East meets West: A Study on Green Purchasing Behavior using and extending the Value-Belief-Norm Theory

Abstract

The growth in the green product segment has grown substantially in the last decade and with that created a new kind of marketing green marketing As such the study of green purchasing behavior is becoming increasingly more relevant again and the value belief norm (VBN) theory is recognized in the green literature as explaining key green behaviors (including buying behavior) in an effective way This research adopts the VBN model and extends it by explicitly focusing on green purchasing behavior and adding an addition 3 variables to the model: pro-environmental self-identity green product trust and social influence SmartPLS was used on a sample obtain from both Germany and Taiwan to test the newly developed model Results of the analysis performed showed that indeed pro-environmental self-identity green product trust both have a positive correlation with green buying behavior for both samples Social influence however showed only a positive relationship in the German sample revealing a distinct difference between the samples Results display that the newly developed model is effective in explaining the decision making process of green consumers This research contributes to the green marketing literature by not only extending the VBN theory to include an additional 3 variables but also offers a cross cultural perspective by comparing 2 culturally distinct samples

Date of Award	2014 Jul 8
Original language	English
Supervisor	Tien Wang (Supervisor)