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“Why Do We Buy Green Products?” An Extended Theory of the Planned Behavior Model for Green Product Purchase Behavior

Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020689

by Piyanoot Kamalanon¹

, Ja-Shen Chen^1,* and Tran-Thien-Y Le²

Reviewer 1: Anonymous

Reviewer 2: Anonymous

Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020689

Submission received: 13 December 2021 / Revised: 6 January 2022 / Accepted: 6 January 2022 / Published: 9 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Collection Marketing and Sustainability)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is suggested that the author add a brief description of research contributions in the Abstract.
The keyword “perceived green image” is not mature enough in the literature base, it is better to adjust or delete it.
In the Introduction, the author does not clearly put forward the scientific problems to be solved in this manuscript and the innovation points of this research. Some important studies on green behavior and the use of SEM methods have been missed.
e.g.,
Bednarek, P. T., Orłowska, R., Mańkowski, D. R., Oleszczuk, S., & Zebrowski, J. (2021). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis of Sequence Variation and Green Plant Regeneration via Anther Culture in Barley. Cells, 10(10), 2774.
Danks, N. P., Sharma, P. N., & Sarstedt, M. (2020). Model selection uncertainty and multimodel inference in partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Journal of Business Research, 113, 13-24.
Dash, G., & Paul, J. (2021). CB-SEM vs PLS-SEM methods for research in social sciences and technology forecasting. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 173, 121092.
Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Using R: A Workbook.
Li, X., Du, J., & Long, H. (2020). Mechanism for green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises (GDBP-IE) using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8450.
Li, X., Huang, R., Dai, J., Li, J., & Shen, Q. (2021). Research on the evolutionary game of construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling units’ green behavior, considering remanufacturing capability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9268.
Mirpanahi, M. V., & Noorzai, E. (2021). Modeling the Relationship between Critical BIM Attributes and Environmental Sustainability Criteria Using PLS-SEM Technique. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 27(4), 04021037.
Munerah, S., Koay, K. Y., & Thambiah, S. (2021). Factors influencing non-green consumers’ purchase intention: A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 280, 124192.
Purwanto, A., & Sudargini, Y. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Squation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Analysis for Social and Management Research: A Literature Review. Journal of Industrial Engineering & Management Research, 2(4), 114-123.
Rehman Khan, S. A., & Yu, Z. (2021). Assessing the eco-environmental performance: an PLS-SEM approach with practice-based view. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 24(3), 303-321.
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., Cheah, J. H., Ting, H., Moisescu, O. I., & Radomir, L. (2020). Structural model robustness checks in PLS-SEM. Tourism Economics, 26(4), 531-554.
Tzang, R. F., Chang, Y. C., & Chang, C. H. (2021). Structural equation modeling (SEM): childhood aggression and irritable ADHD associated with parental psychiatric symptoms. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(19), 10068.
Xu, Y., Du, J., Shahzad, F., & Li, X. (2021). Untying the influence of green brand authenticity on electronic word-of-mouth intention: a moderation–mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 3812.

etc.

In the literature review section, the author only listed the research results of others without making critical comments on them.
When the author described the theoretical contribution of this research, the content of this section can be condensed and simplified.
It is suggested that the author write conclusions separately, so that readers can have a clearer understanding of the final results of this study. And when writing management implications, the author is better to describe them corresponding to the conclusions obtained above.
It is recommended that the author do not cite references in the management implication.

In summary, it is recommended that authors carefully revise their manuscripts based on the above suggestions. I sincerely look forward to receiving the revised version.

Author Response

Note: Changes in the revised manuscript are marked in blue.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the editor, and the reviewers for taking time to read our paper and for giving us constructive comments. We particularly wish to thank the editor for managing our paper. We appreciate all comments and implemented changes as suggested.

REVIEWER 1 COMMENTS

Reviewer 1 comment 1:

It is suggested that the author add a brief description of research contributions in the Abstract.

Response 1:

Thank you for your comment. The brief description of research contributions has been added at the end of the Abstract. Please see the Abstract section below.

