Decision-Making Factors in the Purchase of Ecologic Products

Abstract

This paper attempts to empirically investigate the main variables that might exert a significant influence over the green purchase decisions of a Romanian consumer. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 915 individuals. The objectives of the study aim to evaluate the influence of different types of variables (related to the person, the environment, the product and the reference group) on the decision to purchase green products. For data analysis, both descriptive statistics measurements and a logit regression model were used. One of the most important findings shows that there is a significant and positive relationship between environmental factors (e.g., pollution reduction, greenhouse effect reduction) and the decision to purchase organic products; furthermore, Romanian consumers are less willing to pay high prices for green products. By offering important information on new variables relevant for a deeper understanding of a consumer located in a green emerging market such as Romania, this study may be useful for both academics and companies that could be interested in entering new local markets.

1. Introduction

The last 50 years have been defined through multiple efforts made by scientists in order to illustrate the need for responsible consumption and environmental protection. Consequently, when considering consumer behavior, there is still a need for further research regarding awareness of green consumption.

The study of the green consumer and green purchases is of increasing interest, both from an academic point of view and from the point of view of companies and governments. Even if a single definition of green consumers cannot be provided, most researchers refer to them as consumers whose consumption is significantly determined by their concerns for the environment and society [1]. These consumers believe that by purchasing organic products, they can have an impact on the environment and contribute to its conservation [2]. Moreover, these consumers often purchase organic products due to their social image, which makes them attractive for marketing strategies based on social identity [3].

Currently, green acquisition is an important concern for all actors involved. Thus, many companies from various fields of activity pay more attention to the concept of green marketing, intending, in this way, to obtain a competitive advantage. In this manner, companies simultaneously pursue two types of objectives: on the one hand, they address environmental issues, pursuing the achievement of environmental goals, and on the other hand, they pursue achieving profit-related benefits. Green marketing thus becomes an opportunity to achieve the goals of the organization [4].

At the same time, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the impact that the consumption of goods and services has on their own well-being and on the environment [5]. The literature suggests a significant interest in the attraction of consumers to organic food, but also for sustainable practices in other sectors, such as tourism, trade and fashion [6]. Understanding why consumers buy green is important for both companies and policy makers. For example, to minimize the production of non-eco-friendly goods and services, governments have established an agenda of laws and measures to regulate production and consumption [7].

From this perspective, it is interesting to investigate how consumers in a country perceive environmental issues and how these views are translated into buying behavior regarding green products and services. Consistent with this, an important challenge facing marketers is to identify the factors that lead consumers to buy green products or the reasons taken into consideration before making green purchases. Identifying these factors could help marketers develop effective marketing strategies to attract consumers to green products and support environmental protection [8].

In taking into consideration the aforementioned concepts, the main purpose of the current study is to understand better a sum of variables that influence the green purchase decision of the Romanian consumer as a representative part of the Central and Eastern European group of countries.

Understanding the variables residing behind the consumer’s particular decision may prove to be useful for both academic purposes and for businesses and entrepreneurs that decide to pursue the green niche. The contribution and novelty of the current study consist in filling the academic gap that involves variables influencing the consumer decision, both the conventional ones (e.g., price, brand) analyzed in academic papers cited in the literature review section and the uncommon variables considered to be environment-related (e.g., greenhouse effect, pollution reduction). In addition, this research also focused on analyzing sociodemographic factors as independent variables that influence the green product purchase decision.

The research problem aims to evaluate the influence of four categories of factors on the decision to purchase green products: person-related factors (age, gender, income, education and desire), product-related factors (brand, price and lifetime), environment-related factors (ease of recycling, environment preservation, greenhouse reduction, pollution reduction and local development), and reference group-related factors (trends and friends’ recommendations).

Therefore, the first research objective of the study was to find out if a green purchase decision is influenced by person-related factors. The second one evaluates if the green purchase decision is influenced by environment-related factors, and the third one analyses if the green purchase decision is influenced by product-related variables. Finally, the last objective aims at finding out if the green purchase decision is influenced by the reference group variables described in the literature review section.

The present study continues with the literature review on the factors that influence the intention to buy green products. This is followed by the research methodology section, presentation and discussion of the results. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and suggestions for future implications and research are provided.

2. Literature Review

In order to understand the drivers that reside behind green purchasing, we need to address the broader problem of sustainability as a process by which the individual becomes mindful of the need to harmonize personal needs with long-term social and environmental consequences [9,10]. The modern explanation of sustainable consumption refers more to the responsibility passed between various generations in regards to fulfilling specific needs and an unspoken requisite of customers to become knowledgeable about their way of consumption and act according to such values [11]. Nonetheless, consumers have proven multiple times that being aware of environmental issues will not automatically translate into taking concrete actions [12] as in behaving accordingly and adopting such purchasing practices [13,14,15].

In order to further understand the factors that reside behind a consumer’s decision to purchase a green product and the possible existing correlations among multiple variables [16], we need to clarify a few key concepts that will build an appropriate framework for the current research.

The concern regarding the social and environmental consequences of consumer behavior has risen and grown in the last few decades [17] and influenced the marketing field where concepts such as ecological, green, greener, environmental or sustainable marketing came to life [18,19,20,21,22].

The first definition of green marketing involved an analysis of both positive and negative facets of pollution and the diminution of energy-related resources [23]. Later on, the concept focused on satisfying the customers’ needs or desires in a profitable yet sustainable manner, with little to no negative environmental impact [24,25]. Ottman [26] and Polonsky [27] stated that green or environmental marketing includes a batch of structural and product (or service) fine-tuning, which will result in satisfied customers, great profits and environmental protection [28] by creating strategies and implementing activities accordingly, starting from research and development (R&D) and culminating with packaging and advertising [29].

The concept of the green product has generally and extensively been considered [30,31,32,33] in relation to environmentally secure consumption and production [34]. It has been demonstrated that a green product involves less pollution, contributes to the protection of natural resources [35] and can be properly conserved or packaged [36,37].

