Title: Socio-demographics as antecedents of green purchase intentions: a review of literature and testing of hypothesis on Indian consumers

Authors: Vishnu Nath; Rajat Agrawal; Aditya Gautam; Vinay Sharma

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Omkarananda Institute of Management and Technology Rishikesh, Rishikesh 249201, Uttarakhand, India ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: Green marketing and green consumerism are on the rise, but not all consumers are equally green. The success in marketing green products depends on accurately identifying green consumer segments. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship of socio-demographic variables on Indian consumers' intention to purchase green products. In the current study, socio-demographic variables were considered as independent variables to segment and identify green consumers, while green purchase intentions were considered as a dependent variable. Using a sample of 545 responses obtained from a field survey conducted in two states of northern India, the multivariate regression model suggests that only education level is a significant predictor of green purchase intentions of Indian consumers. The study proposes certain implications for marketing and policy actors as well as for researchers that can be potentially useful for targeting green consumers in India and for conducting further research in this field.

Keywords: green marketing; green purchase intentions; consumer segmentation; green consumers; socio-demographics; environmental strategy; consumer behaviour; sustainability; sustainable development; India; green consumerism; intention to purchase; consumer intentions; education level.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2015.068790

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.168 - 187

Received: 07 Jun 2014
Accepted: 07 Dec 2014

Published online: 12 Apr 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article