Abstract: Many consumers are concerned about environmental issues and have expressed interest in purchasing green products. However, actual sales of green products are still not as high as expected. Therefore, marketers of green products may need to investigate the factors driving green purchase behaviors. In this study, we proposed an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model that links consumers’ environmental concerns, perceived image of the company, consumer innovativeness, and environmental knowledge with green product purchase behavior. We applied a quantitative approach to collect the data via online questionnaires through Amazon M-Turk. With 974 useable samples, the data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS. The results showed that green purchase intention positively and significantly affects green purchase behavior. Moreover, the multigroup analysis revealed that the direct influence of green purchase intention on green purchase behavior is higher in developing countries than in developed countries. Regarding the direct effect on green purchase intention, attitude toward green products, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), environmental concern, and company’s perceived green image are significant antecedents of the intention to purchase with attitude toward green products being the most robust antecedent among the three. However, subjective norms do not act as a direct antecedent of purchase intention. For the indirect effect on green purchase intention, four main antecedents (attitude toward green products, subjective norms, PCE, and environmental concerns) indirectly impact purchase intention via the mediating role of the perceived green image of the company. This study contributes to existing literatures via extending the TPB model. Regarding attitude-intention-behavior model, we found that environmental concern complements the model as an antecedent of green purchase intention. Moreover, a company’s perceived green image mediates the relationship between four antecedents and green purchase intention. Therefore, marketers of green products may also enhance future purchases by promoting the green image of the company. Particularly, we found that environmental knowledge positively moderates the relationship between environmental concern and a company’s perceived green image. We added on the empirical evidence that PCE plays crucial role in stimulating green purchase as its direct positive influence on green purchase behavior is larger than that of green purchase intention. Furthermore, consumer innovativeness positively moderates the relationship between PCE and green purchase intention.

[extracted from page 1]

Reviewer 1 comment 2:

The keyword “perceived green image” is not mature enough in the literature base, it is better to adjust or delete it.

Response 2:

Thank you for the valuable suggestions. We have tried to develop mature literature for “perceived green image” by linking it to “green corporate image” which is an important concept in reputation management and green marketing. Please see Section 2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image.

2.2.7. Company’s perceived green image

Corporate image involves how the stakeholders perceive the firm as a business [72] and it relates to the general impression of the stakeholders of the organization. Businesses invest a lot in building a strong corporate image to secure their market positions and competitive advantage [73]. Corporate image plays important roles in strengthening brand position and enhancing positive attitudes that lead to adoption of the firm’s products [74]. Marketing studies indicated that green practice such as green production process, green packaging, material recovery, and green product offering can contribute to development of the image of the company [75], specifically green corporate image. Green corporate image (GCI) is a combination of a company's concern for its business's image as environmentally conscious. It is established via the green branding or so-called sustainable branding. Green brands refer to green practice and green products offered by the business, while green corporate image refers to the green perception of the stakeholders [76].

In accordance with green corporate image (GCI), a company’s perceived green image refers to the series of perceptions that consumers create in their memories about business-related environmental responsibilities and concerns [77]. Numerous businesses have begun to recognize the prospects of the green market due to the advent of this reform movement and the rise in consumer demand for green products. The creation of green brands is seen as an inevitable future outcome [78]. Using green features to differentiate products can enhance a company’s green reputation. Most of the existing consumer study literature examines green brands or green image of the company in various context such as green brand authenticity and self-concept [79] or a firm’s corporate social responsibility initiative and green purchase intention [80], but there are still few studies on the relationship between green attitude and green image [15,81,82]. For instance, Han investigated the roles of attitudes toward green behaviors on the company’s image in the aspect of eco-friendly decision making of hotel customers, and indicated that customers with highly positive attitudes toward environmentally friendly behaviors would perceive the positive images of the company and accordingly tend to have higher level of willingness to choose the green hotel [81]. This finding supports the empirical evidences of the relationship between green attitudes and green image inhospitality industry businesses such as hotels and restaurants. However, we still lack of empirical studies in the contests of green product purchase. We analyzed the impacts of green attitudes on a company’s green image by hypothesizing H6a.

H6a. Attitude toward green products positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

[extracted from page 6 to page 8]

Reviewer 1 comment 3:
In the Introduction, the author does not clearly put forward the scientific problems to be solved in this manuscript and the innovation points of this research. Some important studies on green behavior and the use of SEM methods have been missed.
e.g.,
Bednarek, P. T., Orłowska, R., Mańkowski, D. R., Oleszczuk, S., & Zebrowski, J. (2021). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis of Sequence Variation and Green Plant Regeneration via Anther Culture in Barley. Cells, 10(10), 2774.
Danks, N. P., Sharma, P. N., & Sarstedt, M. (2020). Model selection uncertainty and multimodel inference in partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Journal of Business Research, 113, 13-24.
Dash, G., & Paul, J. (2021). CB-SEM vs PLS-SEM methods for research in social sciences and technology forecasting. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 173, 121092.
Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Using R: A Workbook.
Li, X., Du, J., & Long, H. (2020). Mechanism for green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises (GDBP-IE) using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8450.
Li, X., Huang, R., Dai, J., Li, J., & Shen, Q. (2021). Research on the evolutionary game of construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling units’ green behavior, considering remanufacturing capability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9268.
Mirpanahi, M. V., & Noorzai, E. (2021). Modeling the Relationship between Critical BIM Attributes and Environmental Sustainability Criteria Using PLS-SEM Technique. Journal of Architectural Engineering, 27(4), 04021037.
Munerah, S., Koay, K. Y., & Thambiah, S. (2021). Factors influencing non-green consumers’ purchase intention: A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 280, 124192.
Purwanto, A., & Sudargini, Y. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Squation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Analysis for Social and Management Research: A Literature Review. Journal of Industrial Engineering & Management Research, 2(4), 114-123.
Rehman Khan, S. A., & Yu, Z. (2021). Assessing the eco-environmental performance: an PLS-SEM approach with practice-based view. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 24(3), 303-321.
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., Cheah, J. H., Ting, H., Moisescu, O. I., & Radomir, L. (2020). Structural model robustness checks in PLS-SEM. Tourism Economics, 26(4), 531-554.
Tzang, R. F., Chang, Y. C., & Chang, C. H. (2021). Structural equation modeling (SEM): childhood aggression and irritable ADHD associated with parental psychiatric symptoms. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(19), 10068.
Xu, Y., Du, J., Shahzad, F., & Li, X. (2021). Untying the influence of green brand authenticity on electronic word-of-mouth intention: a moderation–mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 3812.

