The Relationship Between Customer Perceptions of Green Marketing Influence on Buying Behavior

Introduction

Mammoth pollution in air and water, universal warming, an intense devolution and degradation of the environment (Wijekoon and Sabri, 2021), immeasurable destruction in natural habitats, and resource depletion are environmental issues affecting consumers' buying behaviors and manufacturers' choices in their production procedures. Therefore, manufacturers and consumers are considering green options to act on the planet (Nguyen et al., 2017). The consequence of this attitude is that a significant proportion of contemporary organizations are devoted to corporate social responsibilities and admit their responsibility toward the environment (Wang et al., 2018). To meet these environmental requirements, companies are trying to develop new strategies to guarantee the fulfillment of these green alternatives, such as green marketing. Hence, over the past decade manufacturers, customers, and governmental and non-governmental organizations have become more concerned with environmental problems. Industrial producers and customers shifted their devotion to ecological products/services classified as environmentally safe in itself or during the manufacturing process. Attention has focused on green products that have or possess eco-friendly features, such as power-saving rechargeable apparatus, lead-free tints, biodegradable materials, and decomposable cleaners. The way of thinking and product design change contributed to the concept of Green Marketing (Balachandran & Krishnan, 2015; Patel & Chugan, 2015).

Green marketing was first recognized in the late 1970s early 1980s, green advertisements are one of its tools that attempt to show that the characteristics of the advertised product and its associated manufacturing process take into consideration environmental issues which cause minimal damage to the natural environment. Environmental advertising, eco-labeling, and eco-branding are mainly used by organizations to show their nature-friendly efforts, aiming to spread necessary awareness and knowledge regarding green product attributes and features which helps to create an approved green image of their brands in consumers’ minds (Rahbar and Wahid, 2011). The market offers a wide variety of green and synthetic products, which relies on consumers’ perceptions and buying behavior (Singhal and Malik, 2017).

For society in general, green marketing tends to be more beneficial, by ensuring sustained economic advanced evolution to enhance profits, save money in the long-run. Hence, these facets helps organizations to ameliorate their products/services marketing strategies while keeping environmentalism in mind, and helping create a virtuous company image in consumers’ mind, accessing untapped markets and appreciating the competitive advantage. However, green manufacturing faces numerous challenges, such as green products needing improved eco-friendly features, using renewable and recycled material, which can be sometimes costly; requiring special technology, which requires substantial investments in research and development. Many consumers may not be aware of green products and their uses, skepticism towards green claims. While the vast of consumers are not willing to pay higher prices for green products (Sivesan et al, 2013). The drop in purchasing power of consumers on an international level as an economic result of the last pandemic and the financial crisis has contributed to the intensification of consumers’ buying practices and behavior. Nevertheless, the alteration in consumers' behavior continues to grow despite the recovery testifying to a progression of transformation of both consumers' buying behavior and consumption model (De Jesus, Ramos, and Cunanan, 2021). Therefore, consumers are rational: they adjudicate their consumption behavior according to budgetary constraints and seek to maximize values. These facts theoretically suggest that consumers respond perfectly to an improved eco-friendly product feature and green marketing practices. Consequently, designing credible green marketing offers, where consumers are aware of environmentally friendly product knowledge, acts as a leverage tool for consumers’ purchase intention (Sharma and Pahuja, 2021).