In order to get a clear picture of the disparities between a regular product and a green (ecological) product, studies such as Braga Junior’s and others [33] have established that the aforementioned are less harmful to individual health and the environment from both a packaging and content angle [35]. As a result, a green product represents an updated version of the conventional one, which triggers fewer negative environmental effects, has a different and reduced life cycle (organic foods), has a structure that is friendly to the environment [33,38] and saves energy reserves [39]. Choosing this type of product might generate additional expenses for the consumer and become challenging for a company to commercialize, be competitive in the market and persuade customers to buy green [40]. On the other hand, Azevedo and others [35] found that on account of recycling and cost optimization with waste, selling green products will eventually generate profit in the long run, considering the lifecycle advantages of the product [41].

Reflecting on the concept’s evolution from “ecological” to “green” or “sustainable”, Rahnama and Rajabpour [23] managed to create a four-level taxonomy based on fundamental criteria. First of all, they addressed the environmental angle, where green products are created from clean materials with little to no environmental and human impact, such as hybrid or electric vehicles [42,43,44]. Second, these products are energy efficient both in terms of consumption and production [23,45,46]. Third, the materials used for their production are already recycled or reusable [23,47]. Last but not least, all the processes involved in the production are eco-friendly and use biodegradable components [46,47,48].

Society’s concern toward its consumerism consequences got materialized into a “green” or “sustainable” behavior transforming simple consumers into green, responsible ones [49,50,51]. In the last few decades, the green consumer even got actively involved in civic organizations, manifestations and boycotts against companies that have not adopted eco-friendly positions and practices [35,52]. Nonetheless, in order to become a green consumer, he/she feels the need to get fulfilled with respect to specific primary needs such as quality, performance and a fair price in relation to quality [53]. The requirement regarding environmental protection or negative effects materializes mostly thanks to a heightened concern toward choosing an eco-friendly product or service [54]. Naturally, one might think that an erudite and demanding green customer would possess all the knowledge regarding environmental issues [55], having the aim of placing a certain level of pressure on stakeholders (businesses and authorities) and getting the proper solution for the environmental “problem” they have in mind [56]. However, the green customer, even proven knowledgeable [57], will not always decide to acquire a green product and will need to get persuaded by companies if they are interested in getting maximum profits on the acquisition [56,58].

Considering the purpose of the present research, the term green purchase (acquisition) represents a process of choice by which green consumers aim to purchase goods and services that have a minimum impact on the environment throughout their lifetime, compared to “standard” goods and services that have the same basic functionalities in the traditional system, such as: pesticide-free food, non-genetically modified, chlorine-free paper, environmentally friendly detergents, low-energy appliances, clean transport, eco cleaning services and many others.

2.1. Finding Variables That Might Influence the Green Purchase Decision

Generally speaking, the green purchase decision is influenced by both internal and external factors. While some consumers feel more responsible toward the environment and are willing to act accordingly, others prefer to get a green product mainly for the better quality, price or positive effects on human well-being [59]. Scholars have found that purchase determination might represent a method used by responsible customers to support eco-friendly companies [60] that pay close attention to sustainable activities and are open to paying more for green products [61,62].

Regarding the inner motivators of a consumer, the green purchase intention might as well rest on its consumer’s kindness and the way the person feels motivated. On the other hand, knowledge of environmental problems or ecoliteracy [63] has become an extremely relevant forecaster for the mode a green consumer will behave [64] and becomes helpful for companies who are aware of these problems and are interested in exploiting and developing their businesses, in order to assist consumers in satisfying their needs and desires [65]. Consequently, the purchase intention can be used in predicting the purchase behavior [66,67] as a probability and disposition of consumers to choose green products [68] and outsource their care for a safe and sustainable environment.

The following section attempts to briefly discuss the relevant findings and theoretical contexts in regards to the consumers’ green purchasing decisions with a main goal of developing a framework that will potentially illustrate the variables used in the current analysis that might have a significant impact on Romanian consumers’ green purchase decisions.

Several variables have proven to be significant to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the main objective of the research, a few of the most common variables being:collectivism, environmental concern, perceived consumer effectiveness [54], attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and many others that will be presented below [8,69,70]. Two of the most popular and applied theories on the presented topic are Ajzen and Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) from 1980 [71] and Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TRB), published in 1991 [72]. Initially, the TRA [71] displayed the person’s behavior as a variable conditioned by two main factors: individual attitude and social norms. Later, due to TRA’s model limitations, Ajzen considered it essential to add a third determinant factor, namely perceived behavioral control [73], thus TPB being created. Moreover, in 2005, he described a personal objective as containing behavior character, which meant that when the decision to behave in a particular way was taken, the individual’s following steps would transform the intention into concrete action at a specific moment in time, which felt appropriate to the individual [74]. Arvola et al. (2008) followed Ajzen’s TPB model for analyzing the actual buying behavior of a green consumer, but, as many other studies found, not all the variables have a strong correlation, especially with respect to attitude. Vermeir and Verbeke [14] as well as Wheale and Hinton [75] discovered the “attitude–behavior gap” as a weak association between a consumer’s articulated positive attitude toward buying green products and the concrete action of buying. Based on over 50 relevant studies, Joshi and Rahman [73] have analyzed in great detail because TPB was not counted as a proper model for rationalizing ethical behavior because it did not include the affective side of consumers or their habits, which were also found relevant [76,77]. As a result, many other empirical studies found that Ajzen’s [74] TPB considers only partially the problem of green purchasing behavior, and amendments might be useful in order to overcome certain limitations. Carington and others [78] also found that the studies that focus only on the association between attitude, intention and behavior disregard external influences as in factors that take into account both the environment and specific situations, or as Guagnano and others [79] found in the Attitude-Behaviour-Context (ABC) the contextual factors.