etc.

Response 3:
Thank you for the recommendations. We have reviewed all the papers and found that all of them are very helpful for establishing scientific problems, identifying innovation points, and structuring the hypothesis testing methodologies. Therefore, we included them in our revised version. The introduction now clearly highlights the scientific problems (green attitude-behavior gap), and innovation points (contribution to green marketing field). Moreover, with the supports of literature regarding SEM, we could make clear to the readers that SEM is employed in this study as a data analysis tools in scientific research.

Recommended papers were categorized and referred in the revised manuscript as follows.

No.	Citation	Authors	Article/book title	Citation in
No.	Citation	Authors	Article/book title	1. Introduction	4.2. Structural Model	2. Literature review
1	[22]	Bednarek et al. (2021)	Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis of Sequence Variation and Green Plant Regeneration via Anther Culture in Barley	/
2	[129]	Danks et al. (2020)	Model selection uncertainty and multimodel inference in partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)		/
3	[130]	Dash & Paul (2021)	CB-SEM vs PLS-SEM methods for research in social sciences and technology forecasting		/
4	[133]	Hair et al. (2021)	Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Using R: A Workbook		/
5	[23]	Li & Dong (2020)	Mechanism for green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises (GDBP-IE) using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)	/	/
6	[3]	Li et al (2021)	Research on the evolutionary game of construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling units’ green behavior, considering remanufacturing capability	/
7	[26]	Mirpanahi & Noorzai (2021)	Modeling the Relationship between Critical BIM Attributes and Environmental Sustainability Criteria Using PLS-SEM Technique	/
8	[27]	Munerah et al. (2021)	Factors influencing non-green consumers’ purchase intention: A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach	/
9	[132]	Purwanto & Sudargini (2021).	Partial Least Squares Structural Squation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Analysis for Social and Management Research: A Literature Review		/
10	[24]	Rehman Khan & Yu (2021).	Assessing the eco-environmental performance: an PLS-SEM approach with practice-based view	/	/
11	[131]	Sarstedt et al. (2020)	Structural model robustness checks in PLS-SEM		/
12	[25]	Tzang et al. (2021)	Structural equation modeling (SEM): childhood aggression and irritable ADHD associated with parental psychiatric symptoms	/		/ (Please see Section 2.2.7.)
13	[4]	Xu et al. (2021)	Untying the influence of green brand authenticity on electronic word-of-mouth intention: a moderation–mediation model	/		/ (Please see Section 2.2.7.)

Please see Section 1. Introduction, Section 2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image, and Section 4.2. Structural Model.

Section 1. Introduction

Introduction

Green consumers may choose to purchase green products to minimize pollution and mitigate the global environmental crisis [1]. While conventional consumers focus on maximizing immediate self-benefits, green consumers consider the long-term benefits of their purchases to others and the environment [2]. For example, green consumers may choose recycled or remanufactured products to contribute to green development toward global sustainability [3]. Meanwhile, businesses can engage in green movement and create green brand image by offering green products [4]. There are many factors driving green purchase behaviors. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), behavior is directly influenced by behavioral intention. Specifically, the TPB identifies three antecedents of behavioral intention: 1) attitude, 2) subjective norms, and 3) perceived behavioral control. In the green product context, attitude has been the most important determinant of purchase intention. However, despite customers’ growing positive attitude toward green products, actual purchases of green products are still relatively low. Previous studies revealed the discrepancy between consumers’ favorable attitude toward green consumption and actual purchase behavior [5]. For example, White et al. [6] reported that 65% of participants in a recent survey stated that they would like to buy products that advocate sustainability, but only 26% of them did so. The gap between consumers’ desire and their actual actions can be referred to as the “green attitude-behavior gap”. The discrepancy between consumers green positive attitudes toward the environmentally-friendly products and the purchase of green products has been studied in previous literatures [7–9]. Prior studies have attempted to close the “green attitude-behavior gap” by employing the TPB model [10,11]. Based on TPB, it has been proved that green purchase intention acts as the mediator of green attitudes and preen purchase [12–14], thus, it is crucial to establish green purchase intention among consumers to create opportunities for green products. Consequently, identifying relevant direct and indirect factors linking with TPB determinants and driving green purchase intentions is an important contribution to sustainable product marketing and sustainability.

