Examining antecedents to Generation Z consumers’ green purchase intentions: the role of product categories
| Date | 08 August 2024 |
| Pages | 902-913 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2023-4699 |
| Published date | 08 August 2024 |
| Author | René Heiberg Jørgensen,Jan Møller Jensen,Yingkui Yang |
Examining antecedents to Generation Z
consumers’green purchase intentions: the role
of product categories
Ren
e Heiberg Jørgensen and Jan Møller Jensen
Department of Business and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, and
Yingkui Yang
Department of Business and Sustainability, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of thispaper is to examine the influence of environmental concern,perceived consumer effectiveness(PCE), green self-identity
and social influenceon Danish Generation Z consumers’green purchase intentionacross three product categories: food, clothingand mobile phones.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected through convenience sampling, asking undergraduate students in a quantitative data
analysis class at the University of Southern Denmark to share a link to the online survey via mail and through their social media platforms. This study
includes 287 usable cases. Structural equation modeling (AMOS) was used to test the suggested relationships.
Findings –The results show that environmental concern, PCE, green self-identity and social influence positively relate to Danish Generation Z
consumers’green purchase intentions. However, results also suggest that the influence of the different factors varies across product categories.
Practical implications –The results show that marketers must refine their understanding of what guides green consumption, as the factors leading
to green purchase intention vary across product categories. Therefore, practitioners need a deeper understanding of their specific category. The
results offer insight into food, clothing and mobile phones.
Originality/value –To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is one of the first studies investigating the antecedents to green purchase intentions
across product categories.
Keywords GenerationZ, Sustainability, Green purchase intentions, Environmental concern,Green self-identity, Consumereffectiveness,Social influence
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Individual consumption behaviorhas a significant negative impact
on the environment (Sun and Wang, 2020). Consumers are
becoming increasingly aware of environmental challenges, and
consequently, sustainability has become a key consideration for
various consumer segments when making their purchase decisions
(Gazzola et al., 2020). According to a consumer report conducted
by Nielsen (2015), 66% of consumers were willing to pay extra for
sustainable goods, and this trend was even more vital for the
younger segments, specifically Generation Y (73%) and
Generation Z (72%). The antecedents to green behavior vary
across generations (Casalegno et al., 2022). The study will focus
on Generation Z. Generation Z was born between 1995 and 2010.
This generational cohort was selected because they constitute a
significant consumer segment, and their role as “tomorrow’s
consumer”gives them marked transformative potential (Herrera
Burstein and Goñi Avila, 2024). Like other Generations, it is
essential to understand Generation Z’s consumption patterns, as
green consumption is a crucial tool in combating climate change
and green marketing is an important scholarly field.
The central issue for the field has been to answer the following:
How does one turn green appeals and green attitudes into purchase
intention (Cleveland et al., 2012;De Silva et al., 2021;Marde and
Verite-Masserot, 2018)? This attitude–behavior gap has been
identified and studied multiple times (Gong et al., 2022;Solgaard
et al., 2023;Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006;Wang et al., 2021).
Previous research has found inconsistencies; some studies find a
positive relation between green appeals and purchase intention
(Cho et al., 2013), whereas others show no or negative relations
between green appeals and purchase intentions. Scholars have
attempted to explain the gap from various perspectives, such as
social norms (Jung et al., 2020) or different time horizons (Miniero
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
33/7 (2024) 902–913
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-09-2023-4699]
Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Heiberg
Jørgensen, R., Møller Jensen, J. and Yang, Y. (2024), “Examining antecedents
to Generation Z consumers’green purchase intentions: the role of product
categories”,Journal of Product & Brand Management,Vol.ahead-of-printNo.
ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2023-4699 was published
with the incorrect city listed in the affiliation details for all authors. Additionally,
the affiliation details for Yingkui Yang listed the incorrect department. These
errors have now been corrected in the online version of the paper. The
publisher sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused.
Received 15 September2023
Revised 15 March 2024
8 July 2024
Accepted 10 July 2024
902
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