How green our future would be? An investigation of the determinants of green purchasing behavior of young citizens in a developing Country

Research on green purchasing behavior (GPB) has demonstrated significant progress in the past few years. However, there are still several influential factors in various contextual settings that demand further research. Additionally, the bulk of research in this area focused on developed countries, while there has been a dearth of research conducted on the context of GPB to determine its antecedents in the developing nations. This study aims to bridge this gap in the literature by investigating the determinants of GPB in Qatar through the development of an integrated model by assimilating various theories, like the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Stern's Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) and Cognition-Affection-Behavioral (CAB). This study employed a survey questionnaire to collect the data from 251 university students in Qatar and was analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The findings unveiled that GPB is directly influenced by green attitudes, green social influence and green perceived behavioral control (PBC). In addition, variables such as perceived consumer effectiveness, knowledge about the green products, green initiatives by the government, significantly, though indirectly, influence GPB. Other variables such as green values, awareness of the environmental outcomes, ascription responsibility, perceived consumer effectiveness, knowledge of green products, government green initiatives, exert some influence on other variables in the model. Thus, the developed model offers crucial insights to the policymakers who are concerned with the design of green policies and strategies. It might be of great value to practitioners to align their production and service operations aimed at serving the trend of the potential consumers who are becoming more environmentally friendly in course of time.

Automated summary

This study investigates the determinants of green purchasing behavior in Qatar by analyzing data from 251 university students using Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that green attitudes, green social influence, and green perceived behavioral control directly influence GPB, while variables such as perceived consumer effectiveness, knowledge about green products, and government green initiatives have an indirect but significant impact on GPB.