sustainability

Article
Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain
the Effects of Cognitive Factors across Different Kinds
of Green Products
Leibao Zhang 1 , Yanli Fan 1,3 , Wenyu Zhang 2, * and Shuai Zhang 2
1 School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics,
Hangzhou 310018, China
2 School of Information, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
3 School of Public Finance and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics,
Shanghai 200433, China
* Correspondence: wyzhang@e.ntu.edu.sg




Received: 28 June 2019; Accepted: 2 August 2019; Published: 5 August 2019


Abstract: Sustainable development is a powerful impetus to achieve the coordination between

economic advancement and environmental protection. Therefore, the promotion and adoption of
green consumption has attracted increasing attention from academics. As an important tool for
multivariate data analyses, structural equation modelling has been extensively used in purchase
intention for green products. However, most previous research has recognized green products as a
general class when studying their purchase intention, which focused little attention on comparing
purchase intention for different kinds of green products. This study extends and tests the theory of
planned behavior (TPB) and includes another cognitive construct, that is, environmental concern, to
explore purchase intention for different kinds of green products. First, the effect of TPB constructs
was examined on purchase intention for utilitarian green products and hedonic green products.
Second, a cognitive factor, that is, environmental concern, was used to test its different effects on
these two kinds of green products. Third, the indirect effect of environmental concern on purchase
intention was measured for these two kinds of green products. The study showed that extended
TPB constructs, that is, attitude, perceived behavior control, and environmental concern positively
and significantly affected purchase intention for both utilitarian green products and hedonic green
products, while subjective norm only significantly and positively affected purchase intention for
utilitarian green products. Moreover, the cognitive factor, that is, environmental concern, had a
higher effect on purchase intention for utilitarian green products than purchase intention for hedonic
green products, and it also had a similar indirect effect on both kinds of green products. This study
provides an insight to policymakers, entrepreneurs, and marketers into how to increase purchase
intention for different kinds of green products.

Keywords: purchase intention; cognitive factor; environmental concern; extended theory of planned
behavior; utilitarian green products; hedonic green products

1. Introduction
With increasing resource constraints, environmental pollution, and ecological degradation,
environmental problems have attracted increasing attention from academicians, policymakers, and
marketers [1]. Environmental protection has become an urgent problem that cannot be avoided and
ignored in the economic development of a country or a region. Previous studies have shown that
unreasonable consumption habits and patterns have been one of the most influential factors for the

Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222; doi:10.3390/su11154222 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 2 of 17

environment and caused nearly 40% of environmental degradation [2]. Therefore, promotion and
adoption of green consumption has an imperative effect on solving environmental problems.
Green products are the products that can be recycled or reused, and they will not pollute the earth
or waste natural resources [3]. Green consumption has gradually become a consumption trend with
the improvement of living standards. Meanwhile, the research on green consumption has increasingly
attracted the attention of researchers. Many previous studies have explored purchase intention for
green products and further studied purchase behavior for green products [4–6]. Various conceptual
frameworks such as the construal level theory (CLT) [7], the theory of reasoned action (TRA) [8], and
the social cognitive theory (SCT) [9] have been studied in the field of green consumption and achieved
good results. Moreover, another conceptual framework, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) [10],
has been extensively used and extended in green consumption because of its good applicability and
extensibility [11–13].
TPB is an extensively used theory in purchase intention for green products [4,11,14,15]. It can be
used for exploring the effect of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control on purchase
intention for green products from a psychological perspective. Owing to its adaptive ability, TPB and
various extended forms have been proposed to explore purchase intention for green products. For
example, Chen and Hung combined TPB with social impression, environmental consciousness, and
environmental ethics and beliefs to predict adoption intention for green products [16]. Sreen et al.
included collectivism, long-term orientation, and man-nature orientation dimensions into the TPB
framework to investigate individual green purchase intention [17].
Although previous studies have used and extended TPB in several aspects for exploring purchase
intention for green products, there are still a lot of limitations that remain to be solved. On the one
hand, few researchers have considered the different effects of constructs on purchase intention for
different kinds of green products. On the other hand, little of the literature has elaborated on how
cognitive factors affect purchase intention for utilitarian green products and hedonic green products,
which are divided based on different purchase motives. These limitations drive the possibilities
for further exploration in green consumption. Therefore, the present research has used the TPB as
conceptual framework and further attempted to include a cognitive construct (i.e., environmental
concern) to measure its effect on purchase intention for different kinds of green products. First, the
direct effect of TPB constructs (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control) has
been verified on different kinds of green products (i.e., utilitarian green products and hedonic green
products). Second, a cognitive factor (i.e., environmental concern) has been used to compare its
different effects on purchase intention for utilitarian green products and hedonic green products.
Third, this study has measured the indirect effect of the cognitive factor, which examines the effect of
environmental concern on purchase intention for different green products through other constructs
(i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control). Furthermore, structural equation
modeling (SEM) has been widely used in psychology and behavior science. Therein, covariance-based
SEM and variance-based/component-based SEM are two prevalent methods. This study adopted
component-based SEM that uses a least squares estimation procedure, because of its great suitability to
smaller sample size. This study makes a research contribution in exploration of the purchase intention
for different kinds of green products by presenting, and then testing, the effect of the extended TPB
and cognitive factors on utilitarian green products and hedonic green products.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of related
literature and hypotheses are developed based on previous research. Section 3 introduces, in detail, the
methodology and measurement used in this study. Section 4 elaborates on the data analysis process to
verify the reliability and validity of the method used, and evaluates the obtained prediction results.
Section 5 introduces some discussion of the findings and implications of this study. Section 6 describes
the limitations and future research scope.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 3 of 17

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Theory of Planned Behavior

TPB is a prevalent theory in psychology and behavior science. TPB was first developed and
used by Ajzen [10]. It indicates that individual behavior is driven by behavioral intentions, which
are a function of three independent constructs (i.e., attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and
perceived behavioral control) [18]. It has been widely used and extended in many studies, such as
new system adoption behavior [19], e-service usage [20], oil palm smallholder planters’ intention [21],
microblogging intention [22], and purchase intention for organic clothing [23] and energy-efficient
appliances [24].

