IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4062-d180889.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Purchasing Green Products as a Means of Expressing Consumers’ Uniqueness: Empirical Evidence from Peru and Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi

    (CENTRUM Católica Graduate Business School (CCGBS), Lima 15023, Peru
    Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Lima 15023, Peru)

  • Jianfeng Jia

    (School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110169, China)

Abstract

Does consumers’ consumption of green products represent a method of satisfying their need for uniqueness? Does it enhance their self-image? In order to answer these questions, the present study attempts to understand how personal-level factors (such as the need for uniqueness) and product-level factors (such as self-expressive benefits) drive customers to go green. Survey-based data were collected from 247 customers in Bangladesh and 132 customers in Peru during 2017–2018. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results of this study highlight the important role played by the need for uniqueness as a major driver of green behavior among customers in both countries. Furthermore, self-expressive benefits were found to represent another reason on the part of customers in both Peru and Bangladesh for buying green products. This study hence contributes to the current literature by strengthening existing knowledge of the drivers of pro-environmental purchasing behavior in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Jianfeng Jia, 2018. "Purchasing Green Products as a Means of Expressing Consumers’ Uniqueness: Empirical Evidence from Peru and Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4062-:d:180889
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4062/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4062/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aerni, Philipp & Scholderer, Joachim & Ermen, David, 2011. "How would Swiss consumers decide if they had freedom of choice? Evidence from a field study with organic, conventional and GM corn bread," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 830-838.
    2. Sirgy, M. Joseph & Lee, Dong-Jin & Johar, J.S. & Tidwell, John, 2008. "Effect of self-congruity with sponsorship on brand loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 1091-1097, October.
    3. Richins, Marsha L, 1994. "Special Possessions and the Expression of Material Values," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(3), pages 522-533, December.
    4. Thompson, Craig J & Haytko, Diana L, 1997. "Speaking of Fashion: Consumers' Uses of Fashion Discourses and the Appropriation of Countervailing Cultural Meanings," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(1), pages 15-42, June.
    5. Nguyen, The Ninh & Lobo, Antonio & Greenland, Steven, 2016. "Pro-environmental purchase behaviour: The role of consumers' biospheric values," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 98-108.
    6. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem & Amitab Bhattacharjee, 2017. "Who Takes More Sustainability-Oriented Entrepreneurial Actions? The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Values, Beliefs and Orientations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Tian, Kelly Tepper & Bearden, William O & Hunter, Gary L, 2001. "Consumer's Need for Uniqueness: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 50-66, June.
    8. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem, 2017. "Sustainability in SMEs: Top Management Teams Behavioral Integration as Source of Innovativeness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Md. Rana, 2011. "Urbanization and sustainability: challenges and strategies for sustainable urban development in Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 237-256, February.
    10. Behrooz Gharleghi & Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Khaled Nawaser, 2018. "The Outcomes of Corporate Social Responsibility to Employees: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Chih-Cheng Chen & Chien-Wen Chen & Yi-Chun Tung, 2018. "Exploring the Consumer Behavior of Intention to Purchase Green Products in Belt and Road Countries: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Micael-Lee Johnstone & Lay Tan, 2015. "Exploring the Gap Between Consumers’ Green Rhetoric and Purchasing Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 311-328, December.
    13. Aerni, Philipp, 2009. "What is sustainable agriculture? Empirical evidence of diverging views in Switzerland and New Zealand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1872-1882, April.
    14. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem & Mohammad Shahabinezhad, 2018. "Does Thinking Style Make a Difference in Environmental Perception and Orientation? Evidence from Entrepreneurs in Post-Sanction Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    15. Kastanakis, Minas N. & Balabanis, George, 2012. "Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the “bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1399-1407.
    16. Kumar, Archana & Lee, Hyun-Joo & Kim, Youn-Kyung, 2009. "Indian consumers' purchase intention toward a United States versus local brand," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(5), pages 521-527, May.
    17. Hans Ruediger Kaufmann & Mohammad Fateh Ali Khan Panni & Yianna Orphanidou, 2012. "Factors Affecting Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior: An Integrated Conceptual Framework," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(31), pages 50-69, February.
    18. Wayne S. DeSarbo & C. Anthony Di Benedetto & Michael Song & Indrajit Sinha, 2005. "Revisiting the Miles and Snow strategic framework: uncovering interrelationships between strategic types, capabilities, environmental uncertainty, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 47-74, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiulai Su & Fei Zhou & Yenchun Jim Wu, 2020. "Using Virtual Gifts on Live Streaming Platforms as a Sustainable Strategy to Stimulate Consumers’ Green Purchase Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Goutam Saha & Benazir Ishaque, 2022. "Predicting Green Purchase Behavior: An Empirical Study Using Theory of Reasoned Action," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 12(1), pages 45-57.
