Consumers' increased knowledge and awareness of environmental issues have not translated into a pervasive rise in purchasing green apparel, resulting in a phenomenon known as the ‘attitude-behaviour ...gap’. The current study seeks to explicate this gap by examining the drivers of green apparel buying behaviour. Towards this end, the study examines the association of environmental knowledge, green trust, and environmental concern with environmental attitude and green apparel buying behaviour. It further investigates the association of labelling desire and labelling satisfaction with this type of buying behaviour as well. In addition, the study uses the theoretical lens of the knowledge-attitude-behaviour model and attitude-behaviour-context theory to anchor its hypotheses. Cross-sectional data from 387 Japanese consumers analysed to test the conceptual model revealed that green trust, environmental attitude, and labelling satisfaction are positively associated with green apparel buying behaviour. Furthermore, green trust, environmental concern, and environmental attitude partially mediate the proposed associations, while age and gender moderate the association between environmental knowledge and environmental concern. The study's empirical insights thus lay the foundation for future research in this area and provide strategically relevant inferences for green apparel marketers and retailers.
•Knowledge-attitude-behaviour and attitude-behaviour-context theory examined green apparel buying behaviour.•Environmental knowledge positively associated with green trust, environmental concern, and attitude.•Findings confirmed the attitude-behaviour and concern-behaviour gaps in the context of green apparel.•Green trust, environmental attitude, and labelling satisfaction predicted green apparel buying behaviour.•Age and gender moderated the association of environmental knowledge with environmental concern.
This paper explores how general environmental knowledge shapes environmental attitudes, behavioral intentions, and pro-environmental behaviors in relation to the surrounding environment. Structural ...equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping estimation was conducted to assess a causal chain from environmental knowledge to pro-environmental behaviors with a nationally representative sample of 2824 respondents from China. The results show that environmental knowledge has a significant positive effect on environmental attitudes, environmental attitudes have a significant positive effect on environmental behavioral intentions and pro-environmental behaviors, and environmental behavioral intentions have a significant positive effect on pro-environmental behaviors. We also concluded that although environmental knowledge has no significant direct effects on pro-environmental behaviors, it is a crucial distal variable whose significant effect is fully mediated by environmental attitudes and environmental behavioral intentions. The results of the multigroup SEM showed that the moderating effect of external context on the relationship between environmental behavioral intentions and pro-environmental behaviors and various demographic variables (e.g., gender, urban vs. rural residence, education level, and region) have diverse effects on the model in this study.
Display omitted
•Assessing a causal chain from environmental knowledge (EK) to pro-environmental behaviors (PEB).•Assessing the mediating role of environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions in transition from EK to PEB.•EK itself does not work, only once the affective system is activated does protective action become probable.•The multigroup SEM showed that various demographic variables have diverse effects on the model in this study.
The purpose of this empirical study is to operationalize the relationship of cognitive factors influencing on green purchase intention directly and indirectly via the mediating role of attitude ...towards green products which in turn investigated with green purchasing behaviour in order to validate the proposed research model in the Indian context of ecologically friendly buying behaviour. The model is based on ‘attitude-intention-behaviour’ and analysed by using structural equation modeling (SEM) from that data collected of 351 Indian consumers.
The findings unveiled that Green purchase intention (GPI) was significantly and directly driven by Attitude towards green products (AGP), Environmental concern (EC), and Perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) directly and indirectly via the mediating the role of AGP however, perceived environmental knowledge (PEK) was found to be insignificant effect on both AGP and GPI in this study. Moreover the measure of GPI was found to be the fundamental predictor of Green purchase behaviour (GPB) in the model. Hence, the present model provides valuable inputs to policymakers and marketers to design from the perspective of green marketing policies and strategies in order to cope with the indigenous Indian context.
•The present study identified four cognitive factors: environmental concern (EC), perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), attitude towards green products (AGP), and perceived environmental knowledge (PEK) influencing on green purchase intention (GPI) directly and indirectly via the mediating role of AGP which in turn investigated with green purchasing behaviour (GPB) in order to validate the proposed research model in the Indian context.•The model is based on ‘attitude-intention-behaviour’ and tested by using structural equation modeling.•The study is perhaps the first that perceived consumer effectiveness is directly investigated with AGP and GPI in Indian context.
•Environmental values and energy saving in households are positively correlated.•Environmental knowledge and household energy saving are positively correlated.•Household energy saving is linked to ...gender and employment status.
In this paper we evaluate the impact of knowledge about environmental and energy issues on potential pro-environmental behaviour in households, specifically relating to behaviours, attitudes and habits towards energy use. Our results are based on an empirical survey and we find significant correlations which indicate that residents with positive environmental values and greater environmental knowledge are more likely to demonstrate energy behaviours, attitudes and habits which lead to energy saving activities in households. This is further supported through a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which suggests that energy saving behaviour may also vary according to gender and employment status. Conversely, we find only limited evidence of statistical associations between environmental predisposition and knowledge, and ownership and frequency of use of household appliances. We argue that our results contribute to the significant body of literature supporting the role of knowledge in active engagement with energy issues. This study is timely following closely policy developments in active consumer engagement by the European Commission.
