Does customer empathy mediate between the environmental orientation of retail firms and customer purchase intentions?

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the mediation effect of customer empathy between theenvironmental orientation of retail firms, and subsequent customer purchasing behaviour towards eco-friendly goods. The empirical study developed conceptual and operational measurement variables from prior research and collected data from retail firm customers in the Republic of Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the reliability and validity of the collected data, and relationships between the variables were analysed using structural equation modelling. Two findings resulted as follows. First, a retail firm’s environmental orientation, manifested by a strategic approach to environmental issues and environmental capabilities, does positively affect customer empathy towards them. Second, positive customer empathy towards a retail firm’s environmental orientation positively affects customer purchasing behaviour towards the retail firm’s eco-friendly goods.KEYWORDS: Environmental orientationcustomer empathypurchasing behaviourretail firmseco-friendly goodsRepublic of Korea Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.Data availability statementDue to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.Ethics approvalApproval received from Kyonggi University, Republic of Korea.