If we are considering relevant research on the topic, Phipps’s and others [80] deterministic theory of identifying sustainable user behavior is worthy of note. According to their study, personal variables (including attitude) and past behaviors will have a significant relevance over future sustainable behavior in strengthening or declining the attitude–behavior connection. Therefore, the study states that attitude is not the only determinant for future eco-friendly behavior but also situational factors. Furthermore, some studies consider other variables to be equally relevant, such as: government contribution, personal beliefs of the product in relation to the environment, perception over organic nourishment [81], information accessibility regarding green products as well as ease of access to such products [82]. Mostafa [83] was also concerned with environmental-related variables that have an impact on purchasing behavior, such as: the impact of environmental concern and knowledge, environmental attitudes and even selflessness when considering environmental protection over personal advantages [82].

Ismail and Panni [84] state that environmental consumerism practice has some impact on the consumer ethical purchasing behavior, and Boztepe [85] analyzed the impact of green price, green promotion and ecological product features on the purchasing decision and demographic characteristics. This study used a selection of relevant variables derived from theoretical models presented before, such as: person related (information such as age, education, gender, etc.), knowledge (specific information regarding environmental problems owned by the consumer), values (individualism, collectivism), behavior (e.g., recycling or considering environmental issues when purchasing a product) and attitudes (e.g., importance or inconvenience of being environmentally friendly).

From Laroche and others [63] and developing on Joshi and Rahman’s findings [73], the current research is focused on specific individual and contextual factors. While individual factors usually have proven to be related to one’s experience, contextual factors are usually external. Therefore, the research model presented in Figure 1 proposes possible associations between the variables investigated. The model postulates that a consumer’s decision to buy green products is significantly influenced by four main factors: person-related factors, environment-related factors, product-related factors and reference group-related factors.

2.1.1. Person-Related Factors

Identifying if socio-demographics have an impact on a consumer’s green behavior and green purchase decision [86] was one of the main topics to study in the early 1970s [63]. For the current research, in order to define the personal factors, the following variables will be taken into consideration: gender, age, education (studies or literacy), income and desire.

(a)

Gender

In Anderson and Cunningham’s [87] view, the green consumer is the person who puts first society and the environment’s needs beforehand, belongs to the middle class or above and is recognized in society according to a profession and status. Moreover, the prevalent gender for the above description was the female one, proving to be more likely than men to act in an eco-friendly manner. The idea was later on reinforced by many studies [63,88,89,90,91]. Diamantolopous and others [92] also concluded that women have a closer relation to the environment and often demonstrate eco-friendly behaviors and, if married, usually influence their husbands to adopt the same behavior [85]. Nonetheless, males were also found to be more knowledgeable than women about environmental issues [92,93] and purchasing green products [94]. Arcury [95] even found that females were less environmentally concerned than males [96]. Considering the previous literature regarding the impact of gender on the green purchase decision, we consider that there are many details yet to be found. Therefore, the current study will explore the impact of gender as a variable and its significance (if any) on the green purchase decision of a green consumer.

(b)

Age

There has also been a scientific tide that began to flow in the late 1970s [87,97] that argued in favor of young people being more susceptible to understanding green marketing problems [98]. Lately, D’Souza and others [99] found a change in this trend, the green consumer being older than the average, in opposition to prior relevant studies [100,101].

As age still represents a contradictory factor in much empirical research, the correlation between age and other significant variables related to the green purchasing topic is also inconsistent. While initially, age and green behavior were weakly correlated [102], other studies found significant and positive relations and consider age as the most reliable forecasting variable [103] of an environmentally friendly behavior [96]. In addition, Soonthonsmai [29] found that the intention of green purchasing is highly and positively correlated with both age and income [104].

(c)

Income

According to Laroche and others [63], the first studies on green consumerism (e.g., [105]) started from the assumption that a consumer who had an average or high income had a tendency to act eco-friendly because, at the time, a wealthy person was also a highly educated person interested in current social difficulties. However, later studies found that green behavior was regular, no matter the income level. In addition, Sandahl and Robertson [100] even found less educated consumers more environmentally friendly than the high-end category of consumers. On the other side, Engel and others [106] suggest that green purchase intentions are strongly influenced by consumers’ income [93].

Income has been, for a long time, relevant to green consumer behavior due to the supposition that most ecological products have higher prices than standard ones and might influence green purchase intention [93,107,108]. This conclusion was mostly drawn because, in order to buy green, the consumer must meet certain economic conditions [109]. In opposition, other studies (e.g., Hockett and others [110]) came across the fact that higher-income consumers are acting more environmentally friendly and, in Thailand, this category of people is more likely to procure organic products [111].

Moreover, other studies [109,112,113] have also considered income as a significant variable for influencing the green purchasing decision and a variable influencing consumer purchasing intentions. Therefore, one of the objectives of the current research is to find out if there is a significant relation between income as an independent personal variable and green purchase decision.

(d)

Education

Prior findings have considered education as a significant variable in the green purchasing decision because a knowledgeable consumer is more sensitive to a subject and acts accordingly [95,98,101,114].

On the other hand, there were studies where a positive relation between the two variables could not be found [98,100,102]. If correlated with previous variables, the young, wealthy and well-educated females with a liberal ideology proved to be more open to green behavior [96]. Other studies found that a higher academic training and social class will translate into a greater amount of information regarding sustainability and environmental issues [92,93,99,115]. Moreover, some of California’s academic students were also found ecoliterate, preferring the electric or hybrid vehicle instead of the conventional one [116].

(e)

Desire

In a study performed by Lee [70], where he discovered the significance of social influence on green purchase behavior, he considered desires and habits as relevant variables that influence the green purchase decision [117].

Moreover, according to Ting and others [118], desire intention has been proven to represent a mental situation that urges a person to achieve or realize private motives and represents a precursor for triggering behavior intentions [119,120,121,122]. The behavior intention encompasses the individual’s resolution regarding whether to act in a particular way by considering many factors [118]; in our case, it is the assessment process of whether the green consumer would desire to buy a green product or not.