To complement the existing literature, this study proposed an extended TPB model with modifications in three aspects. First, we added environmental concerns as another antecedent of green purchase intention. In the green product context, apart from positive attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, consumers’ environmental concerns may directly impact green purchase intention. Second, we added the company’s perceived green image into the model to explore its plausible mediating role in encouraging green product purchase intention. Apart from the sales amount, which is the immediate goal of the business, marketers of green products should also focus on the company's positive green image because the reputation of the producer significantly influences the product selection, and perceived green brand image significantly influences consumers' green product selection [15]. Green corporate image has been widely studied in hospitality research [16,17], and we aim to extend the study on the influence of a company’s perceived green image on the consumer behavior in the context of green product purchase. Thus, marketers should increase the environmental value of products or services in the eyes of consumers to emphasize the distinction between green and non-green practices [18]. Third, we suggest that consumer innovativeness and environmental knowledge may exert moderating effects on certain relationships. Markets for environmentally friendly goods are expanding with new green innovation. Consumers with a high level of innovativeness tend to have a stronger intention to buy green products [19,20]. This study attempted to examine the moderating role of consumer innovativeness on the relationship between attitudes and perceived behavioral control and green purchase intention. Furthermore, cognitive factors such as environmental knowledge are plausible factors affecting the intention and action of green product purchases. Aspara et al. [21] identified that better knowledge leads to greater responsiveness and more engagement in environmentally friendly behaviors. Hence, we aimed to investigate the moderating effect of environmental knowledge on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention as well as the company’s perceived green image. The empirical evidence derived from this extended TPB model provides guideline for green marketers on the factors enhancing the intention to purchase sustainable products.

In accordance with previous studies [22–25], structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis due to its applicability to demonstrate structural relationships in a complex model. Unlike other methods of statistical modeling, SEM supports the inclusion of both interdependent variables and interactions in a given phenomenon. SEM has been commonly applied in sustainability research such as supply chain management [24], construction and architecture [26] as well as green purchase intention [27]. Therefore, it is appropriate for analyzing the proposed extended TPB model which consists of antecedents, dependent variables, mediators, and moderators.

The remainder of this paper presents the empirical study and analysis. First, Section 2 portrays the relevant literature review and hypotheses. Section 3 explains the research methodology, while Section 4 demonstrates the hypothesis testing results. Section 5 discusses the theoretical and managerial implications. Lastly, Section 6 concludes the main findings.

[extracted from page 1 to page 3]

Section 2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image

2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image

Corporate image involves how the stakeholders perceive the firm as a business [80] and it relates to the general impression of the stakeholders of the organization. Businesses invest a lot in building a strong corporate image to secure their market positions and competitive advantage [81]. Corporate image plays important roles in strengthening brand position and enhancing positive attitudes that lead to adoption of the firm’s products [82]. Marketing studies indicated that green practice such as green production process, green packaging, material recovery, and green product offering can contribute to development of the image of the company [83], specifically green corporate image. Green corporate image (GCI) is a combination of a company's concern for its business's image as environmentally conscious. It is established via the green branding or so-called sustainable branding. Green brands refer to green practice and green products offered by the business, while green corporate image refers to the green perception of the stakeholders [84].

In accordance with green corporate image (GCI), a company’s perceived green image refers to the series of perceptions that consumers create in their memories about business-related environmental responsibilities and concerns [85]. Numerous businesses have begun to recognize the prospects of the green market due to the advent of this reform movement and the rise in consumer demand for green products. The creation of green brands is seen as an inevitable future outcome [86]. Using green features to differentiate products can enhance a company’s green reputation. Most of the existing consumer study literature examines green brands or green image of the company in various context such as green brand authenticity and self-concept [4] or a firm’s corporate social responsibility initiative and green purchase intention [25], but there are still few studies on the relationship between green attitude and green image [17,87,88]. For instance, Han investigated the roles of attitudes toward green behaviors on the company’s image in the aspect of eco-friendly decision making of hotel customers, and indicated that customers with highly positive attitudes toward environmentally friendly behaviors would perceive the positive images of the company and accordingly tend to have higher level of willingness to choose the green hotel [87]. This finding supports the empirical evidences of the relationship between green attitudes and green image inhospitality industry businesses such as hotels and restaurants. However, we still lack of empirical studies in the contests of green product purchase. We analyzed the impacts of green attitudes on a company’s green image by hypothesizing H6a.

