Environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and the attitude-intention-behavior gap in green consumption

Purpose The purpose of this study is to use the theory of planned behavior and a moderated mediation model to bridge the gap between attitude, intention and behavior in the context of green consumption. The study will focus on how environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives play a positive moderating role in the mediation effect of green purchase intention on the relationship between attitude toward green products and environmentally friendly purchasing behavior. Design/methodology/approach A representative sample of 583 consumers was gathered from five major cities in Vietnam using a mall-intercept survey method. The moderated mediation model and the formulated hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro. Findings The results of our study reveal that green purchase intention is not only positively and directly associated with environmentally friendly purchase behavior but also significantly mediated the green purchase attitude–behavior link. Environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives were found to positively moderate the direct effect of attitude toward green products on green purchase intention. More importantly, our study also yielded that the mediation effect of green purchase intention on the relationship between attitude toward green products and environmentally friendly purchase behavior is positively moderated by environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives. As such, the indirect impact of environmentally friendly purchase attitude on green purchase behavior through green purchase intention was stronger when the level of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives was higher. Practical implications The results of this study have practical implications and offer valuable recommendations for marketing practitioners, administrators and policymakers. These recommendations can help promote corporate social responsibility practices among firms, encourage environmentally friendly consumption among consumers and contribute to the overall sustainable development of the country. Originality/value This study has made significant contributions to the existing literature on pro-environmental behavior by addressing the gap between attitude, intention and behavior in sustainable consumption. Furthermore, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to use a moderated mediation model to shed light on the moderating effect of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives on the direct and mediated relationships among attitude, intention and behavior in the context of green consumption.