Even though most of the aforementioned studies are both in favor and in contradiction of using the five personal variables as determinants for a green purchasing decision, it is also necessary to validate the particular case of Romania, mostly because results from a cultural area might differ in comparison to other cultures. With the aim of clarifying the impact of the personal factor on the green purchasing decision, we have formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis H1:

The green purchase decision is influenced by person-related factors.

Hypothesis H1a:

Gender has a significant and positive influence over the green purchasing decision.

Hypothesis H1b:

The level of education has a significant and positive impact over the green purchasing decision.

Hypothesis H1c:

The income level has a significant and positive impact over the green purchasing decision.

Hypothesis H1d:

There is a significant and positive relationship between age and the green purchasing decision.

Hypothesis H1e:

There is a significant and positive relationship between desire and the green purchasing decision.

2.1.2. Environment-Related Factors

Previous studies that have taken into consideration environmental factors related to the green purchase decision have presented the green consumer as a person with a developed ecological behavior that is dependent on information gathered on the environmental or sustainability theme [123,124,125,126,127]. Undoubtedly, for a consumer to act in accordance with a specific concern, firstly, they must at least understand the general concepts (knowledge) related to environmental problems. As a result, such a consumer might make a faster and correct decision to buy green [125]. Moreover, according to Kim and Choi [54], environmental concern directly affects green purchasing behavior and decision. The level of consumers’ environmental concern has been proven to be correlated to their interest and desire to acquire green products [128,129].

Rehman and Bin Dost [117] presented that both concepts of knowledge and concern generated a significant impact on consumers’ green purchase intention, especially when considering environmentally interested people, attitudes representing the mediator between concern and intention [130]. Moreover, the environmental concern can be analyzed differently in accordance with the purpose of research, for example: the problem of waste, protecting flora and fauna of a specific area, impact on health and many others [131].

Environmental pollution and awareness of environmental protection were found to influence the buying behavior of a consumer who is aware of the significance of recycling and environmental issues [85,132].

Other academics [32] have suggested that a green consumer’s evaluation of a product in relation to environmental concerns involves analyzing product features, the quality of the product with respect to green criteria, performance and other advantages [133].

In addition to price and other product-related benefits (e.g., lower electricity bills, longer lifetime), a product’s green features and environmental awareness regarding a green product might be included in the category of environmental concern [10,85,134]. Informing the customers by giving all the necessary information on a product’s label might also contribute to a fast and steady decision [10,134]. Several studies have proven that even though the price is higher, if the information provided regarding the ecological advantages is compelling and proven to have a tangible benefit, consumers opt to buy a green product instead of a conventional one [10,135,136]. In a sample of over 4000 respondents, Thogersen [137] found that consumers were willing to buy green considering sustainable consumption at a collective level and not only due to individual interests.

The current factor related to the environment involves variables that represent the foundation for consumers’ awareness and proper action toward acting in an eco-friendly way. Various studies have found as main problems of concern: the depletion of natural resources, global warming, pollution, health threats of toxic substances, greenhouse effect reduction and many other problems [124,138]. These problems are the ones that are taken into consideration by the consumers at the moment of acquiring a green product as proof of “loyalty towards green commitment” [10].

As a result, we have created the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis H2:

The green purchase decision is influenced by environment-related factors.

Hypothesis H2a:

There is a significant and positive relationship between the ease of recycling and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H2b:

There is a significant and positive relationship between environmental preservation and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H2c:

There is a significant and positive relationship between greenhouse reduction and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H2d:

There is a significant and positive relationship between pollution reduction and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H2e:

There is a significant and positive relationship between local development and the green purchase decision.

2.1.3. Product-Related Factors

Nowadays, consumers tend to become more aware of the environmental situation; therefore, they are more demanding toward companies when acquiring certain products or services. This is how an entirely new market has slowly emerged. As a result, firms that were not usually interested in becoming green became somehow coerced and decided to enter the green market because it is simply more profitable. Regarding the consumer, when making a final decision, they usually take into consideration more than one variable. The current research focuses on three main product variables: brand, price and lifetime.

(a)

Brand

In simple terms, the brand represents “a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers” [139].

When discussing green product branding, in addition to the aforementioned explanations provided by the American Marketing Association, we should also consider the “impressions, conceptions and apprehensions” [140] that are stored long-term in a green consumer remembrance regarding the company’s position on a responsible and sustainable activity [73]. Nevertheless, the daily practice has shown that customers are also picky regarding committing to a particular brand and still prefer an ordinary one, proved worthy in time, rather than green brands [124]. Moreover, a 2011 study found that trust in a green brand was one of the main variables that positively impacted the green purchase decision [73]. Customers’ level of satisfaction is going to be elevated considering a respectable brand, but in order to gain a reputation, the company must provide the market with a respectable product that gets appreciation from consumers. If the product proves to be a failure, the brand name and image will follow through [141]. Because there are still a few studies that have analyzed the impact of brand on green purchasing behavior, there is still research to be done [73], and the current analysis will focus only on the possible influence of a green product brand over the green purchasing decision.

(b)

Price

In general, price is one of the marketing mix components that illustrates a revenue or an amount of payment made by the consumer to a provider of goods or services as compensation for what the consumer gets [93,141].

Because, in some cases, the price can be considered a marker for evaluating quality, there are consumers willing to pay a higher price for an expected and grasped added value. The added value may vary in accordance with the consumer’s needs or desires, deriving from design to efficiency and utility (including a larger lifetime for the product), especially in the case of green products [142].

Green consumers are open to paying more for a product that is presented as a reliable green product (including the adequate label) on the condition that they are capable of understanding the economic and sustainable advantages of procuring the item with the support of tangible long-term proof [10,93,135,136]. Usually, some of the reasons for a green product’s higher pricing are either the materials used in production or the processing method or simply the limited offer from a selection [93]. In view of green products’ higher prices, non-green consumers, that usually are more passive when it comes to being informed, become refrained from acquiring these products as if they possess a lower quality than regular products [143]. In addition, it has been found that consumers that were usually not open to getting informed on ecological topics were the ones who proved to be price sensitive and considered green products too pricey for what they pretended to offer compared to conventional products [93]. Price was also analyzed as a barrier to purchasing green products, and refraining from buying green might simply be triggered by the consumer’s limited budget [73].