H6a. Attitude toward green products positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

Subjective norms are strongly affected by the judgments of other people, such as parents, spouses, friends, and teachers, and therefore, involve one’s personal image. An individual would feel most comfortable when perceived with a positive reputation. Similarly, a high level of subjective norms would motivate a person to perceive companies that offer green products to be more environmentally conscious [41]. If a customer finds it meaningful for others to perform more environmentally conscious behaviors, then a high degree of subjective norms will lead to an increase in intention to behave according to a more positive reputation of the relevant parties. Accordingly, H6b was hypothesized.

H6b. Subjective norms positively influence a company’s perceived green image.

The most significant component that distinguishes businesses from one another is their image, which is critical to their success. In this regard, firms with a positive image will build strong relationships with their customers to ensure customer loyalty [17]. Especially for a green consumer, the belief that his or her purchase of green products effectively contributes to global sustainability would stimulate positive self-perception. Consequently, a green consumer would perceive a company that offers green products with a positive reputation. Therefore, we examined the influence of perceived consumer effectiveness on green reputation by hypothesizing H6c.

H6c. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

People are becoming more reliant on environmentally friendly practices in their daily lives due to crises. Consumer demand began to shift as consumers became increasingly environmentally conscious. Those shifts in consumer demand and loyalty can potentially translate into marketing goals [16]. Accordingly, businesses need marketing strategies to enhance the company’s green image and simultaneously promote sustainable consumer behaviors [88]. We aimed to investigate the relationship between consumers’ environmental concerns and the green reputation of the company by hypothesizing H6d.

H6d. Environmental concern positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

Behavioral intention is meaningful in predicting actual purchase behavior, while a positive corporate image tends to increase consumers’ purchase intention [81]. In the same way, Flavián et al. [89] found that a positive image has a significant impact on purchase decisions. Based on TPB, an individual’s belief directly translates to actual behavior; thus, if a consumer trusts a green company, then he or she will continue to purchase its products [90]. We examined the antecedent role of green reputation on the intention to purchase green products and hypothesized H7 as follows.

H7. A company’s perceived green image positively influences green purchase intention.

[extracted from page 6 to page 8]

Section 4.2. Structural Model

4.2. Structural Model

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to test the hypothesized model. SEM is distinctive for its advantages of accounting for all covariance in the data, allowing the simultaneous analysis of correlations, shared variance, path coefficients and their significance when testing for the main effects [25,128]. In accordance with previous studies [23,24,27,129,130], instead of covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM), we performed partial least square equation modelling (PLS-SEM) because of its suitability in handling non-normal data. Moreover, PLS-SEM is more flexible in identifying the relationship between measurement items and the constructs, comparing with CB-SEM [23,131–133]. Figure 2 and Table 4 show the results of the direct effects of the hypothesized model with the path coefficients in a standardized form. As displayed in Table 4, green purchase intention (GPI) had a significant positive effect on green purchase behavior (GPB) (ß = 0.320, t = 7.704, p < 0.001), providing support for H1 that intention to purchase can be an effective predictor of the actual purchase of green products. Attitude toward green products (AGP) had a significant positive effect on green purchase intention (GPI) (ß = 0.442, t = 9.560, p < 0.001), validating H2. However, the relationship between subjective norm (SN) and green purchase intention (GPI) was statistically significant but not supported since the direction of the relationship was negative (ß = -0.072, t = 2.488, p < 0.05). Hence, H3 was not supported.

[extracted from page 14]

Reviewer 1 comment 4:

In the literature review section, the author only listed the research results of others without making critical comments on them.

Response 4:

Thank you for your suggestion. We have revised the literature review by adding critical comments on the results of previous research. Please see Section 2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development.

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the extended TPB model

The theory of planned behavior, first proposed by Ajzen [28,29], assumes that our intentions to engage in behavior are influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. TPB emphasizes the importance of an individual's inherent personality and character when making choices. Hence, TFB supports the consideration of psychological factors in self-controlled and socially influenced decision-making [30].

The theory considers intention to be the most proximal predictor of human behavior, depending on the degree of volition and control that the individual has over the focal behavior. Accordingly, this study takes green purchase intention as a predictor of actual green purchase behavior. Attitudes are shaped by the characteristics the actions with which they are associated and how positively or negatively those characteristics are viewed. Subjective norms are social influences that recognize key referent persons’ or groups’ normative ideas about the action. The power of subjective norms in predicting behavioral intention is determined by the value placed on these normative ideas and willingness to conform to them. Perceived behavioral control represents the amount of resources and number of opportunities that the individual believes they possess, and how potent these resources are in the performance of the activity [29].

