Towards green product consumption: effect of green marketing stimuli and perceived environmental knowledge in Indian consumer market

Abstract

Purpose Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about ecological degradation and are getting conscious of the potential advantages that environmental sustainability can offer, which is also driving them towards the consumption of green products. In view of this, the purpose of this study is to operationalize and test the conceptual model of green purchasing behaviour by incorporating consumers’ perception towards green marketing stimuli including eco-label, eco-brand and environmental advertisements with perceived environmental knowledge in an emerging sustainable market. Design/methodology/approach The proposed model is based on an integrative and cognitive approach to consumers’ environmental beliefs-behaviour relationship. The 549 valid responses were received from selected metropolitan regions of India and analysed by direct path coefficients along with a bootstrapping method for testing indirect effects. Findings The results revealed that perception of eco-label and environmental advertisements had a positive influence on green purchasing behaviour, however, the direct relationships of eco-brand and environmental knowledge were not supported in the model. While environmental advertisements and environmental knowledge posed an indirect influence on green purchasing to some extent. Research limitations/implications The generalizability of the findings needs to augment an extensive approach of a cross-sectional survey. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications were recommended to promote green products towards sustainable consumption. Originality/value The operationalization of green purchasing behaviour using marketing stimuli has remained scant in the Indian setting. The insights gained from this study contributes to the knowledge domain of green consumer psychology in the backdrop of an emerging market.