IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i23p10077-d455295.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Purchase Behavior of University Students in Hungary: An Empirical Study

Author

Listed:
  • Farheen Naz

    (Doctoral School of Management and Business Administration, Szent Istvan University, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary)

  • Judit Oláh

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Applied Sciences, 41-300 Dabrowa Górnicza, Poland)

  • Dinu Vasile

    (Department of Business, Consumer Sciences and Quality Management, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Róbert Magda

    (Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Szent Istvan University, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
    Vanderbijlpark Campus, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa)

Abstract

In this modern age of digitalization, consumers have access to an ample amount of information regarding a product’s quality and benefits, which makes consumers more conscious of their consumption patterns and their impact on social and environmental development. Likewise, marketing strategies have also taken a dramatic leap forward and started focusing on social responsibility, ethics, and environmental protection. The notion of environmental sustainability has created a market niche over several decades and has captured the market of pro-environmental consumers. However, there are still many latent factors that are obstacles to shifting the behavior of consumers towards buying green products. The present study was conducted to recognize factors that affect the consumers’ behavior when purchasing eco-friendly products. They were collected from 1185 university students in Hungary. To analyze the data, multiple regression and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used. The results showed that willingness to pay (WTP) and green purchase intention (GPI) are the chief factors that affect the green purchase behavior (GPB) of these students. Environmental knowledge (EK) also has an important and positive impact on the green purchase behavior (GPB) of consumers, although regarding demographic variables, no such influence was noted. To conclude, the study showed that there was no bias in terms of age, gender, or qualification in the behavior of young students, as they have sufficient knowledge of environmental problems and are very willing to pay for environmentally friendly products. This study will create self-awareness among young consumers about their environmentally friendly purchasing behavior. This research will further benefit policymakers and marketers of the EU and Hungary to enhance their marketing strategies to promote their green products and their benefits. Future research can be developed on this theoretical framework and will help academicians to further reduce the research gap by using different constructs and methodologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Farheen Naz & Judit Oláh & Dinu Vasile & Róbert Magda, 2020. "Green Purchase Behavior of University Students in Hungary: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10077-:d:455295
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10077/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10077/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gieri Hinnen & Stefanie Lena Hille & Andreas Wittmer, 2017. "Willingness to Pay for Green Products in Air Travel: Ready for Take‐Off?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 197-208, February.
    2. Jean-Daniel Saphores & Hilary Nixon & Oladele Ogunseitan & Andrew Shapiro, 2007. "California households' willingness to pay for 'green' electronics," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 113-133.
    3. Amiruddin Ahamat & Syed Zamberi Ahmad & Rohaini Binti K. Mohd, 2018. "An empirical investigation on Malaysians' green purchasing behaviour," International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 32(3), pages 237-254.
    4. Daniel Adrian Gardan & Ionel Dumitru & Iuliana Petronela Gardan & Irina Elena Andronie & Cristian Uta & Mihai Andronie, 2019. "Integrating the Principles of Green Marketing by Using Big Data. Good Practices," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 21(50), pages 258-258, February.
    5. Rodríguez, Elsa Mirta M. & Lacaze, María Victoria & Lupín, Beatriz, 2007. "Willingness to pay for organic food in Argentina: evidence from a consumer survey," Nülan. Deposited Documents 1300, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    6. Mario Pagliacci & Adriana Manolica & Teodora Roman & Gabriela Boldureanu, 2019. "The Consumers of Green Products. The Case of Romanian Moldavia Counties," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 21(S13), pages 830-830, November.
    7. Halyna Mishchuk & Yuriy Bilan & Liudmyla Pavlushenko, 2016. "Knowledge Management Systems: Issues In Enterprise Human Capital Management Implementation In Transition Economy," Polish Journal of Management Studies, Czestochowa Technical University, Department of Management, vol. 14(1), pages 163-173, December.
    8. Nagy, Szabolcs, 2004. "Environmentally Conscious Marketing," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 110949, September.
    9. Loureiro, Maria L. & Lotade, Justus, 2005. "Do fair trade and eco-labels in coffee wake up the consumer conscience?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 129-138, April.
    10. repec:aud:audfin:v:21:y:2019:i:50:p:258 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Laroche, Michel & Kim, Chankon & Zhou, Lianxi, 1996. "Brand familiarity and confidence as determinants of purchase intention: An empirical test in a multiple brand context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 115-120, October.
    12. Ferencz, Árpád & Deák, Zsuzsanna & Nótari, Márta, 2017. "Environmentally Conscious Consumption In Hungary," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2017(4).
