Determinants of Chinese consumers' green purchase behavior

This study examines the influence of various cultural and psychological fac tors on the green purchase behavior of Chinese consumers. To this end, a co nceptual model has been proposed and subjected to empirical verification wi th the use of a survey. The survey results obtained in two major Chinese ci ties provide reasonable support for the validity of the proposed model. Spe cifically, the findings from the structural-equation modeling confirm the i nfluence of the subjects' man-nature orientation, degree of collectivism, e cological affect, and marginally, ecological knowledge, on their attitudes toward green purchases. Their attitudes toward green purchases, in turn, ar e also seen to affect their green purchase behavior via the mediator of gre en purchase intention. Although the present findings provide a better under standing of the process and significant antecedents of green purchasing, th ey also highlight two areas for more thorough investigation. These are the exact role of ecological knowledge in Chinese consumers' green purchasing p rocess and the underlying factors that account for their low level of green purchase. This study also discusses how the present findings may help the Chinese government and green marketers to fine-tune their environmental pro grams. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.