2.1.1. Theory of Planned Behavior in Purchase Intention for Green Products

Increasingly severe environmental problems have gradually aroused the environmental protection
concern of society and it is believed that humans and human behaviors have an important impact on
the environment. As indicated by Eagly and Chaiken [18], individual behavior is driven by behavioral
intentions, so research about purchase intention for green products has been developed to reflect
green products purchase behavior and give implications to environmental protection [25]. TPB is
an extensively used theory in purchase intention for green products [11,15]. Wu and Chen adopted
six independent variables to measure their direct effect on three major constructs in TPB and their
mediating effects on purchase intention for green products [12]. Chen and Hung combined TPB
with three other constructs to predict customer intention to adopt green products [16]. Yadav and
Pathak extended TPB and found that environmental concern and environmental knowledge have a
significant and positive effect on purchase intention for eco-friendly products [13]. Sreen et al. included
collectivism, long-term orientation, and man-nature orientation dimensions in the TPB and used
gender as the moderating variable to investigate individual green purchase intentions [17].
Green products is a comprehensive concept that contains various kinds of products, such as electric
vehicles, energy efficient household appliances, and reusable shopping bags. All of the aforementioned
research regard green products as a general class without considering different effects of constructs
on different kinds of green products. Therefore, some researchers have explored the adoption of
TPB/extended TPB for a specific green product. Zhou et al. applied a case of organic food, which
is recognized as a classical green product, to study the indirect effect of personal values under the
framework of extended TPB [26]. Nguyen et al. investigated the impacts of consumers’ biospheric
values on purchase behavior for energy efficient household appliances. In this research, energy efficient
household appliances are a representative of green products [27]. Hsu et al. applied TPB to explore the
effect of its main constructs on purchase intention for green skincare products and further measured
the moderating effect of another two variables [15]. The same constructs can generate different effects
on different green products, such as significant effect or insignificant effect, higher effect or lower effect.
Brijs et al. pointed out that cognitive factors can better form the purchase intention for utilitarian-oriented
products than hedonic-oriented products, but affective factors are on the contrary [28]. Purchase motives
of utilitarian-oriented products (e.g., household appliances) are utilitarian reasons, and the purchase
motives of hedonic-oriented products (e.g., clothing) are hedonic motives [29].
Therefore, this study aimed at investigating different effects of cognitive factors (e.g., environmental
concern) between green utilitarian-oriented products (e.g., energy efficient household appliances) and
green hedonic-oriented products (e.g., organic clothing) using extended TPB. It not only extends the
standard TPB by adding a cognitive factor, that is, environmental concern, but also reveals the different
effects of environmental concern on different kinds of green products.

2.1.2. Attitude toward Green Products

Attitude is one of the specific constructs in the framework of TPB. Eagly and Chaiken defined
attitude as a psychological path that an individual can consistently favor or disfavor to a specific
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 4 of 17

object [30]. Many previous researchers have studied the interrelationship between attitude and
purchase intention for green products and concluded that attitude is an indispensable variable while
predicting consumers’ purchase intention. In these studies, attitude can mainly be divided into two
types, one is general attitude, and the other is specific attitude. General attitude in these studies
indicates the attitude toward environmental problems, and specific attitude indicates the attitude
toward green products or a specific green product [4,14,27]. These two types of attitude were both
widely discussed in many previous studies. However, various research has demonstrated that specific
attitude is more likely to manifest in green behavior [27,31]. Han et al. found that a tourist who
thinks selecting a green hotel is beneficial to environmental protection will tend to choose a green
hotel [32]. Zhou et al. developed hypotheses based on previous literature and applied them to a case
of organic food in China to study the effect of extended TPB on consumers’ intention to buy organic
food [26]. Chen and Tung concluded that individuals who have positive specific attitude toward
visiting green hotels are more likely to choose green hotels in practice [33]. Paul et al. revealed that
specific attitude toward purchasing green products is positively associated with purchase intention for
green products [34]. Therefore, this study applied specific attitude toward green products to explore
the interrelationship between attitude and purchase intention for green products.
Attitude, as one of the major constructs in TPB, has been extensively studied in previous research
about purchase intention for green products. In addition, various empirical research has verified
that attitude positively affects purchase intention for green products [17,35,36]. Yazdanpanah and
Forouzani empirically examined the effectiveness of TPB framework and found that all constructs of
TPB were significantly and positively related to purchase intention for organic food [37]. Kumar et al.
constructed a conceptual framework and concluded that attitude is directly and positively related to
purchase intention for the environmentally sustainable products [5]. The following hypotheses were
developed based on the aforementioned research:

Hypothesis 1a (H1a). Attitude toward green products is positively and significantly associated with purchase
intention for energy efficient household appliances.

Hypothesis 1b (H1b). Attitude toward green products is positively and significantly associated with purchase
intention for organic clothing.

2.1.3. Subjective Norm

Subjective norm is defined as the perceived social pressure from people important to an individual
to do or not to do a specific behavior [10]. In modern society, no one can separate from the
society and become an independent individual, so word of mouth is one of the key factors affecting
individual pro-environmental behaviors [38]. The majority of previous researchers have empirically
explored the effect of subjective norms on purchase intention for green products using TPB [12,17,37].
Thøgersen found that subjective social norms are directly and positively related to pro-environmental
behaviors [39]. Wu and Man used TPB framework to find that subjective norms have a positive
effect on customers’ intention to visit a green hotel [40]. Yadav and Pathak found that subjective
norms positively influence the consumers’ purchase intention for green products [13]. The following
hypotheses were developed based on the aforementioned research:

Hypothesis 2a (H2a). Subjective norms are positively and significantly associated with purchase intention for
energy efficient household appliances.