Nonetheless, in the case of green consumers, various studies have found that those who were not or are little price sensitive were more open to purchasing green products [73,144,145]. Conversely, sensitivity to a higher price influences green purchase behavior in a negative way [73].

(c)

Lifetime

When talking about the lifetime of a product, we are considering the time span from when a product is sold to the moment it is disposed of. According to Joshi and Rahman [73], this represents a green product attribute that was found to influence in a positive way the green purchase decision [124,146]. Apart from the taste or healthiness of a product (food) [147], consumers usually consider a product with a long lifespan as being a quality product. If the consumer perceives a green product as having a high quality, it will have a positive influence on the green purchase intention and behavior [144,148], while a perceived low quality will negatively influence the consumer [149]. If the consumer has mixed and negative feelings towards the product quality, this may end in holding back from making the buy. The current research aims at finding if a product’s lifetime might influence the green purchasing decision. As a result, we have created the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis H3:

The green purchase decision is influenced by product related variables.

Hypothesis H3a:

There is a significant and negative relationship between the price of a green product and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H3b:

There is a significant and positive relationship between a green product brand and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H3c:

There is a significant and negative relationship between a green product lifetime and the green purchase decision.

2.1.4. Reference Group Variables

Social norms have been considered a relevant stimulus in many situations, and their impact on environmentally friendly behavior is one of them [117,149]. The conceptual frame of a reference group can be broadly expanded both on social influence (as in family, peers, friends, coworkers, etc.) but also on trends that a consumer identifies in their social group regarding certain products or services that usually play a part in building the consumer’s self-image and sense of inclusion in a certain group to which they belong. In other words, the reference group may be relevant in regards to green purchase behavior because it directly or indirectly has a coercive power over the consumer [117], even determining a sudden change in behavior, particularly in the case of young consumers [150]. As a result, many experts have found that social norms represent relevant motivators for the sustainable conduct of the green consumer [151].

In Joshi and Rahman’s [73] study, we discovered that social norms and reference groups have a significant and positive relationship with the green purchase intention and actual acquisition of a green product [96,145,152,153]. Nonetheless, there are a few studies [154,155] that find contrary social norms being negatively correlated with the green purchase intention and, therefore, the acquisition behavior [73]. For the current study, we have decided to analyze the influence of the following variables:

(a)

Friends’ recommendations

According to Hoyer and MacInnis [156], “the strength of normative influence of the consumers’ family and social groups on purchasing decision making, depends on the characteristics of the product (e.g., luxury rather than a necessary, publicly displayed or used in private), the susceptibility of the individual consumer and the coercive power of the group to which the consumer belongs to”. In simple terms, a green consumer who has been influenced by a group of people (e.g., family or friends) will proceed to buy the specific product [152] or will change their “faith and cognitive values towards purchasing green products based on the opinions of others” [104].

Daido [157] finds that environmental transformation can trigger a mentality adjustment that influences a person’s behavior; therefore, if the social context encourages the consumer to buy green, they will do so [8].

In addition, when part of a specific group, consumers will evaluate products based on friends’ reviews or information [158,159] and tend to define their own preferences also based on the “pressure” generated by the group [65], which leads us to the idea of trend as a variable that might influence the green purchase decision.

(b)

Trends

In this context, we are going to interpret the trend in relation to social values as adopting a lifestyle in accordance with a reputation a consumer wants to build and behave as an eco-literate person [160]. If the person does not manage to align to this kind of trend, he/she risks being perceived in society as old-fashioned [65]. Being up-to-date with a trend will create valuable consequences for consumers, mostly regarding reputation, proof of adequate education and even concern toward sustainable practices [161]. So, besides real environmental concerns, we can analyze the effort made by a green consumer in order to keep up with trends for both boosting self-image and social image [65,162]. Both Mee [163] and Good [164] brought to light the importance of creating awareness. According to their findings, the consumers that proved to be responsive to media campaigns (e.g., TV commercials) were more open to acquiring green products [8].

Considering the aforementioned details regarding reference group, we designed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis H4:

The green purchase decision is influenced by reference group variables.

Hypothesis H4a:

There is a significant and positive relationship between friends’ recommendations and the green purchase decision.

Hypothesis H4b:

There is a significant and positive relationship between trends and the green purchase decision.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. The Sample

As we presented, the aim of this article is to examine if the decision to purchase green products is influenced by different variables. In order to do this, we analyzed several indicators that can explain this from the perspective of the buyer, including factors that are related to the product, such as brand, characteristics, price, etc., but also factors that were not related to a specific product, such as the person’s educational level, earnings, reference group, environmental concerns, etc. (

Table 1. Independent variables used in the model.

Indicator	Explanation
Person Related
age	This variable is related to the respondent’s birth year. We split the database into four groups. Born before 1965 (graded 1), between 1966–1979 (graded 2), between 1980–1994 (graded 3) and after 1995 (graded 4).
gender	It is a dummy variable. The variable takes value 1 if the respondent is female and 0 if male.
studies	The variable takes into account the respondent’s answer regarding the last form of education that she or he finished. These were primary school (graded 1), high school (graded 2), Bachelor’s (graded 3), Master’s (graded 4) or PhD (graded 5).
income	This variable measures monthly income. The respondents were asked to point out in which interval best fits their average monthly income (less than 1.500 lei (graded 1), between 1500 and 2500 lei (graded 2), between 2500 and 3500 lei (graded 3), between 3500 and 4500 lei (graded 4), between 4500 and 5500 lei (graded 5), or over 5.500 lei (graded 6)).
desire	This variable measures the desire to buy ecological products on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is related to never had the desire to buy ecological products and 5 is related to a very high chance of buying ecological products.
Product Related
price	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding the ecological products price. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
brand	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding the ecological products brand. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
quality	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding the ecological products quality. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
lifetime	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding the ecological products lifetime. The scale is from 1 to 5 where 1 means not important and 5 means very important
Reference Group
trends	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products is fashionable. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
friend recommendations	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological product is recommended by a friend. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
Environmental
local development	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products can help local development. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
easy recycle	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products can be easily recycled. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
preserve environment	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products can preserve the environment. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
greenhouse effect	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products can help reduce the greenhouse effect. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.
pollution reduction	The variable measures the respondent’s opinion regarding if the ecological products can reduce the pollution. The scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 means not important and 5 means very important.

