Factors Affecting Attitudes on the Green Purchase Intention of Eco-friendly Products in University Students

Abstract

As much destruction has been caused to the world through pollution and human behavior, the need to shift to using eco-friendly products has risen. ‘The use of eco-friendly products’ has not been a very familiar concept in the local community and has begun to emerge in the past few years. The study focused on a quantitative approach with the sample (n = 380) collected from students of the four main state universities within the Western Province to understand a Sri Lankan perspective of green purchase intention and the factors that affect the attitudes of such consumers. Thus, with this intention, a survey strategy was designed using stratified sampling, and a self-administered questionnaire was used as the research instrument in data collection. In light of analyzing the data using statistical techniques, factor analysis was applied as the analysis tool to identify latent factors of the variables. The findings of the study focused on describing the sample profile and further identifying any statistical differences of demographic and socio-economic variables related to purchasing intention. The findings resulted in depicting the general profile of the sample and the effect of green purchase intention through variables such as level of family income and current living location. On a statistical base, it was revealed that the factors ‘environmental concern’ and ‘product perception’ affect the purchase intention. Conclusively, the study reported that the perception of consumers plays an important impact in the green purchase intention of young consumers and thus should be given sufficient thought when dealing with eco-friendly products. Further, it was distinguished that the use of eco-labels on green products and a price range suitable to young consumers will improve the purchase intention, thereby creating an improvement for the betterment of the environment