Hypothesis 2b (H2b). Subjective norms are positively and significantly associated with purchase intention for
organic clothing.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 5 of 17

2.1.4. Perceived Behavior Control

Perceived behavior control, as an important part of TPB, is defined as the ease or difficulty to
perform a behavior [41]. In previous research, perceived behavior control was reflected by different
aspects, such as perceived inconvenience, cost of time, and resources [42,43]. Wang et al. developed
the hypotheses based on previous literature and concluded that perceived behavior control has a
positive and significant effect on sustainable consumption behaviors, using the data from a survey
in China [42]. Camilla and Patrick found that perceived inconvenience is often negatively related to
purchase intention for eco-friendly products [43]. Similar results were concluded by Nguyen et al. [27].
Bong and Jin demonstrated that stronger perceived behavior control leads to a more positive intention
to purchase green apparel products [44]. However, some researchers found a different association
between perceived behavior control and purchase intention for green products. Arvola et al. uncovered
that perceived behavior control and purchase intention for green products are not related based on
empirical research [45]. These contrasting views lead to an inconsistent conclusion, necessitating
further discussion on perceived behavior control. Based on previous research, this study considered
that the stronger the perceived behavior control is, the more confidence an individual has to do a
specific behavior, so the following hypotheses were developed, like the most of previous research:

Hypothesis 3a (H3a). Perceived behavior control is positively and significantly associated with purchase
intention for energy efficient household appliances.

Hypothesis 3b (H3b). Perceived behavior control is positively and significantly associated with purchase
intention for organic clothing.

2.2. Environmental Concern

Environmental concern is defined as a “strong attitude to protect environment” by Crosby et al. [46].
Previous research has generally found that there is a positive relationship between environmental
concern and purchase intention for green products [47,48]. Zhao et al. developed hypotheses based on
classical literature, and conducted a case study from Qingdao, China, to explore the factors affecting
green consumer behavior [48]. Environmental concern was recognized as one of the dominant cognitive
constructs while predicting purchase intention for green products [49]. Higher environmental concern
always leads to higher intention to protect the environment, and purchasing green products is an
effective choice.
Sang and Bekhet demonstrated that environmental concern has a positive effect on purchase
intention for a specific green product (i.e., electric vehicles) [50]. Yadav and Pathak concluded that
environmental concern not only positively affected purchase intention for green products, but also
positively affected the attitude toward such green products [13]. With an empirical investigation
into Indian consumers, Jaiswal and Kant also found that environmental concern was positively
associated with purchase intention for green products and attitude toward green products [49]. Besides,
various previous research has combined this cognitive factor into the TPB framework. Chen and
Tung combined environmental concern into an extended TPB framework and concluded that more
positive environmental concern led to a more positive effect on attitude, subjective norms, and
perceived behavior control toward visiting green hotels [33]. Similar results have been obtained from
Paul et al. [34], who found that environmental concern was positively related to both purchase intention
for green products and TPB constructs. Based on the review of the previous research, this study
combined environmental concern with TPB. It not only considered the direct effect of environmental
concern on TPB constructs, but also considered its different effects on different kinds of green products.
The following hypotheses were developed based on the aforementioned discussion:
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 6 of 17

Hypothesis 4a (H4a). Environmental concern is positively and significantly associated with attitude toward
green products.

Hypothesis 4b (H4b). Environmental concern is positively and significantly associated with subjective norms.

Hypothesis 4c (H4c). Environmental concern is positively and significantly associated with perceived behavior
control.

Hypothesis 5a (H5a). Environmental concern is positively and significantly associated with purchase intention
for energy efficient household appliances.

Hypothesis 5b (H5b). Environmental concern is positively and significantly associated with purchase intention
for organic clothing.

2.3. Purchase Intention for Utilitarian and Hedonic Green Products

Green products include various kinds of products, such as energy efficient household appliance,
organic clothing, organic food, and electric vehicles. Some researchers have regarded green products as
a general class to predict purchase intention [17,36], and others studied a specific green product [26,27].
However, few previous researchers have compared the different effects of constructs on different kinds
of green products.
Based on purchase motives, Brijs et al. divided products into utilitarian products and hedonic
products [28]. The motivation to buy hedonic products is hedonic and the motivation to buy
utilitarian products is utilitarian. Costa et al. divided products into three classes, utilitarian
nature-based products, utilitarian industrialized products, and hedonic industrialized products [29].
Three representative products—fruits, household appliances, and clothing—were chosen to evaluate
the impact of country-of-origin on foreign products. Energy efficient household appliances are
the green products that meet the energy consumption standards stipulated by the government for
energy-saving products and are widely used because of their better practicability and environmental
conservation ability. Organic clothing refers to the green products that can eliminate pollution, protect
the environment, and maintain ecological balance during the whole process of raw material production,
use, and recycle. They are harmless to health and are gradually becoming the consuming preference
for environment protectors. Moreover, Costa et al. have demonstrated that household appliances
are a kind of utilitarian products, and clothing is a kind of hedonic products [29]. Therefore, this
study separates green products into two classes, and used energy efficient household appliances
and organic clothing as representatives of utilitarian green products and hedonic green products
respectively. Moreover, as indicated in these studies, cognitive factors can better promote forming
purchase intention for utilitarian-oriented products, while affective factors can better promote forming
purchase intention for hedonic-oriented products [29]. This study used energy efficient household
appliances and organic clothing as representatives of utilitarian green products and hedonic green
products respectively, and developed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 6 (H6). The effect of cognitive factor (i.e., environmental concern) toward purchase intention for
utilitarian green products (i.e., energy efficient household appliance) is higher than the effect of hedonic green
products (i.e., organic clothing).