    13. Chiou‐Fong Wei & Chang‐Tang Chiang & Tun‐Chih Kou & Bruce C Y Lee, 2017. "Toward Sustainable Livelihoods: Investigating the Drivers of Purchase Behavior for Green Products," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 626-639, July.
    14. Jaiswal, Deepak & Kant, Rishi, 2018. "Green purchasing behaviour: A conceptual framework and empirical investigation of Indian consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 60-69.
    15. Tsarenko, Yelena & Ferraro, Carla & Sands, Sean & McLeod, Colin, 2013. "Environmentally conscious consumption: The role of retailers and peers as external influences," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 302-310.
    16. Muo Ik & Adebayo Adepoju Azeez, 2020. "Organisational Green Behavioural Change: The Role Of Change Management," International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge, Center for International Scientific Research of VSO and VSPP, vol. 8(1), pages 34-48, June.
    17. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2013. "The Determinants of Green Product Development Performance: Green Dynamic Capabilities, Green Transformational Leadership, and Green Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 107-119, August.
    18. Md. Nekmahmud & Maria Fekete-Farkas, 2020. "Why Not Green Marketing? Determinates of Consumers’ Intention to Green Purchase Decision in a New Developing Nation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-31, September.
    19. Kumar, Bipul & Manrai, Ajay K. & Manrai, Lalita A., 2017. "Purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products: A conceptual framework and empirical study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-9.
    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. Xiaoxu Dong & Huawei Zhao & Tiancai Li, 2022. "The Role of Live-Streaming E-Commerce on Consumers’ Purchasing Intention regarding Green Agricultural Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Imran Hossain & Maria Fekete-Farkas & Md. Nekmahmud, 2022. "Purchase Behavior of Energy-Efficient Appliances Contribute to Sustainable Energy Consumption in Developing Country: Moral Norms Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Lucyna Witek & Wiesława Kuźniar, 2020. "Green Purchase Behavior: The Effectiveness of Sociodemographic Variables for Explaining Green Purchases in Emerging Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Trendov, Nikola M. & Vasa, László, 2020. "Farmers’ Experience In Adoption And Usage Of Ict Solutions For Agriculture In The Republic Of North Macedonia," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 14(3-4), December.
    5. Marjolein C. J. Caniëls & Wim Lambrechts & Johannes (Joost) Platje & Anna Motylska-Kuźma & Bartosz Fortuński, 2021. "50 Shades of Green: Insights into Personal Values and Worldviews as Drivers of Green Purchasing Intention, Behaviour, and Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Imran Hossain & Md. Nekmahmud & Maria Fekete-Farkas, 2022. "How Do Environmental Knowledge, Eco-Label Knowledge, and Green Trust Impact Consumers’ Pro-Environmental Behaviour for Energy-Efficient Household Appliances?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Anna Pamula & Zbigniew Gontar & Beata Gontar & Tetiana Fesenko, 2023. "Latent Dirichlet Allocation in Public Procurement Documents Analysis for Determining Energy Efficiency Issues in Construction Works at Polish Universities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Jimena González-Ramírez & Heyi Cheng & Sierra Arral, 2021. "Funding Campus Sustainability through a Green Fee—Estimating Students’ Willingness to Pay," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, February.
    9. Nguyen Phan Quynh Huong & Ha Minh Tri, 2023. "Religiosity to green purchase under emotional and greenwashing factors," HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE - ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY, vol. 13(2), pages 97-113.
    10. Goshu Desalegn & Anita Tangl, 2022. "Enhancing Green Finance for Inclusive Green Growth: A Systematic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    11. Jessica Müller & Ángel Acevedo-Duque & Sheyla Müller & Prateek Kalia & Khalid Mehmood, 2021. "Predictive Sustainability Model Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior Incorporating Ecological Conscience and Moral Obligation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, April.
    12. Saddam A. Hazaea & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Khaled Zedan & Saleh F. A. Khatib & Jinyu Zhu & Hamzeh Al Amosh, 2022. "Green Purchasing: Past, Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-28, April.
    13. Hasnizam Shaari & Nurul Amanina Abdul Basir, 2024. "Integrating Environmental Involvement and Media Exposure on the Theory of Planned Behavior in Explaining Green Purchase Behavior," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(5), pages 369-378, May.
    14. Mousa Pazhuhan & Ali Soltani & Mostafa Ghadami & Saeed Zanganeh Shahraki & Luca Salvati, 2022. "Environmentally friendly behaviors and commuting patterns among tertiary students: the case of University of Tehran, Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 7435-7454, May.
    15. Muhammad Munir & Moazzam, 2023. "Investigating The Mediating Effect Of Green Product Literacy On The Relationship Between Technology Innovativeness And Green Product Purchase Attitude," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 12(2), pages 417-426.
    16. Shehawy, Yasser Moustafa, 2023. "In green consumption, why consumers do not walk their talk: A cross cultural examination from Saudi Arabia and UK," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Shariq Zia & Salman Hussain Paracha & Humaira Nadeem & Naveed Mushtaq, 2021. "Are Pakistani Consumers Ready To Go Green: A Study Of Buying Intentions Of Pakistani Consumers," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 10(4), pages 126-138, December.
    18. Agnieszka Bitkowska & Joanna Moczydłowska & Krystyna Leszczewska & Karol Karasiewicz & Joanna Sadkowska & Beata Żelazko, 2022. "Young Consumers’ Perceptions of Family Firms and Their Purchase Intentions—The Polish Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.

