Applying an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Model in the Context of Green Personal Care Products Purchase: Impacts of Environmental Consciousness and Health Consciousness on Consumers' Attitude towards and Purchase Intention of Green Personal Care Products

Abstract

Current unsustainable production and consumption patterns play a major role in severe environmental degradation. Thus, it has become pressing to switch to more sustainable(greener) alternatives and investigate the motivational drivers of sustainable consumer behaviours. This study focuses on the product category of green personal care products(GPCPs), as these products are used on a daily basis exerting significant effects on both the environment and consumers ́ health. Furthermore, research concerning this product category is scarce. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the determining factors as to why consumer (intend to) purchase GPCPs taking into consideration consumers ́ increasing environmental consciousness (EC)and health consciousness(HC)in Denmark. The primary aim of this paper is to study the influence of environmental consciousness (EC) and health consciousness (HC) –as consumer values–on consumers ́ attitude and intention (as well as behaviour) towards purchasing GPCPs. These values were integrated into The Theory of Planned Behaviour(TPB) by the two authors, resulting in an extended theoretical framework. This way, not only the influence of these consciousnesses on attitude, behavioural intention (and actual behaviour) but also the usability/efficacy of the extended TPB model in explaining consumers ́ intention to purchase GPCPs is explored in its entirety considering these additional aspects. The authors conducted a quantitative study based on an online questionnaire with 316participants all over Denmark. Structural Equation Modelling(SEM) was utilized to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that - though consumers express both high EC and HC which positively affect their attitude towards GPCPs–EC has a significantly greater impact on consumers ́ attitude as well as intention towards GPCPs purchase. Among the conventional TPB constructs, attitude is the most prominent antecedent of GPCPs purchase intention followed by perceived behavior control, whereas subjective norms are insignificant. Added to that, the initially proposed TPB model included actual purchase behavior as a factor quantitatively measurable via a questionnaire. Nevertheless, this study confirms that behavior cannot be measured via such design, as behavior in its expressed form, cannot be differentiated from intention. Based on these findings, implications for academics, marketers and policy-makers were proposed.