In conclusion, TPB has been widely used and extended in purchase intention for green products.
Whereas, most researchers regarded green products as a general class or only explored purchase
intention for a specific green product, this study divided green products into two classes (i.e., utilitarian
green products and hedonic green products) based on purchase motives, and examined the effects
of TPB constructs and environmental concern on their purchase intention, respectively. Moreover,
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 7 of 17

comparative effects of the cognitive factor were further probed for utilitarian green products and
hedonic green products. Based on the aforementioned literature review, the conceptual framework of
this study can be
Sustainability depicted
2019, as Figure
11, x FOR PEER REVIEW1. 7 of 20

Figure1.1.Proposed
Figure Proposed conceptual framework.
conceptual framework.

3. Methodology and Measurement

3. Methodology and Measurement
SEMSEMhas been widely
has been widelyused ininpsychology
used psychology and behaviorscience,
and behavior science, and
and covariance-based
covariance-based SEMSEM
and and
variance-based/component-based SEM are two prevalent methods. Recently, with
variance-based/component-based SEM are two prevalent methods. Recently, with the advantage of the advantage
of smaller
smallerrequired
required sample sizeand
sample size and itsits good
good adaptation
adaptation for prediction,
for prediction, component-based
component-based SEM has
SEM has been
been increasingly
increasingly used in many
used studies
in many [17,25].[17,25].
studies SmartPLSSmartPLS
is one of theisrepresentative tools for component-
one of the representative tools for
based SEM thatSEM
component-based usesthat
a least-squares estimation estimation
uses a least-squares procedure. Therefore,
procedure. this study applied
Therefore, SmartPLS
this study applied
2.0 [51] to analyze the data from an empirical survey.
SmartPLS 2.0 [51] to analyze the data from an empirical survey.
3.1. Research
3.1. Research Measures
Measures
According to previous research, a questionnaire with 7-point Likert scales was developed to
According to previous research, a questionnaire with 7-point Likert scales was developed to
measure latent variables, wherein “1” represents “entirely disagree”, and “7” represents “entirely
measure latent variables, wherein “1” represents “entirely disagree”, and “7” represents “entirely
agree”. The items were developed based on previous literature and the details of the questionnaire
agree”. The items were
are illustrated developed
in Table 1. based on previous literature and the details of the questionnaire are
illustrated in Table 1.
The items for purchase intentionTable were1.adapted
Items for from Taylor and Todd [52], and Wu and Chen [12],
each construct.
indicating the purchase Purchase intention (Adapted from Taylor and Todd [52];One
intention for two kinds of green products. wasChen
Wu and energy
[12])efficient household
appliances representing a specific kind(1)ofFor utilitarian green products, and the other was organic
organic clothing
clothing that represents a specific I intend tokind
purchase organic clothing
of hedonic green in my next purchase.
products. In previous research, household
I would like to purchase organic clothing.
appliances have been defined as a kind of utilitarian product, and clothing has been defined as a
I would like to consider purchasing organic clothing first.
kind of utilitarian product based
I would on
like to their different
recommend purchase
others to purchasemotives [28,29]. Therefore, in this study,
organic clothing.
the energy efficient household (2) appliances and organic
For energy efficient clothing
household were classified as utilitarian green
appliances
products and hedonic I intend to purchase
green energy
products, efficient household
respectively. Three appliances in my nextfrom
items adapted purchase.
Taylor and Todd [52],
I would like to purchase energy efficient household appliances.
and Jaiswal and Kant were employed to express consumers’ attitude toward purchasing green products
I would like to consider purchasing energy efficient household appliances first.
that reflect favor or disfavor of consumers to purchase green products [49]. Subjective norm items
I would like to recommend others to purchase energy efficient household appliances.
were also adapted from Taylor(Adapted
Attitude and Todd from[52] andand
Taylor Jaiswal andJaiswal
Todd [52]; Kant [49], indicating
and Kant [49]) whether perceived
social pressure from society andPurchasing intimate green
people are important
products for the individual to choose green
is a good idea.
products. Perceived behavioral Purchasing control itemsgreen were
products is a wisefrom
adapted idea. Armitage and Conner [53] and
Purchasing green products would be pleasant.
Kim and Han [54], indicating the ease or difficulty (e.g., cost of time, money, and other resources) to
Subjective norm (Adapted from Taylor and Todd [52]; Jaiswal and Kant [49])
purchase green products. Moreover, My society three items
expects me torepresenting
purchase greenenvironmental
products. concern were adapted
from Armitage and Conner I value the opinion and feeling of my family on purchasing green products.are concerned about
[53] and Kim and Han [54], which express how people
environmental problems I value and
the opinion and feeling of to
their willingness mysupport
friends onefforts
purchasing green them.
to solve products.
Perceived behavioral control (Adapted from Armitage and Conner [53]; Kim and Han [54])
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 8 of 17

Table 1. Items for each construct.

