Young Consumers’ Purchase Intentions of Buying Green Products : A study based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Sammanfattning: This investigation explored the contextual factors affecting young consumers’ attitudes and their intentions of green purchase behavior in the area of consumer behavior. This study seeks to understand young consumers’ green purchase intentions based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). At the same time, this study also intends to detect variables that influence young consumers’ intentions of buying green products.  In this thesis, a quantitative approach was adopted. Using a sample of 282 young people, a survey was developed and conducted in Umeå University, Sweden. Results indicate that parental influence is the top predictor among all the variables we studied. From the correlation analyses; we can see that top three predictors are important for understanding purchase intentions of young consumers.  Influence of contextual and background factors –parents, peer, and environmental knowledge – clearly played an important role in influencing young consumers’ purchase intentions of buying green products. To the end, a proposed model is developed to understand green purchase intentions of young consumers. Implications for marketers are also discussed in this study.