    3. Ching-Hui (Joan) Su & Chin-Hsun (Ken) Tsai & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Wan Qing Lv, 2019. "U.S. Sustainable Food Market Generation Z Consumer Segments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Bhardwaj, Seema & Sreen, Naman & Das, Manish & Chitnis, Asmita & Kumar, Sushant, 2023. "Product specific values and personal values together better explains green purchase," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Farzana Riva & Solon Magrizos & Mohammad Rabiul Basher Rubel, 2021. "Investigating the link between managers' green knowledge and leadership style, and their firms' environmental performance: The mediation role of green creativity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3228-3240, November.
    6. Jingnan Zhang & Shichun Xu & Zhengxia He & Chengze Li & Xiaona Meng, 2022. "Factors Influencing Adoption Intention for Electric Vehicles under a Subsidy Deduction: From Different City-Level Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, May.
    7. Arian Matin & Tornike Khoshtaria & Metin Marcan & Davit Datuashvili, 2022. "The roles of hedonistic, utilitarian incentives and government policies affecting customer attitudes and purchase intention towards green products," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(4), pages 709-735, December.
    8. Muhammad Yaseen Bhutto & Yasir Ali Soomro & Hailan Yang, 2022. "Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior: Predicting Young Consumer Purchase Behavior of Energy-Efficient Appliances (Evidence From Developing Economy)," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, February.
    9. Guang-Wen Zheng & Abu Bakkar Siddik & Mohammad Masukujjaman & Syed Shah Alam & Alvina Akter, 2020. "Perceived Environmental Responsibilities and Green Buying Behavior: The Mediating Effect of Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, December.
    10. Yuan Wu & Jin Zhang & Shoulin Liu & Lianrui Ma, 2022. "Does Government-Led Publicity Enhance Corporate Green Behavior? Empirical Evidence from Green Xuanguan in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-32, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stathopoulou, Anastasia & Balabanis, George, 2019. "The effect of cultural value orientation on consumers' perceptions of luxury value and proclivity for luxury consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 298-312.
    2. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    4. Millan, Elena & Reynolds, Jonathan, 2014. "Self-construals, symbolic and hedonic preferences, and actual purchase behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 550-560.
    5. Chan, Wing Yin & To, Chester K.M. & Chu, Wai Ching, 2015. "Materialistic consumers who seek unique products: How does their need for status and their affective response facilitate the repurchase intention of luxury goods?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-10.
    6. Behrooz Gharleghi & Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Khaled Nawaser, 2018. "The Outcomes of Corporate Social Responsibility to Employees: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Bian, Qin & Forsythe, Sandra, 2012. "Purchase intention for luxury brands: A cross cultural comparison," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1443-1451.
    8. Roux, Elyette & Tafani, Eric & Vigneron, Franck, 2017. "Values associated with luxury brand consumption and the role of gender," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 102-113.
    9. Yoo, Jungmin & Park, Minjung, 2016. "The effects of e-mass customization on consumer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty toward luxury brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5775-5784.
    10. Afzaal Ali & Guo Xiaoling & Adnan Ali & Mehkar Sherwani & Farhan Muhammad Muneeb, 2019. "Customer motivations for sustainable consumption: Investigating the drivers of purchase behavior for a green‐luxury car," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 833-846, July.
    11. M. Joseph Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic-Mehmedovic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2013. "Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 349-366, January.
    12. Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Das, Manish, 2021. "Uniqueness and luxury: A moderated mediation approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Wang, Zi & Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 239-254.
    14. Kshitija Joshi & Deepak Chandrashekar & Alexander Brem & Kirankumar S. Momaya, 2019. "Foreign Venture Capital Firms in a Cross-Border Context: Empirical Insights from India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Björk, Peter & Lönnström, Alexandra & Jauffret, Marie-Nathalie, 2018. "How consumers' need for uniqueness, self-monitoring, and social identity affect their choices when luxury brands visually shout versus whisper," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-81.
    16. Moorlock, Emily & Dekel-Dachs, Ofer & Stokes, Peter & Larsen, Gretchen, 2023. "Constructing Consumer-Masstige brand relationships in a volatile social reality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    17. Sierra, Jeremy J. & Hyman, Michael R., 2011. "Outlet mall shoppers' intentions to purchase apparel: A dual-process perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 341-347.
    18. Elaine Wallace & Isabel Buil & Leslie Chernatony, 2020. "‘Consuming Good’ on Social Media: What Can Conspicuous Virtue Signalling on Facebook Tell Us About Prosocial and Unethical Intentions?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 577-592, March.
    19. Quintal, Vanessa & Phau, Ian & Sims, Daniel & Cheah, Isaac, 2016. "Factors influencing generation Y’s purchase intentions of prototypical versus me-too brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 175-183.
    20. Nathasit Gerdsri & Boonkiart Iewwongcharoen & Kittichai Rajchamaha & Nisit Manotungvorapun & Jakapong Pongthanaisawan & Watcharin Witthayaweerasak, 2021. "Capability Assessment toward Sustainable Development of Business Incubators: Framework and Experience Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4062-:d:180889. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.