Purchase intention (Adapted from Taylor and Todd [52]; Wu and Chen [12])
(1) For organic clothing
I intend to purchase organic clothing in my next purchase.
I would like to purchase organic clothing.
I would like to consider purchasing organic clothing first.
I would like to recommend others to purchase organic clothing.
(2) For energy efficient household appliances
I intend to purchase energy efficient household appliances in my next purchase.
I would like to purchase energy efficient household appliances.
I would like to consider purchasing energy efficient household appliances first.
I would like to recommend others to purchase energy efficient household appliances.
Attitude (Adapted from Taylor and Todd [52]; Jaiswal and Kant [49])
Purchasing green products is a good idea.
Purchasing green products is a wise idea.
Purchasing green products would be pleasant.
Subjective norm (Adapted from Taylor and Todd [52]; Jaiswal and Kant [49])
My society expects me to purchase green products.
I value the opinion and feeling of my family on purchasing green products.
I value the opinion and feeling of my friends on purchasing green products.
Perceived behavioral control (Adapted from Armitage and Conner [53]; Kim and Han [54])
I can participate in the decision-making process of purchasing green products.
I can decide whether to purchase green products or not by myself.
I am free to choose green products when purchasing.
I have resources, time, and opportunities to purchase green products.
Environmental concern (Adapted from Armitage and Conner [53]; Kim and Han [54])
China’s environment is my major concern.
I am emotionally involved in environmental protection issues in China.
I often think about how the environmental quality in China can be improved.

3.2. Translation and Pretesting

The questionnaire was initially developed in English based on previous literature, and then
translated into Chinese. A back-translation technique [55] was used to ensure the consistency between
English and Chinese. First, a professor was invited to translate the questionnaire from English to
Chinese; then another professor was invited to translate it from Chinese to English and compare it to
the original English version; repeating translating until a consistency was achieved between English
and Chinese. This process can avoid ambiguity caused by different languages and ensure the reliability
of the questionnaire results from the source.
Furthermore, a pretesting process was employed to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of
the developed questionnaire. In this study, two steps were used to ensure the effectiveness of the
questionnaire to the maximum extent. First, two professors were invited to examine the questionnaire
and provide suggestions, so the questionnaire could be improved from a professional perspective;
then, the questionnaire was distributed through 20 samples, and all these samples were randomly
selected through the internet including different ages and educational levels. With the pretesting,
minor revisions were made to improve the questionnaire.
Back-translation technique and pretesting processes can improve the effectiveness of the
questionnaire to some extent and leading to more efficient survey data. Therefore, it built up a
good foundation of experimental results and reasonable implications.

3.3. Data Collection

An online survey was applied to collect data with a prevalent online survey website [56]. It is
a popular survey website that is widely used by researchers, students, and entrepreneurs in China.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 9 of 17

With the advantage of convenient distribution, fast spread speed, and convenient filling process,
online surveys have been extensively used in previous research [57,58]. The data were collected from
Southern region of China, because the economy in this region is prosperous, comparatively, and people
are paying more and more attention to environmental protection these days. Therefore, a survey
conducted in this region is more reasonable, and the collected data are more effective.
This study collected 223 valid samples after eliminating all outliers that were not up to standard
(e.g., missing values and dishonest answers). Kline has advocated that ten samples for each item are
enough to measure the latent variables, so required samples in this study were 210 (21 × 10 = 210)
considering that there are 21 items in this study [59]. In addition, component-based PLS is fit
for evaluating small sample size, so the data used in this study were efficient and sufficient. As
shown in Table 2, the samples consist of 81 male participants and 142 female participants, 96.14%
of whom had a bachelors’ degree or higher. As demonstrated by some empirical research, people
with high educational level are more likely to participate in green consumption. Moreover, 84.30%
of participants had experience with purchasing energy efficient household appliances, while only
26.91% of participants had experience with purchasing organic clothing. This phenomenon reflects the
different purchase intentions for different kinds of green products to some extent.

Table 2. Sample characteristics.

Variables Categories Frequency Percentage (%)

Gender Male 81 63.68
Female 142 36.32
Age Less than 18 years 3 1.35
18–25 111 49.78
26–35 85 38.12
36–45 8 3.59
46–55 13 5.83
Above 55 3 1.35
Educational level High school or lower 9 3.86
Bachelor 138 59.23
Master 74 31.76
PhD or higher 2 0.86
Purchase experience1 Yes 188 84.30
No 35 15.70
Purchase experience2 Yes 60 26.91
No 163 73.09
Note: Purchase experience1 represents the purchase experience for energy efficient household appliances; Purchase
experience2 represents the purchase experience for organic clothing. The percentages were calculated based on total
usable sample of 223.

4. Data Analysis and Results

In this section, three parts of data analysis are elaborated to evaluate the experimental performance
and the model efficiency. First, a two-step common method bias is used to analyze if there was any
common variance problem. Second, reliability and validity of the proposed model are evaluated.
Finally, hypotheses testing results are analyzed to verify the proposed conceptual framework.

4.1. Common Method Bias

Common method bias is a systematic error of self-reported data that is caused by the same data
sources, same survey context, and the characteristics of the project [60]. Therefore, some statistical
analysis is required to examine common method bias problems after preliminary procedural remedy
to ensure the efficiency of the data.
This study applied a two-step verification to eliminate serious common method bias. First,
Harman’s single-factor test was performed using SPSS 22.0. Results from this test showed that the
most covariance explained by one factor was 17.9%, indicating that common method bias was not
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 10 of 17

seriously affecting the sample data [60]. Second, following Liang et al., a common method factor
that contains all indicators of constructs was included in PLS to measure each indicator’s variance
substantively explained by the principal construct and by the method [61]. As shown in Table 3,
average substantive factors explained that the variance of the constructs was 0.9201, while the average
method-based variance only explained 0.0019 variance of the constructs. The ratio between substantive
factor variance and method-based variance was 484:1. Moreover, as indicated in Table 3, all substantive
factor loadings were significant, while most method factor loadings were insignificant. Based on these
results, common method bias was not serious and unlikely to affect analysis results in this study. The
two-step verification could explain that common method bias was not serious to a greater extent.

Table 3. Common method bias.