In the focal context, we applied TPB to evaluate the antecedents and moderating factors of green product purchases. The independent variables of green product purchase intention mainly included attitudes toward green products, subjective norms, and perceived consumer effectiveness. Additionally, we extended the TPB model by adding environmental concerns as another antecedent of green purchase intention. Environmental concerns have been studied in green consumer research [7,31]; therefore, we argue that environmental concerns have an antecedent role in the green product context. Moreover, our extended TPB model included the company’s perceived green image as a new construct that acts as a mediator between the four main antecedents and green purchase intention and aims to reveal the role of green reputation in stimulating long-term performance of green marketing. Most of the existing literature regarding companies’ green reputation focuses on financial performance evaluation [32], green branding [33,34], and use in service sector settings, such as restaurants, hotels, and airlines [16,17]. Our study attempted to broaden the investigation of green reputation into other aspects of green products. Finally, we extended the TPB model by adding two moderating factors: 1) consumer innovativeness and 2) environmental knowledge.

2.2. The Determinants of Extended TPB Model

2.2.1. Green Purchase Behavior

Green purchase behavior refers to consuming products that bring substantial benefits to the environment and demonstrate positive attitudes toward the environment [35]. For instance, young consumers have a strong desire to buy green products [36,37], and their decisions to buy organic food are affected by health and environmental concerns [38]. Studies have examined the factors that influence green purchases, such as green marketing orientations [39], environmental concerns [7], and product care [40]. Some previous research employed the theory of planned behavior to investigate green purchase behavior in various aspects and locations. For example, Ruangkanjanases et al. [41] surveyed the impacts of relevant determinants of green purchase intention among Taiwanese consumers who have used green products, and identified precursors of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. The finding suggested that apart from individual and social benefits, word-of-mouth marketing and environmental literacy should also be enhanced by policymakers, thus, implying the importance of encouraging green purchase behaviors. In the same way, Nekmahmud and Fekete-Farkas [42] investigated the determinants of consumers’ intention to green purchase decision in Bangladesh by exploring the influence of green marketing. The results reveal that, to market the green product in a new developing nation, environmental concern, green perceived benefits, green willingness to purchase and green awareness should be promoted.

2.2.2. Green Purchase Intention

Green purchase intention is an indicator for measuring to what extent consumers are willing to or ready to adopt green alternatives [8]. According to TPB, an individual examines two categories of beliefs when making behavioral decisions: 1) behavioral and 2) normative. Behavioral beliefs influence attitudes toward behavior, while normative beliefs affect subjective norms [43]. The intention to act is shaped by these beliefs of the behavior’s consequence, which result in positive or negative evaluation. Behavioral intention is considered a direct antecedent and the best proxy of actual behavior [12,44].

Many have revealed that intention plays a pivotal role in mediating the relationship between attitude and behavior [7,11,13,45–47] and confirmed that intention is a more practical predictor of actual behaviors than attitude. In the literature on intentions to purchase of green products, some have proven that the intention to purchase green products is a significant predictor of green purchase behavior [48–50]. For instance, Fontes et al. [14] examined environmental-related antecedent of green purchase behavior of Portugal samples, and confirmed that purchase intention positively influences green purchase behavior, enhancing the important roles of green purchase intention in green marketing. Thus, it is essential for green product manufacturers and marketers to understand target customers’ purchase intention, which usually foretells their actual purchase behaviors [51]. Hence, we attempted to reaffirm the antecedent role of green purchase intention on green purchase behavior with our first hypothesis, H1.

H1. Green purchase intention positively influences green purchase behavior.

2.2.3. Attitude toward Green Products

Attitude toward green products represents the degree to which the act of buying a green product is negatively or positively valued by an individual [52]. With greater awareness among customers, green consumers are increasingly conscious of the environment, health, safety, superb quality, and other people’s needs while making a purchase [53]. Accordingly, the market for green products is viewed as a sector with enormous growth potential that generates economic benefits, including new jobs, and plays a critical part in the economic transition to sustainable development [54]. Consumers must first have an appreciation of the environment before being likely to the decide to purchase environmentally friendly products. For instance, consumers with positive attitudes toward the ecological environment often buy sustainable clothing products [55]. Plenty of evidence shows that attitudes are strongly linked to the intentions and actions of purchasing green products [56,57]. Some researchers have proven that a positive attitude toward green products plays a vital role in the intention to purchase green products [13,48,50,58]. Meanwhile, Trivedi et al. [9] investigated the direct impact of environmental attitude on green purchasing intention by differentiating between inward environmental attitude and outward environmental attitude, and disclose that the effects depends on type of attitude. Inward environmental attitudes regarding an individual’s perceived needs to protect the environment [59] significantly lead to green purchasing intention. However, outward environmental attitudes regarding perceived needs of other facets of the society such as social, legal, and political movements to protect the environment [59] do not significantly relate to green purchasing intention. Therefore, we aimed to clarify this inconsistency by hypothesizing H2 as follows.

