Environmental concern to attitude towards green products: evidences from India

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the relevant antecedents of willingness of Indian consumers to pay a premium for green products and empirically validate the relationship between these antecedents and willingness to pay (WTP).Design/methodology/approach: Data were generated from 515 students enroled in various educational institutions approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and located in New Delhi and National Capital Region region of India. A combination of researcher-controlled and systematic sampling techniques was employed for the purpose of identifying the sample. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data using AMOS 20.0.Findings: The study revealed that attitude towards green products (ATGP) has a significant and positive influence on WTP. Additionally, collectivism and environmental concern emerged as predictors of ATGP.Practical implications: Marketing practitioners are expected to get deeper insights into reasons that contribute to the formation of positive attitude among Indian consumers towards green products. This understanding may greatly assist proactive marketers in developing appropriate strategies to increase the propensity of WTP a premium for such products.Originality/value: The study is pioneering in the sense that the construct WTP for green products had relatively been less explored in the Indian context. The construct WTP is important for Indian consuming class which is dominated by middle and lower middle income groups for whom spending extra from their regular expenditure is a critical and sensitive issue.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the role of religiosity in Indian Muslim students with the objective of mapping their attitude towards green products.Design/methodology/approach: Data were generated from 306 Muslim students enrolled in educational institutes located in the national capital of India (i.e. New Delhi). The study sample was identified through purposive sampling, and then the questionnaire was personally administered. The data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS, and research hypotheses were validated using structural equation modelling.Findings: The findings of the present study suggest that environmental concern is a precursor of consumer attitude towards green products, and antecedents of environmental concern are collectivism and eco-literacy. Further, the findings also suggest that religiosity significantly and positively affects collectivism values of consumers. However, religiosity was not found to be significantly associated with the level of eco-literacy of consumers.Practical implications: Religiosity emerged as one of the main factors that needs to be considered while promoting green products in India. In their promotion messages, green marketers attempting to target Muslim students ought to emphasize that Islamic tenets enjoin upon them to collectively take the responsibility of preserving the environment. The natural resources and the environment may be presented as a gift of Almighty Allah, and steps towards environmental conservation may be projected as a mode of pleasing Allah.Originality/value: This study is pioneering in the sense that it proposes a comprehensive and practical model for mapping attitude towards green products for young Indian Muslim consumers. In fact, the study takes a lead in examining the role of religiosity as antecedent in mapping of attitude towards green products and the role of collectivism and eco-literacy in influencing environmental concern.

Environmental protection is increasingly a concern, but false claims by companies have raised green skepticism among consumers. Young consumers constitute a significant group for consumption in an economy like India. While young consumers have rarely been surveyed on factors like green perceived value and perception regarding green claims, there is a paucity of research on the moderating role of skepticism. This paper provides a new perspective regarding the underexplored debate on green skepticism levels among young consumers. Data from 610 respondents were gathered through a researcher-controlled survey. Antecedents to environmental attitude, namely green perceived value, environmental knowledge, and interpersonal influence, were found to influence the relationships significantly. Young consumers’ environmental attitude was significant in explaining their green purchasing behavior. The paper sheds first light on the negative moderating effect of skepticism on the attitude-behavior relationship. The study highlights the role of educated and urban young consumers in sustainable consumption. In the same vein, findings suggest that managers should consider the importance of consumers’ doubts as a valuable element for global green advertising effectiveness.