Substantive Factor Method Factor

Constructs Items R12 R22
Loading (R1) Loading (R2)
INT1 INT11 0.9395 *** 0.8827 0.0005 0.0000
INT12 1.0303 *** 1.0615 −0.1036 *** 0.0107
INT13 0.9299 *** 0.8647 0.0172 0.0003
INT14 0.8536 *** 0.7286 0.0874 *** 0.0076
INT2 INT21 0.9280 *** 0.8612 0.0283 0.0008
INT22 0.9496 *** 0.9017 −0.0061 0.0000
INT23 0.9660 *** 0.9332 −0.0082 0.0001
INT24 0.9722 *** 0.9452 −0.0137 0.0002
ATT ATT1 0.9547 *** 0.9115 −0.0167 0.0003
ATT2 0.9829 *** 0.9661 −0.0510 ** 0.0026
ATT3 0.8695 *** 0.7560 0.0681 ** 0.0046
SBN SBN1 0.8823 *** 0.7785 0.0034 0.0000
SBN2 0.9615 *** 0.9245 −0.0175 0.0003
SBN3 0.9413 *** 0.8860 0.0142 0.0002
PBC PBC1 0.7890 *** 0.6225 0.0663 0.0044
PBC2 0.9357 *** 0.8755 −0.0251 0.0006
PBC3 0.8949 *** 0.8008 0.0253 0.0006
PBC4 0.8106 *** 0.6571 −0.0768 0.0059
ENC ENC1 0.9341 *** 0.8725 −0.0137 0.0002
ENC2 0.8999 *** 0.8098 0.0237 0.0006
ENC3 0.8974 *** 0.8053 −0.0105 0.0001
Average 0.9201 0.8498 −0.0004 0.0019
Note: INT1 represents purchase intention for energy efficient household appliances, and INT11–INT14 are
observation variables for INT1; INT2 represents purchase intention for organic clothing, and INT21–INT24 are
observation variables for INT2; ATT represents attitude toward purchasing green products, and ATT1–ATT3 are
observation variables for ATT; SBN represents subjective norm, and SBN1–SBN3 are observation variables for SBN;
PBC represents perceived behavioral control, and PBC1–PBC4 are observation variables for PBC; ENC represents
environmental concern, and ENC1–ENC3 are observation variables for ENC; the above notes are also applied in the
subsequent tables. ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

4.2. Reliability and Validity of the Model

Three commonly used indicators, that is, individual reliability of items, composite reliability
of latent variables, and average variance extracted of the latent variables were used to measure the
reliability and validity of the model [25,62]. These indicators, on the one hand, verify whether the
items can accurately reflect latent variables, and on the other hand, verify the convergent validity and
the discriminant validity of the proposed model.
Factor loading of each item reflects the statistical significance of each item to test respective latent
variables. As indicated by Hair et al. [63], the validity threshold of standardized factor loadings values
is 0.5, which can demonstrate a valid reflection for the latent variable. As shown in Table 4, the factor
loading of each item ranged from 0.7468 to 0.9617, which showed high individual item reliability.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 11 of 17

Composite reliability (CR) indicates the internal consistency of the constructs, which is extensively
used for checking convergence validity. The measurement of CR shown in Table 4 ranged from 0.9174
to 0.9759, which was higher than the recommended threshold 0.7 [64]. Moreover, Cronbach’s α is one
of the most commonly used methods for reliability analysis in social science research. Cronbach’s α for
construct value ranged from 0.8784 to 0.9671, surpassing the recommended threshold 0.7. Average
variance extracted (AVE) is a statistical measure that examines the internal consistency of structural
variables. AVE of each construct ranged from 0.7364 to 0.9101, which was higher than the recommended
threshold 0.5 [64]. All of these indicators demonstrated that the proposed model was reliable and valid.

Table 4. Reliability of scales and convergent validity.

Constructs Items Factor Loadings Cronbach’s α CR AVE

INT1 INT11 0.9383 0.9550 0.9673 0.8810
INT12 0.9468
INT13 0.9446
INT14 0.9246
INT2 INT21 0.9496 0.9671 0.9759 0.9101
INT22 0.9445
INT23 0.9602
INT24 0.9617
ATT ATT1 0.9404 0.9290 0.9548 0.8757
ATT2 0.9418
ATT3 0.9251
SBN SBN1 0.8846 0.9199 0.9496 0.8628
SBN2 0.9487
SBN3 0.9517
PBC PBC1 0.8483 0.8784 0.9174 0.7364
PBC2 0.9128
PBC3 0.9138
PBC4 0.7468
ENC ENC1 0.9227 0.8967 0.9356 0.8289
ENC2 0.9196
ENC3 0.8886
Note: CR is abbreviation of composite reliability; AVE is abbreviation of average variance extracted.

As indicated in Table 5, the square root of AVE for each construct was greater than the highest
correlation between the specific construct and other constructs, indicating a good discriminant
validity [64]. Although the correlation between constructs ranged from 0.3716 to 0.6354, and some
constructs were more comparatively highly correlated to other constructs (e.g., INT1 and ATT, ENC
and PBC), the square root of AVE for each construct ranged from 0.8581 to 0.9540, verifying an adequate
discriminant validity.

Table 5. Discriminant validity.