H2. Attitude toward green products positively influences green purchase intention.

2.2.4. Subjective Norm

Subjective norms depict the social influence of others’ perceived expectations[12]. Green products are perceived to be more environmentally friendly than other products and consumers will support or resist green products in the face of social pressure [41]. Accordingly, subjective norms are considered a notable variable in sustainability research on human decision-making that reflects the views of the social environment. Since ecologically destructive behaviors indirectly harm others, these behaviors may be avoided in the social environment or substituted with environmentally beneficial alternatives [12].

Previous literature has examined the influence of subjective norms on purchase intention. Park and Lin [44] revealed a positive effect of subjective norms on the intention to purchase recycled products. Jung et al. [60] reported a positive impact of social norms on Chinese consumers’ intention to purchase sustainable apparel products. In addition, a significant relationship between subjective norms and purchase intention has been proven in the context of developing countries [50,61]. However, Kumar et al. [13] found that subjective norms had no significant impact on either consumers’ intention to purchase green products or their consumption behavior in collectivist societies. Rausch and Kopplin [12] also found an insignificant effect of subjective norms on green purchase behavior. However, the factors intervening the relationship between subjective norm and green purchase intention are still unexplored. To clarify the inconsistencies of previous results, we hypothesized H3 as follows.

H3. Subjective norms positively influence green purchase intention.

2.2.5. Perceived Consumer Effectiveness

Perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) is the consumer’s perception of the extent to which their actions can make a difference in solving environmental issues [62]. PCE occurs when a consumer perceives that his or her action makes a difference; thus, intentions and actual behavior are based on the degree of PCE [63]. In the sustainability domain, PCE is the individual’s evaluation of the degree to which his or her consumption activities contribute to solving and preventing environmental problems [64]. In the context of green purchase, socially conscious consumers feel engaged that they can take part in reducing pollution so that they tend to consider the social impact of their purchases [65]. Jaiswal and Kant [7] as well as Straughan and Roberts [66] have confirmed the power of PCE as an antecedent of green purchase intention and green purchase behaviors. PCE is a better predictor of green purchase behavior than environmental attitude alone, as its relationship with green purchase intention is more significant than that of environmental attitude. Moreover, PCE was also found to be a significant moderating factor of the relationship between green practices and green attitudes toward organizations that employ sustainable operations [17]. Higueras-Castillo et al. [65] investigated the effect of PCE on consumer attitude evaluation in the context of electromobility, and found that PCE positively moderates the relationship between consumer attitude formation and intention to adopt the green products. We aimed to confirm the influence of PCE on purchase intention and subsequently hypothesized H4a.

H4a. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences green purchase intention.

According to TPB, PCE is directly related to not only behavioral intention, but also the behavior [29]. The significant potential of PCE as an antecedent of green purchase behavior has been examined in previous research [7], reaffirming the positive influence of perceived behavioral control on green purchases. For instance, Sharma and Dayal [67] as well as Kim and Choi [68] found the significant relationship between PCE and green purchase behavior. However, Chen [69] and Chen and Tung [70] found that perceived behavior control was not a significant predictor of environmental behavior among Chinese people. Besides, Arias and Trujillo [71] employed PCE in a study on reusable bag usage and recycling behavior, and revealed that PCE does not directly influence the intention to adopt complex pro-environmental behavior such as recycling, but it indirectly relates to the intention via the mediating role of simple sustainable behavior such reusable bag usage. We attempted to prove the direct effect of PCE on the action of green product purchase by hypothesizing H4b.

H4b. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences green purchase behavior.

2.2.6. Environmental Concern

Environmental concern describes the degree to which consumers believe that environment issues are important to the welfare of the nation [72]. It reflects an individual’s attachment to ecological issues and environmental protection [44] and expresses feelings of involvement and awareness of environmental consequences [35,73,74]. Environmental concern is considered to be a social-altruistic value orientation, as people’s underlying ecological concerns make them care more about the environment, which has an impact on other people’s lives [56]. However, although environmental concerns have been studied for decades, consumption levels have continued to rise [75]. According to Kennedy et al. [76], consumers are aware of the gap between greater environmental concern and concurrent higher levels of consumption, which justifies deeper examination of how environmental concerns directly and indirectly drive intentions to engage in sustainable consumption behavior. The direct influence of environmental concern on purchasing intention of sustainable items is supported by a large body of evidence [44,77,78]. However, most previous research based on TPB employed environmental concern as the antecedent of attitude rather than of behavioral intention [31,79]. Based on TPB, we endeavored to confirm the direct influence of environmental concerns on consumers’ intention to purchase green products by hypothesizing H5.

