دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی نگاه تازه به درک رفتار سبز مصرف کننده در میان جوانان شهری در هند - الزویر 2018

Abstract

Rapid economic growth and resulting overconsumption have accelerated environmental deterioration worldwide, prompting escalated consumption-related environmental concerns. This study attempts to explore the antecedents of ecologically conscious consumer behavior (ECCB) among young urban consumers in India – an emerging market experiencing rapid economic growth with increased urbanization and changes in consumption patterns that are contributing to environmental hazard. The empirical study including a literature review uses Theory of Planned Behavior integrating environmental attitudes, subjective norms, perceived consumer effectiveness, and behavioral intention in the model to investigate their influence on ECCB. The results suggest that attitudes and perceived consumer effectiveness both have a significant direct and indirect positive influence on ECCB. In addition, it would appear that the subjective norm, a measure of social demand, does not have any significant influence on behavioral intention leading to ECCB – contrary to established findings in a collective society considered in this study. This paper concludes with policy implications of the findings for marketers and policymakers, as well as potential directions for further research.

Conclusions, limitations and future research

In addition to its review of past studies, this current study is one of the first that has attempted to understand ECCB using a TPB framework incorporating both behavioral intention and reported behavior in urban Indian context. This study has revealed some interesting findings such as the insignificant influence of subjective norms in a collective society and the most significant influence of PCE (both direct and indirect effect) compared with other factors in the TPB model on ECCB. Specifically, the insignificant influence of subjective norm on behavioral intention/behavior in a collective society is a new addition to the existing body of knowledge. This study has some limitations that tempt avenues for further research. One major limitation is the limited geographical coverage and the small sample size. This study suggests that TPB fits in the Indian context in predicting ECCB, and hence further research is recommended by applying the TPB model and integrating some new constructs in relation to other Indian cities with more representative and larger sample of different age groups. First, in line with the nonsignificant influence of subjective norm, this result indicates a need to incorporate personal and moral norms in the model. It is also argued that the inclusion of moral norms in place of subjective norms may improve the explanation of behavior in TPB framework, particularly in situations that are morally oriented in nature (Armitage and Conner, 2001; Kaiser, 2006). Second, another option for probing into the insignificant influence of subjective norm is to break it down into different groups (e.g. family, co-workers, friends, neighbors) to explore whether a certain group has a (non)significant influence on ECCB.