INT1 INT2 ATT SBN PBC ENC

INT1 0.9386
INT2 0.4991 0.9540
ATT 0.6354 0.5548 0.9358
SBN 0.3716 0.4458 0.4118 0.9289
PBC 0.5355 0.4965 0.5454 0.5103 0.8581
ENC 0.5515 0.4909 0.5284 0.5596 0.6102 0.9104
Note: Diagonal values indicate square root of AVE for each construct.
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 12 of 17

4.3. Hypothesis Testing

According to Table 6, attitude toward purchasing green products was positively and significantly
correlated to purchase intention for energy efficient household appliances and organic clothing with
a coefficient of 0.43 and 0.34, respectively. The results indicated that the direct effects of attitude on
purchase intention for different kinds of green product were a little different but not incommensurable.
Hence, H1a and H1b were supported. Perceived behavioral control was positively and significantly
correlated to purchase intention for energy efficient household appliances and organic clothing with
a coefficient of 0.17 and 0.15, respectively. The coefficients of these two paths were almost the same,
indicating a similar magnitude of effect on purchase intention for different green product classes.
Moreover, the effect of attitude was higher than that of perceived behavioral control on both kinds of
green products, consistent with the results of the previous literature that demonstrated that attitude
toward green products will have the highest positive effect on the green purchase intention among
all TPB predictor constructs [17]. Hence, H2a and H2b were supported. Subjective norm had a
positive and significant effect on purchase intention for organic clothing, while it had a negative but
insignificant effect on purchase intention for energy efficient household appliances. There was no
consensus about how subjective norms affect purchase intention for green products. Some previous
literature has verified that it had a positive effect on purchase intention for green products [12,26],
while some researchers found that it had a negative effect [65,66]. Hence, H3b was supported, while
H3a was not supported.

Table 6. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results of the extended theory of planned behavior
(TPB) model.

Coefficients Indirect Hypothesis

Paths t-Value Direct Effect Total Effect
(β) Effect Supported
ATT→ INT1 0.43 12.196 *** 0.428 - 0.428 Yes
ATT → INT2 0.34 11.182 *** 0.338 - 0.338 Yes
SBN → INT1 −0.02 0.775 ns −0.023 - −0.023 No
SBN → INT2 0.15 4.489 *** 0.155 - 0.155 Yes
PBC → INT1 0.17 4.591 *** 0.171 - 0.171 Yes
PBC → INT2 0.15 4.068 *** 0.152 - 0.152 Yes
ENC → ATT 0.53 23.385 *** 0.528 - 0.528 Yes
ENC → INT1 0.23 6.206 *** 0.234 0.318 0.552 Yes
ENC → INT2 0.13 3.598 *** 0.133 0.358 0.491 Yes
ENC → PBC 0.61 29.073 *** 0.610 - 0.610 Yes
ENC → SBN 0.56 23.500 *** 0.560 - 0.560 Yes
Note: *** p < 0.001; ns represents this hypothesis is not supported.

In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model, this study conducted comparative
experiments by separating the dependent variables (i.e., purchase intention for organic clothing and
that for energy efficient household appliances) and running the model two times. As indicated in
Table 7, the coefficients of the paths were almost the same as those of the previous model, and the
results of all hypotheses were also the same. Some slight differences were found in t-Values, but
they did not affect the experimental conclusions. Therefore, the experimental results were reasonable
and convincing.
Experimental results in Table 6 showed that environmental concern had a directly positive and
significant effect on attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control with a coefficient of 0.53,
0.56, and 0.61 respectively, so H4a, H4b, and H4c were supported. Moreover, environmental concern
had a directly positive and significant effect on purchase intention for energy efficient household
appliances and organic clothing with a coefficient of 0.23 and 0.13, respectively. It also had an indirect
effect on purchase intention for both kinds of green products, and the magnitude of indirect effect
was almost the same with 0.318 and 0.358, respectively. Hence, H5a and H5b were supported. In
addition, the coefficients of 0.23 and 0.13 also indicated that cognitive factors had a higher effect on
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 13 of 17

purchase intention for utilitarian green products (i.e., energy efficient household appliances) than that
for hedonic green products (i.e., organic clothing). This verified that cognitive factors do have greater
effect on hedonic green products than utilitarian green products, supporting H6.
In conclusion, hypothesis testing predicted H1a, H1b, H2a, H2b, H3b, H4a, H4b, H4c, H5a, H5b,
and H6 to be significant, whereas, H3a was insignificant. The details of prediction results are presented
in Table 6.

Table 7. Separating experimental results of the extended TPB model.

Coefficients Indirect Hypothesis

Paths t-Value Direct Effect Total Effect
(β) Effect Supported
ATT → INT1 0.43 13.454 *** 0.429 - 0.429 Yes
ATT → INT2 0.34 12.282 *** 0.340 - 0.340 Yes
SBN → INT1 −0.02 0.775 ns -0.023 - −0.023 No
SBN → INT2 0.15 4.313 *** 0.154 - 0.154 Yes
PBC → INT1 0.17 4.336 *** 0.171 - 0.171 Yes
PBC → INT2 0.15 4.091 *** 0.152 - 0.152 Yes
ENC → ATT 0.53 21.868 *** 0.529 - 0.529 Yes
ENC → INT1 0.23 6.553 *** 0.233 0.319 0.552 Yes
ENC → INT2 0.13 3.598 *** 0.133 0.358 0.491 Yes
ENC → PBC 0.61 30.687 *** 0.611 - 0.611 Yes
ENC → SBN 0.56 22.922 *** 0.559 - 0.559 Yes
Note: *** p < 0.001; ns represents this hypothesis is not supported.