Numerous investigations have arisen in order to study and characterise environmentally friendly consumer profiles, with some authors applying the relationship between knowledge, attitudes and ...behaviour to this end. The present research approach, based upon the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), seeks to verify the existence of relationships between knowledge and attitudes and between knowledge and environmental behaviour. In this instance, data collection involved a questionnaire aimed at assessing the overall environmental knowledge of respondents as well as their attitudes and behaviours regarding energy issues (savings, consumption, interest, use). The results pointed to the lack of relationship between knowledge and attitudes, and between knowledge and behaviour whilst the relationship between attitudes and behaviour proved to be only weak. The results also found that males, older students and those studying Engineering and the Social and Human Sciences are those reporting higher levels of environmental knowledge. However, when it comes to attitudes and behaviours, females seem to display more awareness around these issues.
•There is a gap research on the link between knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.•The data collected aimed at assessing environmental knowledge about energy.•There is no significant relation between knowledge and attitudes regarding energy.•The linkage between attitudes and behaviour about energy saving proved to be weak.
The present research attempts to understand the young consumers' intention toward buying green products in a developing nation; India. The study has used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as its ...theoretical framework and further attempted to extend the TPB by incorporating additional constructs (environmental concern & environmental knowledge) in it. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire survey and analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling (SEM). The finding reported the usefulness of TPB in predicting young consumers' intention towards purchasing green products. The result also supported the applicability of including additional constructs in TPB, as it has improved the predictive utility of the proposed model (from 27.1% to 37.7%). At the end, the implications for policy makers and scope for further research have been discussed.
•Findings supported the applicability of TPB in predicting green purchase intention.•Additional constructs (environmental concern & knowledge) were included in TPB.•The study supported the inclusion of additional construct in the TPB.•Additional constructs improved the predictive power of the theoretical framework.•Environmental concern emerged as the most significant predictor of green purchase intention.
PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the influence of supervisor's ethical leadership style on subordinates' green or pro-environmental work behavior in the presence of green human resource ...management (GHRM) as a mediator and environmental knowledge as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based was distributed to 427 supervisor–subordinate dyads working in various Pakistani organizations. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between supervisor's ethical leadership style and subordinates' green behavior.FindingsStructural equation modeling supported a partial mediating role of GHRM in the influence of ethical leadership on green work behavior. Further, the findings revealed that employee's environmental knowledge can magnify the indirect impact of ethical leadership, via GHRM, on green behavior.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional survey data are typically associated with common method bias. To counter this bias, we collected data from dual sources, namely, supervisors and their subordinates. The research findings have implications in deepening the understanding of the impact of ethical leadership in improving environmental performance of the organization.Originality/valueThis is the first study that utilizes multi-sourced data to examine the mediating role of GHRM and the moderating role of environmental knowledge in the relationship between ethical leadership and green behavior at work.
This study investigates the influence of both consumer optimism and pessimism on the green apparel buying behavior, using the self-focused regulation theoretical framework. Further, it measures the ...mediation effect of environmental orientation, and the moderation effect of environmental knowledge and monetary incentive on the proposed associations. An online survey was conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect data from 450 consumers. The findings reveal that optimistic consumers buy green apparel, while pessimistic consumers avoid it. Interestingly, when environmental orientation is introduced as a mediator, the pessimistic consumers also express the intent to buy green apparel. Further, environmental knowledge and monetary incentive both significantly moderate the relationships of green apparel buying behavior with consumer pessimism and environmental orientation. Holistically, this study provides significant implications for both green apparel marketers and retailers.
•The study investigates the influence of consumer optimism and consumer pessimism on green apparel buying behavior .•Findings confirmed the existence of environmental orientation-behavior gap.•Traits like pessimism is a significant barrier of green apparel buying behavior.•Moderating role of environmental knowledge and monetary incentive are also investigated.
•Nature-based environmental education (NBEE) holistically targets ecological behaviour.•NBEE is related to environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature.•Environmental knowledge and ...connectedness to nature, together, are related to eco-behaviour.•Connectedness to nature is related much stronger to ecological behaviour.
The promotion of environmental knowledge is viewed as a fundamental component of environmental education and a necessary prerequisite to ecological behaviour; however, it has little effect on actual behaviour. Nature-based environmental education, which combines the acquisition of environmental knowledge with the promotion of an intrinsic driver, namely connectedness to nature, is proposed as a holistic approach to increase ecological behaviour. This paper evaluates the effect of participation in nature-based environmental education in 4th to 6th graders (N=255). As expected, increased participation in nature-based environmental education was related to greater ecological behaviour, mediated by increases in environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature. While both factors were similarly predicted by participation in nature-based environmental education, connectedness to nature explained 69% and environmental knowledge 2% of the variance in ecological behaviour. However, the design of our data do not evidence the causality of these relations, which are solely based on theoretical assumptions supported by literature. Nevertheless, the importance of fostering both environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature as complementary drivers of ecological behaviour, as offered by nature-based environmental education, should be researched further as a highly promising approach to fostering ecologically-motivated individuals.
This study examines the role of knowledge agents as key enablers in the process of creating and updating the environmental knowledge base of a firm and, in doing so, having a positive effect on ...business performance. From the perspective of a hotel as the most important cog in the machinery of the hospitality sector, knowledge agents are those individuals who can provide information and knowledge that enables the firm to deal with environmental issues effectively. The paper describes an empirical, longitudinal study of 87 organisations in the Spanish hospitality industry. The results highlight the importance of the relationship between knowledge agents and environmental knowledge for business performance. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the role of knowledge agents is also relevant for the future management of the environmental knowledge base of a firm within the hospitality sector.
•Knowledge agents as key enablers of the processes of creating and updating the environmental knowledge.•Mediation between knowledge agents, environmental sustainability and business performance is investigated.•Environmental knowledge as a factor for competitiveness, was found.•Longitudinal study.
PDF
