Green buying or conspicuous consumption? Investigating the association between consumer personality and intention of green purchase

Abstract

This study aims to understand the relationship between a consumer’s personality traits and their purchase intention of eco-friendly products This study used four personality traits (narcissism materialism conformity and vanity) which had been found to positively associate with luxury product purchasing; and investigated how product conspicuousness changes the influences of the four personality traits on intentions to purchase eco-friendly products The set of hypotheses was tested by using an online survey on 300 subjects on Mturk Two forms of survey address high versus low degrees of product conspicuousness as a boundary condition for the focal research model Results showed that narcissist and vain consumers have positive relationships with eco-friendly product purchasing Also the relationships were enhanced by the degree of product conspicuousness However materialism and conformity are not significant factors associated with the extent of purchase intention on eco-friendly products Their associations were not moderated by the degree of product conspicuousness either This study also provides practical suggestions for green companies in their future strategies

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ya-Hui Kuo (Supervisor)