Determinants Influencing Consumers’ Intentions to Purchase Green Products: Empirical Insights from Malaysian Consumers

Abstract

Consumers around the world have shifted from conventional to green products, and their green consumption is increasing. Growing demand for sustainability and environmental protection drives this shift. Consumers have become more aware of the need to reduce their carbon footprint and make more sustainable choices. Similar is the case in Malaysia as green products are available in open markets, but a low level of intention toward purchasing them still exists. With a specific focus on the Malaysian context, this study is aimed at identifying the factors that contribute to consumers’ low intentions for purchasing green products. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is extended with perceived environmental concern (PEC) and perceived environmental knowledge (PEK). A survey questionnaire with a non-probability sampling technique was used, and 155 survey responses were collected from respondents in Malaysia. Using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the collected data were analyzed, and the results revealed that PEC, PEK, and subjective are the strongest predictors of consumers’ intention as these factors significantly influence intention to purchase green products. Interestingly, the study revealed that attitude toward green products failed to have a significant relationship with the intention to purchase green products. In green marketing contexts, our study results demonstrate that extended the TPB has higher predictability than the TPB variables. The model’s additional constructions (PEK and PEC) significantly contribute to a better understanding of green product purchase intention development and potentially become long-term main-stream variables.