From Words to Deeds: How Do Knowledge, Effectiveness, and Personal Relevance Link Environmental Concern and Buying Behavior?

Abstract

The gap between environmental attitudes and behaviors has been on research agendas for a while. Despite the enormous efforts of all concerned parties to increase consumer engagement in environmental issues, the levels of individual environmental concern are still higher than actual green purchasing. Considering the shortcomings in theory and practice, the purpose of this paper is to examine the link between environmental concern and environmental buying behavior by introducing three mediating variables, namely consumer environmental knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, and perceived personal relevance. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 319 consumers using structural equation modeling. The results show that environmental concern predicts environmental buying behavior. Environmental concern also influences consumer knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, and perceived personal relevance, while environmental buying behavior is affected by knowledge and effectiveness. The model testing confirmed a partially mediated model. The findings offer several avenues for public policy makers, academics, and socially responsible companies that find the environment important.