Factors affecting students’ green product purchasing decisions in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

As global has been witnessing environmental degradation at a high level, people all over the world have begun to perform green behaviors. One of these behaviors is purchasing green products. However, there is a gap between intention and actual behaviors. And this problem seems to be inevitable in every country. Like other countries, Vietnam also witnesses the difference between intention and real actions. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate factors that may affect green product purchase decisions of university students studying in Ho Chi Minh City. This study used a structural equation modelling approach to examine the research model and hypotheses. Our study used a 25-item online questionnaire to collect data with a sample size of 322 using convenience and snowball sampling methods. Our findings showed that supporting environmental protection, drive for environmental responsibilities, green product experience, and environmental friendliness of companies place an impact on green product purchase decisions. Especially, environmental friendliness of companies affects the decision-making process significantly. This study not only contributed to knowledge base with regard to green product purchase decisions, but also suggested some practical implications that are useful for firms. Based on the results of this study, firms are able to find solutions to improve their sales revenues and define new ways to approach pro-environmental customers by focusing on fulfilling customers’ functional, emotional, experiential needs.