Consumer perceptions of green products, purchasing behaviour and loyalty

Abstract

Green products have gained prominence on the market largely due to their perceived benefits of environmental sustainability. In view of the growth in influence of green products, the objectives of the study were to determine the impact of product quality on purchase intention for green products; ascertain the influence of environmental concerns on purchase intention for green products; establish the influence of situations affecting green product purchase on purchase intentions for green products; establish the impact of preference for green products on purchase intention and to assess the impact of purchase intention on re-purchase intention of green products. To establish these facts the study adopted a quantitative methodology, which made use of a self- reporting questionnaire which was administered to consumer households as the target population. For the suburban areas and locations, simple random sampling was done by arbitrarily picking out a number from the housing list secured from the Municipality. In the city center, convenience sampling was done by arbitrarily approaching consumers buying in shopping malls. The 497 responses received were accepted as the sample size of this study. Data collected was captured and analysed on Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) v22.0 and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) v 24.0 to yield descriptive and inferential statistics. Structural Equation Modelling was then used to provide estimates of the strength of all the hypothesised relationships. The key findings of the study were that green purchase intention was significantly and positively influenced by product quality, environmental concern, preference for green products, environmental responsibility and selection attributes, but not by situations affecting purchase behaviour. Purchase intention has a strong correlation with re- purchase intention. The implications of the findings to marketers are that they need to formulate and implement green marketing strategies to improve consumer perceptions of green products. It is also suggested that marketers drop deceptive marketing practices that cause consumers to be skeptical about green products. Future research may need to be directed at green marketing practices to see what business is doing to enhance the adoption of green products by consumers.