Does perceived social norms mediates the relationship between the attitude and buying intention towards Eco-friendly products?

• Author Details:   
• Ashok Kumar Panigrahi ^*
• Debasis Pani
• Sunil Kumar Pradhan
• Suman Kalyan Chaudhury

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Attitude of the consumer is considered as one of the indispensable factor that not only shapes the personality but also influence significantly the buying intention of the consumer towards consumption of eco-friendly products. Earlier studies, has shown strong evidence of the influence of attitude on the consumer’ buying intention.  In contrary, some studies further holds that along with attitude of the consumer the buying experience influenced by the perceived social norms plays an important role in persuading the buying intention of the consumer. However the earlier studies have not clearly stated the importance of social norms is justifying the relationship between the attitude and buying intention. The thrust of the current research is based on a pertinent question, is the relationship between attitudes of the consumer and buying intention towards eco-friendly products is mediated by perceived social norms? To explore such relationship, the researcher has adopted multistage sampling method and data was collected from 428 respondents.  Further, Smart-PLS approach was adopted to do the data analysis.

The outcome of the study revealed that both the attitude of the consumer and perceive social norms have positive influence on the buying intention of the consumer towards consumption of eco-friendly products. Moreover, the “perceived social norms” mediate the relationship between the “attitude” and “buying intention” of the consumer. The finding of the study strongly affirms the existence of partial mediation. The research findings not only gives a basis understanding about the complex buying behaviour of the consumer but also developing a new horizon of knowledge for the marketers to improve their marketing communication to entice the eco-friendly consumers. 

Keywords: Attitude, Buying intention, Perceived social norms