Source: Survey results.

).

The item used to measure the dependent variable (green purchase decision of products) was adapted from studies performed in the last 30 years on the green purchase behavior and determinants. Since there was a slight possibility of the respondents not being aware of the green purchase concept, a brief description was included at the beginning of the online survey.

The database of the study contains information resulting from a survey initiated at the end of 2019 in Romania, before the COVID-19 outbreak. From our point of view, this means that the results are consistent and unbiased by the recent health crisis.

We collected 915 answers from different Romanian citizens (54.2% female, 45.7% male), persons of different ages (10.49% over 55 years, 38.25% between 40 and 54 years; 39.34% between 25–39 years, and 11.9% less than 24 years). We have tested our sample according to the Romanian distribution of population, and we can accept that the upcoming results can explain the behavior of the Romanian population toward buying green products.

3.2. Descriptive Statistics of the Variables Included into the Analysis

In order to process the data and interpret the resulting information, we used a logistic regression model, where the dependent variable was related to the consumer’s decision whether to buy or not to buy green products. We considered the variable to be 1 if the respondent answered that he or she often or very often buys green products and 0 otherwise. To determine the factors that can influence someone’s decision to buy green products, we conducted several regression models to test our four factors consisting of various variables: person-related variables, environment-related variables, reference group variables and product-related variables. We chose variables according to the hypotheses mentioned in the previous sections, and we tested them to see whether they could explain the decision to buy green products. The independent variables used are presented in Table 1. The descriptive statistics show trends in the decision to buy ecological products. In terms of person-related variables, we can see that the respondents are mainly persons that were born between 1966 and 1994, almost equally female and male and with a relatively high desire to buy ecological products. Moreover, they have an average income of 700 EUR per month and usually hold a Bachelor’s degree. In terms of product-related variables, the respondents consider that green products have a high quality (4.53 out of 5), but also the price is high (3.95 out of 5), and they have a longer lifetime (3.97 out of 5). Moreover, green products can preserve the environment (3.51 out of 5) and help to reduce pollution (3.75 out of 5).

We have also tested for multi-collinearity identification. The correlation matrix for this is presented in Appendix A. We did not consider that in the same regression, the variables correlated at a higher level than 0.4. This approach is based on the fact that otherwise biased coefficients of the independent variables can be obtained in the regression models upon which the research was conducted.

4. Results and Discussions

One of the main research questions is regarding the decision of Romanian citizens to purchase green products. We wanted to know how frequently someone will purchase a green product (

Table 2. Consumers’ decision and desire to buy green.

Indicator (%)	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very Often
Decision	2.62%	24.48%	37.05%	25.46%	10.38%
Desire	3.06%	25.46%	11.58%	34.43%	25.46%

Source: Survey results.

). Results suggest that more than 35% buy ecological products “often” or “very often” but a very large number of the respondents answered “only sometimes”.

Another important question was about the desire to buy a green product. We considered that maybe some of the respondents are willing to buy green products, but due to some specific issues, they cannot take into account buying these products for the moment. These issues can be related to lack of trust, financial problems, education, etc. The results are presented in Table 2.

Moreover, the results show that more than 60% answered that they are willing to buy green products (considering the persons who answered “a lot” or “very much”). In comparison to the question above, where only 35% declared that they are already buying green products, we concluded that there are some factors that can influence the decision to buy these products. So, the aim of our study is to find out what triggers these differences and also which factors can influence a person to buy ecological products.

In order to find some answers, we asked respondents’ opinions regarding green products, and we gave them the opportunity to scale their answers from 1 to 5 (Likert scale), 1 if they totally disagree and 5 if they totally agree. The answers are presented in

Table 3. Respondents’ opinion regarding ecological products.

Opinion	Average Opinion
Ecological products are expensive.	4.00
I am not interested in the environment.	2.18
I cannot do anything to improve the environment.	2.15
It is my responsibility to protect the environment.	2.38
Ecological products protect more the environment than other products.	3.72
I do not know what an ecological product is.	1.79
It is hard to identify ecological products in stores.	2.58
It is the Government responsibility to protect the environment.	3.24
It is the companies’ responsibility to protect the environment.	3.33
The ecological products have a low quality and are only based on “marketing”.	2.60
Ecological products are good for my health.	4.12

Source: Survey results.

.

An important thing to take into account is that there is a general understanding of what a green product represents and that anyone can help improve the environment. There is also a general agreement that ecological products are expensive, but there is also general knowledge that these products are good for health.

Our survey also was intended to find out which green products were often bought by respondents. As the answers from

Table 4. Respondents’ opinion regarding what ecological products they are in the habit of buying.

Opinion	Average Opinion
I buy only food-related ecological products.	3.29
I buy only cleaning-related ecological products.	2.46
I buy only hygiene-related ecological products.	2.92
I buy only ecological products only if I have time for shopping.	2.90
I buy only ecological products only if I can afford.	3.72
I inform myself what ecological product to buy.	3.13
I decide to buy ecological product according to the information I find in stores.	3.14

Source: Survey results.

show, the average opinion is that more food-related products are bought because they are more ecological than other types of products. Moreover, the general acceptance is that green products are bought if someone can afford them.

In this section, we tested our hypotheses and implicitly the variables that can influence the decision to buy green products presented in

Table 5. The model estimated results.

