Antecedents of green purchase behavior of cosmetics products: an empirical investigation among Malaysian consumers

Purpose: There is a growing need to conduct more studies to understand the green purchase behavior of cosmetics products because of its increasing trend in the emerging markets. Considering this, the study aims to shed some light on the factors that affect green purchase behavior of Malaysian consumers in the context of cosmetics product purchase. More specifically, the objective of this study is to examine the effect of altruistic and hedonic values and the mediating effect of personal norm and pro-environmental belief toward green purchase behavior. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey using judgmental sampling technique was used to gather responses from green cosmetics consumers. A questionnaire was designed to measure the study variables, which was then tested for content, and face validity and reliability prior to its administration. The structural equation modeling using the partial least squares approach (SmartPLS, version 3.7) was used to test the study hypotheses. Findings: The results revealed that hedonic value has a significant and positive effect on pro-environmental belief. However, altruistic value did not exert any significant effect on pro-environmental belief. It is also found that pro-environmental belief positively affects personal norm, and as a consequence, personal norm affects green purchase behavior. The data also support the mediating effect of pro-environmental belief in the relationship between “hedonic value and personal norm.” Nevertheless, pro-environmental belief did not mediate the relationship between altruistic value and personal norm. Lastly, personal norm mediates the relationship between “pro-environmental belief and green purchase behavior”. Practical implications: The findings from this study enable managers, marketers and policy makers to execute better green strategies that would boost consumers’ green purchase behavior toward cosmetics products. Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing literature on green purchase behavior by testing hedonic value as the antecedent and pro-environmental belief as the mediator by using the value-belief-norm theory. Moreover, this is a pioneer study to consider personal norm as the mediator of green purchase behavior