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PurposeNowadays, understanding green consumers has become very critical given its implications for marketers to understand and communicate green purchase patterns on the one hand, and to design and strategize both product offerings and customer services on the other hand. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction effect of product attributes on the degree of environment concern, the intention of green purchase and a series of green purchase proposed patterns. This paper is built on the theory of planned behavior, and expands it by replacing subjective norms and perceived behavioral control with respectively environmental knowledge and perceived consumer effectiveness, and also by extending purchase behavior to three types of purchase patterns, namely, unconditional purchase, conditional purchase and accidental purchase.Design/methodology/approachThe interaction effect is analyzed through ANOVA, whereas path analysis is used to understand path strengths of proposed model, which is assessed through standardized regression weights and significance through p-value.FindingsOverall, this study reveals the importance of product attributes in the decision-making process of green purchasers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study deals with environmental behavior in general, and further research with a focus on specific behaviors is needed in this field investigating the rise of green consumption.Practical implicationsProduct attributes play a role in the decision making of consumers willing to buy green products, and both communication and promotion of green products should integrate product attributes accordingly.Originality/valueWorldwide, consumers are buying more and more green products, and this study leads to a better understanding of the decision-making process of consumers’ green products.

This work presents convergent evidence that experiential purchases are more conducive to interpersonal conversations than are material purchases—that is, experiences have higher conversational value, which helps explain why they afford consumers greater happiness than do objects (Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). Further, two experiments demonstrate that factors known to differ between experiential and material purchases—closeness to the self, social approval, and purchase uniqueness—help explain why experiences are preferred as a topic of conversation over objects, and suggest a social motivation for talking more about experiences. Indeed, when the motivation to build a relationship with the conversation partner is removed, the preference to share about experiences (vs. objects) disappears. Together, these findings add to and help integrate the growing literature on the relation between purchase type (material vs. experiential) and purchase-related happiness.

In recent years, online group buying has rapidly become popular and has become an important part of Internet users’ social life and shopping activities. The current study sought to examine the relationships between members and initiators in such online group buying website using a number of variables to describe the initiators and the members. Based on sample of 688 members and 61 initiators in online group buying website, the research demonstrated the use of a two-level hierarchical linear modeling to examine the relationships of online group buying initiator and members, appropriately adjusted for a nested structure. The results indicated that members who engage in higher levels of purchase intention in online group buying are more likely to find initiators who have ability and respond to the members. To sum up, initiator characteristics affects the initiator reputation and member’s trust to initiator. Moreover, initiator reputation and member’s trust positively affect member purchase intention.

Which should people buy to make themselves happy: experiences or material goods? The answer depends in part on the level of resources already available in their lives. Across multiple studies using a range of methodologies, we found that individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchases. No such experiential advantage emerged for individuals of lower social class, whose lesser resources engender concern with resource management and wise use of limited finances. Instead, lower-class individuals were made happier from material purchases or were equally happy from experiential and material purchases.

[Display omitted] •Consumption target moderates the effectiveness of scarcity versus popularity cues.•Scarcity cues outperform popularity cues for self-purchase.•Popularity cues (vs. scarcity cues) are more effective for other purchase.•Self-other overlap moderates the “popularity for others” effect.•Price level was found to be a moderating factor of the proposed theory. In the online retailing context, we explore the impact of the consumption target on the relative effectiveness of scarcity versus popularity cues. Purchasing for oneself often triggers a need for uniqueness while purchasing for someone else is more uncertain and risky. We propose that the consumption target moderates the relative effectiveness of scarcity versus popularity cues in marketing promotions. Specifically, we predict that when purchasing for oneself, scarcity cues outperform popularity cues in eliciting purchase intentions, whereas when purchasing for someone else, popularity cues are more effective. In addition, we propose the serial mediation effect of perceived product uniqueness→perceived product value to explain the “scarcity for me” effect and the serial mediation effect of perceived consumption risk→perceived product value to explain the “popularity for others” effect. Further, we propose self-other overlap as a moderator of the “popularity for others” effect. Last but not least, we examine price level as a moderating factor of the proposed theory. Evidence from Google Trends analysis and four experimental studies across a variety of scenarios confirm the theorization. Based on our findings, we discuss theoretical contributions and managerial implications and suggest directions for future research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between environmental consciousness (ECO), green purchase attitude (GPA), green purchase intention (GPI), perceived customer effectiveness (PCE), green behaviour (GRB) and green purchase behaviour (GPB). Based on the statistical analyses, this paper offers some further research directions to advance the extant literature.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model is firmly grounded in extant literature. To test the study hypotheses, the authors have developed a survey instrument following a two-stage process. The constructs were first operationalized by the authors and then pre-tested by experts. Dillman’s (2007) guidelines were then followed to gather data. Finally, the theoretical model was tested using multivariate statistical tools.FindingsResults indicate that ECO has an influence on GPA and PCE; GPA has an influence on PCE and GRB; GPI has an influence on PCE; and GRB has an influence on GPB. Environmental benefit still ranks at the sixth position among eight product-selection criteria, as is evident from qualitative in-depth interviews indicating a primarily rationalistic and not an altruistic purchase approach. The gap in translation of ECO into GB and GPB can be attributed to costliness, non-availability with less variety, lack of brand reputation of green products and budget constraints for customers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study faces the limitation of generalizability of the results because it was carried out in a particular state in India; it may not be the perception of the country as a whole. The bias owing to social desirability, selective memory and telescoping with the use of self-reported data could also be a limitation for the current empirical study.Originality/valueThis study aimed to extend pro-environmental behaviour studies beyond developed countries and to empirically validate the models built on the theory of ECO leading to GPB, especially for India, a rising market. A novel approach to empirically discuss the situational and market factors will provide a much-needed thrust for research on these lines.