Variable	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
age	−0.02	−0.02	−0.019	−0.02
	(−1.71) *	(−1.67) *	(−1.36)	(−1.41)
gender	0.001	0.001	−0.004	0.0004
	(0.03)	(0.03)	(−0.18)	(0.01)
studies	0.05	0.05	0.054	0.05
	(5.22) ***	(5.19) ***	(5.32) ***	(5.29) ***
desire	0.18	0.18	0.17	0.18
	(13.85) ***	(13.87) ***	(13.27) ***	(13.84) ***
price	−0.068	−0.069	−0.067	−0.067
	(−5.63) ***	(−5.71) ***	(−5.65) ***	(−5.78) ***
brand	0.025	0.029	0.022	0.028
	(2.01) **	(2.28) **	(1.79) **	(2.20) **
quality	0.02	0.019	0.021	0.017
	(1.17)	(1.14)	(1.27)	(0.099)
trends	0.004	0.006	−0.005	0.005
	(0.35)	(0.55)	(−0.46)	(0.46)
lifetime	−0.027	−0.026	−0.033	−0.025
	(−2.15) **	(−2.13) **	(−2.66) **	(−2.01) **
friends’ recommendations	0.005	0.016	0.006	0.005
	(0.47)	(0.147)	(0.60)	(0.517)
local development	0.036	0.025	0.036	0.042
	(2.74) ***	(1.73) ***	(3.13) ***	(3.50) ***
easy recycle			0.068
			(5.62) ***
preserve environment	0.04
	(3.26) ***
greenhouse effect		0.06
		(5.11) ***
pollution reduction				0.041
				(3.11) ***
R-squared number of observations	38.31%	39.34%	39.70%	38.25%
	915	915	915	915

Source: Survey results. Note: Level of significance for t-test: * p < 0.1; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01.

. This table estimates the factors that influence the decision to buy green products in Romania. We used a Logit Regression model. We did not consider in the same regression, the variables correlated at a higher level than 0.4. T-statistics are between parentheses. This means that the independent variables identified explain the consumers’ green purchasing decision in Romania. The adjusted R² = 0.3831 means that about 38% of the variation in Romanian consumers’ green purchasing decision is explained by the variables presented in the current study.

We started our research by testing Hypothesis 1 (H1), which analysed the influence of person-related variables on a green purchase decision. H1 was split into five secondary hypotheses (a–e), four of them representing socio-demographic variables and one simply illustrating the green consumer’s desire to acquire a green product. Regarding the independent variable gender, we found that it did not exert a significant influence over the green purchase decision, nor did the gender difference. As found in studies presented in the literature section, the impact of gender has yet to become a stable or relevant one, both for influencing green purchasing intention and for making a final acquisition decision. Therefore, hypothesis H1a is not accepted with t = 0.03 and p > 0.1.

Education (or, in our survey, the level of studies) represents a variable that exerts a significant and positive influence over the green purchase decision (t = 5.22, p < 0.01), being one of the most reliable variables of our research (Figure 2). This means that more formal education or a great interest in becoming an informed person will translate into being aware and inclined to buy green products. In comparison to an average consumer, the educated green consumer will decide faster for the greater environmental good. Thus, H1b is accepted.

Income has always been a disputed variable used in researching the regular consumer, his/hers buying intention and decision. The influence of income in the case of green purchasing decision has proven to be not significant for Romanian consumers’, a result in accordance with the initial findings in the green consumer research [63]. Nonetheless, there were countries such as Thailand [111] that illustrated income as a significant variable that influenced the green purchasing decision. One of Romania’s possible motivations behind the current result may be determined by the decline of middle-class consumers who live inside the country’s borders and can afford such products. Therefore, H1c is not accepted.

Regarding the variable age, the findings show that it exerts a positive significant influence on the green purchasing decision (t = −1.71, p < 0.1). The negative value of t is a consequence of the way the age groups were coded, as listed in Table 1. This means that as you grow older, you become more interested in purchasing in accordance with green standards. Thus, H1d is accepted.

The final independent variable of the person-related factors is the consumer’s desire to buy a green product. Besides the fact that academic literature has deeply analyzed this factor more as a mediator than an influencing one, we found that, nonetheless, it exerted a significant and positive impact on the green purchasing decision. This outcome has led us to the conclusion that a consumer who has made up his/her mind about purchasing a specific green item will act in accordance. For future research, it would be interesting to explore the relation between desire and behavior intention. Therefore, H1e is accepted.

To sum up, H1 is partially accepted with age, education and desire as relevant variables that exert a significant impact on Romanian consumers’ green purchasing decision.

Hypothesis 2 (H2) analyzes the influence of environment-related variables on the green purchase decision. H2 was split into five secondary hypotheses (a–e), representing the most popular concepts analyzed in the literature in relation to the green consumer purchase decision. As shown in Table 5, the p-values of ease of recycling, environment preservation, greenhouse reduction, pollution reduction and local development are significant (p < 0.01) and all exert a positive influence on the green purchase decision. This result might also be interesting to be analyzed in relation to green consumers’ attitude and behavior toward protecting the environment and actively getting involved in encouraging companies to produce greener. In this way, consumers will be able to pollute the environment as little as possible. H2 was totally accepted, proving that the Romanian green consumer decision may be taken only after analyzing its consequences toward long-term effects on the environment and may be considering future generations’ interests.

The third hypothesis (H3) tests the influence exerted by the following product-related variables: price, brand and lifetime on Romanian consumers’ green purchasing decision. As presented in Table 5, there is a significant but negative relationship between price and the green purchase decision (t = −5.63, p < 0.01), which means that the higher the price of a green product, the lower the chance of being acquired by the consumer. It might be presumed, considering Romania’s standard of living and even the level of education on sustainability and ecological matters, that people might be more reluctant to pay a higher price compared to consumers with a similar socio-demographic profile who reside in more developed countries.