    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. Vishal Gupta, 2021. "Validating the theory of planned behavior in green purchasing behavior," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Zaremohzzabieh, Zeinab & Ismail, Normala & Ahrari, Seyedali & Abu Samah, Asnarulkhadi, 2021. "The effects of consumer attitude on green purchase intention: A meta-analytic path analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 732-743.
    3. Francesco Testa & Gaia Pretner & Roberta Iovino & Guia Bianchi & Sara Tessitore & Fabio Iraldo, 2021. "Drivers to green consumption: a systematic review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 4826-4880, April.
    4. Jhanghiz Syahrivar & Kenny Kusuma & Randy Azhary Pahlevi & Yuling Wei & Chairy Chairy & Genoveva Genoveva, 2023. "No longer look down: investigating second-hand clothing purchase in Indonesia," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 20(2), pages 319-339, June.
    5. Prakash, Gyan & Choudhary, Sangita & Kumar, Anil & Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo & Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman & Panda, Tapan Kumar, 2019. "Do altruistic and egoistic values influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards eco-friendly packaged products? An empirical investigation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-169.
    6. Theresa Eichhorn & Oliver Meixner, 2020. "Factors Influencing the Willingness to Pay for Aquaponic Products in a Developed Food Market: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, April.
    7. Rambabu Lavuri & Abhinav Jindal & Umair Akram & Bhukya Koteswara Rao Naik & Alrence Santiago Halibas, 2023. "Exploring the antecedents of sustainable consumers' purchase intentions: Evidence from emerging countries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 280-291, February.
    8. Luigi Leclercq-Machado & Aldo Alvarez-Risco & Romina Gómez-Prado & Berdy Briggitte Cuya-Velásquez & Sharon Esquerre-Botton & Flavio Morales-Ríos & Camila Almanza-Cruz & Sarahit Castillo-Benancio & Mar, 2022. "Sustainable Fashion and Consumption Patterns in Peru: An Environmental-Attitude-Intention-Behavior Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Jaiswal, Deepak & Kant, Rishi, 2018. "Green purchasing behaviour: A conceptual framework and empirical investigation of Indian consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 60-69.
    10. Jana Hojnik & Mitja Ruzzier & Tatiana S. Manolova, 2020. "Sustainable development: Predictors of green consumerism in Slovenia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1695-1708, July.
    11. Daniel K. Maduku & Steven Mbeya, 2024. "Understanding family takaful purchase behaviour: the roles of religious obligation and gender," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(2), pages 440-458, June.
    12. Erni Rusyani & Rambabu Lavuri & Ardi Gunardi, 2021. "Purchasing Eco-Sustainable Products: Interrelationship between Environmental Knowledge, Environmental Concern, Green Attitude, and Perceived Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, April.
    13. Murat Yetkin & Fatma Özlem Güzel, 2020. "The Role of Countries’ Economic Development Level on Green Consumption Attitudes: A Study on Green Hotels," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 62(0), pages 167-183, December.
    14. Jana Hojnik & Mitja Ruzzier & Maja Konečnik Ruzzier, 2019. "Transition towards Sustainability: Adoption of Eco-Products among Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-29, August.
    15. Mahardika, Harryadin & Thomas, Dominic & Ewing, Michael Thomas & Japutra, Arnold, 2020. "Comparing the temporal stability of behavioural expectation and behavioural intention in the prediction of consumers pro-environmental behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Bin Wang & Jionghua Li & Ao Sun & Yongming Wang & Dianting Wu, 2019. "Residents’ Green Purchasing Intentions in a Developing-Country Context: Integrating PLS-SEM and MGA Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, December.
    17. Taneja, Shilpa & Ali, Liaqat, 2021. "Determinants of customers’ intentions towards environmentally sustainable banking: Testing the structural model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    18. Stöckigt, Gerrit & Schiebener, Johannes & Brand, Matthias, 2018. "Providing sustainability information in shopping situations contributes to sustainable decision making: An empirical study with choice-based conjoint analyses," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 188-199.
    19. Prasad Siba Borah & Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe & Nyankomo Marwa, 2024. "Generation Z's green purchase behavior: Do green consumer knowledge, consumer social responsibility, green advertising, and green consumer trust matter for sustainable development?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4530-4546, July.
    20. Emel Yarimoglu & Tugrul Gunay, 2020. "The extended theory of planned behavior in Turkish customers' intentions to visit green hotels," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1097-1108, March.

    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:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10077-:d:455295. 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.