Influencer marketing significantly impacts consumer behavior and decision-making. However, identifying the drivers of influencer marketing effectiveness and conditions that enhance their impact remains challenging. This meta-analysis, which synthesizes 1,531 effect sizes from 251 papers, assesses influencer marketing effectiveness by examining its antecedents, mediators, and moderators. Building on the persuasion knowledge model to develop and test a framework, we identify post, follower, and influencer characteristics as key antecedents impacting both non-transactional (i.e., attitude, behavioral engagement, and purchase intention) and transactional (i.e., purchase behavior and sales) marketing outcomes. For non-transactional outcomes, follower characteristics (social identity) have the strongest effects on consumer attitudes and behavioral engagement, while post characteristics (informational value and hedonic value) exert stronger effects on purchase intention. For transactional outcomes, influencer characteristics (influencer communication) have the strongest effects on purchase behavior. These antecedents also affect marketing outcomes indirectly through persuasion knowledge and source credibility. Moderation results indicate that direct and indirect effects of antecedents depend on social media types (i.e., nature of connection and usage) and product types (i.e., information availability and status-signaling capability). These results consolidate and advance the literature and offer insights into enhancing the effectiveness of influencer marketing.

The availability of information and variety of online purchase options are increasing for consumers shopping for complex products (e.g., cars, real estate). This situation, and consumers’ resulting sense of informedness, has led many to suggest that the need for business-to-consumer (B2C) salespeople is diminishing. Yet, despite these claims, many purchases—especially those associated with high prices and, therefore, high consumer involvement—still require consumers to interact with salespeople. This interaction, between consumers (at varying levels of informedness) and B2C salespeople, is the focus of the current study. Merging theories of consumer informedness and adaptive interpersonal influence, we suggest that the interaction between salesperson influence attempts and consumer informedness plays an important role in purchase decisions. To study this notion, Study 1 matches automobile shoppers’ survey responses with objective purchase data from 480 sales interactions. Study 2 is a scenario-based experiment that investigates informedness and influence in a financial services setting. The findings of both studies suggest that understanding a consumer’s informedness, and adapting the proper influence approach to it, is critical if salespeople are to influence modern consumers’ purchase decisions and, thus, avoid irrelevancy.

Recently, environmental issues have become major social concerns, and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of environmental matters; however, they remain hesitant to purchase eco-friendly products. This study examined consumers’ environmental consciousness as a factor influencing the purchase of eco-friendly products, and investigated situational factors that induce hesitancy in purchasing eco-friendly products. We studied the moderating effects of these factors with regard to ease of purchase and eco label credibility. Our research model is validated using data from 220 consumers with experience in purchasing eco-friendly products in Korea. For the data analysis, we used SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 to perform confirmatory factor analysis and SEM. The specific verification results are as follows. First, environmental interest did not significantly impact the purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Second, consumers’ environmental knowledge and consumer effectiveness perception both had a significant impact on the purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Third, the intention to purchase eco-friendly products significantly impacted the purchase behavior of eco-friendly products. In addition, the results of this study show that ease of purchase and eco label credibility have moderating effects on the relationship between purchase intention and purchase behavior. This study results contribute to the eco-friendly consumption literature by explaining the intention–behavior gap. This study also show that eco-friendly consumption can be stimulated through raising eco label credibility and ease of purchase. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding the factors that affect consumers’ intentions of and behavior toward eco product purchases, and practical implications for how to stimulate environmental consumer behavior.