (EAKS) from Maloney et al. (1975).As a result, it was found that the consumer in Mexico presents a positive attitude towards the purchase of organic products and is even willing to stop buying from those companies that contribute to pollution.