5. Discussion of Findings and Implications

In this study, the main purpose was to improve the understanding of purchase intention for green
products by examining the effect of the extended TPB on different green products (i.e., utilitarian green
products and hedonic green products). Two kinds of green products, that is, energy efficient household
appliances and organic clothing, representing utilitarian green products and hedonic green products
respectively, were used to verify the proposed hypotheses [29]. Moreover, a cognitive factor, that is,
environmental concern was included to explore whether the magnitude of its effect differentiated
between different kinds of green products. The direct and indirect effect of environmental concern
were measured on different kinds of green products.
Prediction results indicated that TPB had significant effect on purchase intention for green products.
To be specific, attitude and perceived behavior control had positive and significant effects on purchase
intention for both utilitarian green products (i.e., energy efficient household appliances) and hedonic
green products (i.e., organic clothing), as has also been demonstrated by Aman [67], and Hsu et al. [15],
etc. Subjective norm had a positive and significant effect on purchase intention for organic clothing,
while it had an insignificant effect on purchase intention for energy efficient household appliances.
A consensus has not been formed about how subjective norm affects purchase intention for green
products [12,27,66]. Environmental concern had a direct and positive effect on attitude, subjective
norms, and perceived behavior control, as is consistent with the conclusions of previous research [34].
Moreover, environmental concern had a direct and significant effect on purchase intention for utilitarian
green products (i.e., energy efficient household appliances) and hedonic green products (i.e., organic
clothing), and the effect magnitude on utilitarian green products was higher than that on hedonic green
products, as verified by Costa et al. [29] on imported products. Besides the direct effects, environmental
concern also had indirect effects on purchase intention for both utilitarian and hedonic green products.
The empirical experiments supported H1a, H1b, H2a, H2b, H3b, H4a, H4b, H4c, H5a, H5b, and H6,
whereas, H3a was not supported, indicating that the proposed model is reasonable and efficient.
This study provides an insight for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and retailers to attract the attention
of citizens toward environment protection and arouse the purchase intention for green products of
the consumers. First, it is a theoretical exploration of extended TPB combined with cognitive factors,
measuring different effects on utilitarian and hedonic green products; it provides an interesting and
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 14 of 17

promising research perspective on purchase intention for green products by applying SEM methods.
Second, policymakers could draw some policy implications to promote green consumption by citizens,
thereby promoting environmental protection affairs. Efforts should be made to improve citizens’
environmental concern by introducing relevant environmental protection policies and regulations,
increasing the intensity of the media to promote environmental awareness, and improving public
understanding of environmental protection policies and regulations. According to the findings of this
study, environmental concern can not only directly improve purchase intention for green products, but
also indirectly improve purchase intention by positively affecting the attitude toward green products,
subjective norms, and perceived behavior control. This will certainly be advantageous to environmental
protection. Third, entrepreneurs could make efforts to advertise the green products and their benefits
to the environment so that consumers can better understand the green products they sell and form a
positive attitude toward their green products. Positive attitude toward green products can promote
purchase intention for green products. Propaganda for green products and environmental protection
is conducive to the formation of the whole society’s environmental protection context and hence
improves the purchase intention for green products through social contact, which is verified by the fact
that subjective norm was positively related to purchase intention for some green products (e.g., organic
clothing). Fourth, perceived behavior control was positively correlated to purchase intention for green
products, indicating that if green products are more accessible, the purchase intention for them will be
higher. In this respect, retailers could make it easier for consumers to find the green products they
need by setting clear slogans and providing more accessible shelving.

6. Limitations and Future Research

This study was mainly focused on verifying the effect of TPB constructs on purchase intention for
green products. Moreover, a cognitive factor (i.e., environmental concern) was included to further
analyze its different effects on different kinds of green products (i.e., utilitarian green products and
hedonic green products). In this respect, this study provides a verification and extension for previous
research that used TPB to examine purchase intention for green products, and proposes a research
direction considering different effects of cognitive factors on different kinds of green products.
Although this study has covered some novel points, it still has some limitations that can be
improved upon in future research. First, this study has separated the green products into two classes
(i.e., utilitarian green products and hedonic green products) and selected energy efficient household
appliances and organic clothing as representative products, but there are other classification standards
and other utilitarian green products and hedonic green products that can be used to verify the proposed
model. For example, Costa et al. separated products into three classes (i.e., utilitarian nature-based
products, utilitarian industrialized products, and hedonic industrialized products) [29]. Further
research can be done on different kinds of green products based on different classification standards
and different kinds of utilitarian green products and hedonic green products. Second, cognitive
factors is a comprehensive concept that contains various factors, and this study selected environmental
concern as a representative to explore its different effects on different kinds of green products. In
future work, other cognitive factors (e.g., environmental knowledge) can be used to explore how
cognitive factors differently affect different kinds of green products. Third, limited data were used
in this study although it meets the basic requirements of using PLS to study purchase intention for
green products. Further research can be done based on a larger population so that it can cover more
populations with different regions, occupations, and ages. Moreover, this study mainly focused on
exploring the effect of TPB constructs and cognitive factors on different kinds of green products.
Further research can be done by comparing different effects of constructs on different groups, such as
male and female groups, groups with purchase experience, and without purchase experience. Fourth,
owning to different green consumption habits, consumption levels, and supporting policies of green
consumption, there are some differences in green consumption patterns between different regions.
In our future work, cross-sectional research between two countries such as China and the USA can
Sustainability 2019, 11, 4222 15 of 17

be developed to compare green consumption patterns between different regions. Fifth, this study
considered the indirect effect (mediate effect) but had no regard for moderate effect of environmental
concern. Further research can be done on this point to verify if the moderate effect of cognitive factors
differentiates between different kinds of green products. Sixth, although some concepts are included in
this study, other influential concepts (e.g., belief and value) could be included in further researches.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, L.Z. and Y.F.; Data Curation, Y.F.; Formal Analysis, L.Z. and Y.F.;
Funding Acquisition, W.Z. and S.Z.; Investigation, Y.F.; Methodology, L.Z. and Y.F.; Project Administration, L.Z.,
W.Z. and S.Z.; Supervision, W.Z.; Writing-Original Draft, L.Z. and Y.F.; Writing-Review & Editing, W.Z. and S.Z.
Funding: This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China grant number (No. 51875503,
No. 51475410).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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