Moreover, the p-values for brand and product lifetime also show a significant influence over the green purchase decision (p < 0.05). Thus, the brand exerts a positive influence over the dependent variable, which means that the more popular the company is in the eyes of consumers, the higher the chances of making a fast and steady decision to acquire the product. Furthermore, this might also lead to the idea that thanks to the quality of a green product bought by the consumer, they decided to become loyal to the brand. Moreover, if the brand is actively involved in eco-friendly activities and production processes, this might represent a way in which the consumer encourages the company’s sustainable practices. Concerning the hypothesis H3c, the longer the product’s lifetime (lifespan), the lesser the chance of a consumer to decide to purchase a green product. In other words, this conclusion might denote that, thanks to a higher quality of a green product, consumers effectively will not need to buy a specific product that frequently (e.g., the case of household appliances). However, the studies presented in the previous section found that the greater the perceived quality of a green product, the bigger the chances for a positive and recurring green purchase decision. This was the case with organic products (food) acquired for great taste and other green product properties valued by the green consumers [148].

The last hypothesis of our current research, (H4), was aimed at analyzing the influence of reference group variables on the green purchase decision. Considering prior studies, we started from the assumption that both variables, friends’ recommendations and trends (derived from a social context), will exert a significant and positive influence over the green purchasing decision, as found in the literature. Nonetheless, neither of the two variables proved to exert a significant influence; therefore, the last hypothesis is not accepted. For the influence of variable “trends”, t = 0.35 (p > 0.1), while for the independent variable “friends’ recommendations”, t = 0.47 (p > 0.1). One of the reasons that may reside behind this result is still the lack of eco-literacy of Romanian consumers on the green purchasing subject.

5. Conclusions

Today’s society confronts an extensive environmental problem and, most importantly, a scarcity of natural resources mostly determined by irresponsible human behavior in relation to nature. While lately, consumers have become more aware and eco-literate on environmental issues, many companies have hardly decided to produce in a sustainable way. Their actions proved in many cases to be taken mostly because green products have become popular in specific consumer groups who are willing to pay more for such a product, and not solely because they are interested in protecting natural resources. Regarding the final decision of buying green, there have yet to be any published studies on the matter of attitude toward buying and consuming ecological products because many of the informed consumers, even though they know very well the benefits of consuming green, still do not acquire these products, based on various reasons. Because our research did not focus on a specific theoretical model, we tried to find a few variables that might influence the green purchasing decision and reside behind such behavior from both an internal and external point of view.

The current research contributes to the “green and sustainable” body of knowledge by investigating and validating in part the influence exerted by several independent variables over the green purchase decision of a Romanian consumer in order to be useful for both academics and green marketers or company owners. We started the paper by analyzing the main concepts and theories used in previous research, and we decided only to examine specific individual variables that we thought might be descriptive for the Romanian green market.

Environment-related variables (pollution reduction, greenhouse effect reduction, environment preservation, ease of recycling and local development), as well as person-related variables (education, age and desire) and the brand, emerged as major drivers in making the green purchase decision, whereas price and product lifetime have proven to influence the green purchase decision in a negative manner. Our results are consistent with those of Smith and Paladino’s [165], who identified environmental concerns as significant, but in opposition when we are considering the reference group variables (friends’ recommendations and trends) that proved not to influence the green purchase decision. Moreover, the study was in accordance with Tsakiridou and others [166] and Young and others [124], who discovered price (overpricing) as a potential barrier toward acquiring and consuming green products.

In addition to academics and businesses, the current study might be useful for policymakers to better understand the green consumer’s behavior and legislate with the purpose of addressing their needs, always having in mind environmental protection for future generations.

Future research may observe Romanian consumer green behavior for a deep understanding of what the main triggers are for a buying decision and how a green consumer will behave in a specific economic and social context.

This study has shown that there are variables that positively or negatively affect the green purchase decision, but it would be more interesting to find out why some variables (trends, friends’ recommendations) in developed countries proved to influence the final purchase decision, since in the case of Romania, they do not have a significant influence. Regarding the negative influence of high prices, one conclusion could be that very high prices could discourage consumption, even if companies consider their offer to be highly differentiated. Selling green products should not automatically translate into selling at high prices for the consumer. In a developing country, such as Romania, potential consumers are reluctant to buy green products, not because they do not need them, but because of budget constraints. In order to have a sustainable business, companies have to produce not only green but also affordable products. This is how they will be actively involved in environmental issues such as reducing pollution or the greenhouse effect.

There are certain limitations to the current research. The results obtained are specific to the socio-cultural context of Romania; the resulting model cannot be extended to other Central and Eastern European countries. Future studies can evaluate possible cultural differences regarding the decision factors for buying green products. Furthermore, this study analyzed the socio-demographic variables as possible factors influencing the green purchase decision and did not focus on differences generated by groups of age, gender or level of income.

Another limitation was represented by the period the data was collected, before the COVID-19 pandemic, although the present situation could be different. In future research, the same purpose can be considered in order to find out if the health crisis has changed the relations between the variables of the model. The model tested in this paper has evaluated the influence of some independent variables on the decision to buy green products, each variable being presented as a single item. Composite variables could be constructed, and a structural equation modeling approach might be applied in order to assess the relations between several latent variables and to measure their direct and indirect effects on the buying decision of green products. Moreover, the influence of some external factors can be analyzed on each sub-category of age, income or gender, highlighting the differences between these categories. Future studies might extend the area of the current research, and other types of decisional models could be built using the structural equation modeling approach. In these models, latent variables could be defined for each marketing mix component in order to assess their influence on the decision to buy green products. Furthermore, the inclusion of some socio-demographic variables with a mediating role will provide additional information concerning their effect on the consumers’ buying green products decision process. The role of social media in supporting the informing behavior on green products and in stimulating the buying decision could also be considered. Moreover, a quantile regression model used in terms of classes of age or income may better explain the decision to buy green products.

Consumers’ buying decision process involves judgments and, according to Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstain [167], in every judgment there can be found a certain level of noise. This noise could lead to variability in the judgment of different individuals or, in the case of one individual, in different moments. In considering these aspects, further research can identify the sources of noise in deciding to buy green products and the means used by different stakeholders to reduce this noise.