H5. Environmental concern positively influences green purchase intention.

2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image

In accordance with green corporate image (GCI), a company’s perceived green image refers to the series of perceptions that consumers create in their memories about business-related environmental responsibilities and concerns [85]. Numerous businesses have begun to recognize the prospects of the green market due to the advent of this reform movement and the rise in consumer demand for green products. The creation of green brands is seen as an inevitable future outcome [86]. Using green features to differentiate products can enhance a company’s green reputation. Most of the existing consumer study literature examines green brands or green image of the company in various context such as green brand authenticity and self-concept [4] or a firm’s corporate social responsibility initiative and green purchase intention [27], but there are still few studies on the relationship between green attitude and green image [17,87,88]. For instance, Han investigated the roles of attitudes toward green behaviors on the company’s image in the aspect of eco-friendly decision making of hotel customers, and indicated that customers with highly positive attitudes toward environmentally friendly behaviors would perceive the positive images of the company and accordingly tend to have higher level of willingness to choose the green hotel [87]. This finding supports the empirical evidences of the relationship between green attitudes and green image inhospitality industry businesses such as hotels and restaurants. However, we still lack of empirical studies in the contests of green product purchase. We analyzed the impacts of green attitudes on a company’s green image by hypothesizing H6a.

H6a. Attitude toward green products positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H6b. Subjective norms positively influence a company’s perceived green image.

H6c. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H6d. Environmental concern positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H7. A company’s perceived green image positively influences green purchase intention.

2.3. The Determinants of Moderating Effects

2.3.1. Innovativeness

Innovativeness is one consumer trait that represents the degree to which an individual adopts an innovation relatively earlier than his or her peers [20]. Particularly, consumer innovativeness is defined as the degree to which the innovation is received independently [91]. Innovative individuals tend to more readily adopt new products. Consumer innovativeness reinforces perceived value, including promotion and experience. Meanwhile, consumers who are more traditional or conservative are less likely to buy new products until such product is embraced by the majority [92]. Innovativeness has been studied in various fields of research, including consumer behavior [93,94] as it plays an imperative role in consumers’ intention to try new products. For instance, Li et al. [95] investigate the antecedent roles of consumer innovativeness on the intention to purchase sustainable products, and found that consumer innovativeness significantly relates the purchase intention both directly and indirectly via the mediating roles of personal norm, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and consumer attitude. Thus, consumer innovativeness is an influential factor of green product purchase.

Roehrich [96] portrayed consumer innovativeness as the consumption of novelty. Green products generally involve green innovations such as the use of non-toxic chemicals, recyclable materials, and biodegradable technologies [97]. Apart from newly innovated and environmentally friendly materials and production processes, green products are sometimes distinctive in appearance, functions, and brand image [98]. Different levels of innovativeness may indirectly impact consumers’ attitudes toward green products and purchase intentions. An individual with relatively high consumer innovativeness would be more eager to try green products. Therefore, we predict that consumer innovativeness would enhance the relationship between attitudes and purchase intentions of green products and consequently hypothesizes H8a as follows.

H8a. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention

Seyed Esfahani and Raynolds [99] stated that innovativeness pertains to a willingness to change. New innovations may not be easily accepted by conventional consumers who may be reluctant to change. However, consumers tend to purchase new products and brands that are different from their previous choices and consumption patterns as their level of innovativeness increases [19,100]. For consumers with a distinguished level of PCE, innovativeness drives them to try newly innovated green products to expand the opportunities to contribute to sustainability. Hence, we hypothesized H8b as follows.

H8b. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention.

2.3.2. Environmental Knowledge

Environmental knowledge is a cognitive factor that refers to the level of people’s awareness about the environment, collective responsibilities necessary for sustainable development, and key relationships of environmental impacts [101]. In a recent study on sustainability, environmental knowledge is defined as the level of understanding of factors that impact the health and sustainability of the ecosystem in which we live [45]. Knowledge was a commonly studied variable in studies on green purchase behavior, but most previous studies took environmental knowledge as a predictor of either green attitude or purchase intention. Yadav and Pathak [50] found a precise relationship between environmental knowledge and attitudes toward green products. Meanwhile, Jaiswal and Kant [16] revealed that environmental knowledge did not significantly influence attitudes toward green products. Sun et al. [45] examined the recycled product market in Hong Kong and investigated the direct impact of environmental knowledge on attitudes toward environmental protection but found that the relationship was not statistically significant.

Some studies found that environmental knowledge positively relates to consumers’ purchase intention and actual purchase of green products [11,102]. Other studies also found that a lack of knowledge on environmental issues negatively affected green purchase behavior [97,103]. Our study considers the indirect effect of environmental knowledge on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention. We predicted that an individual with a better understanding of environmental responsibility would have greater environmental concerns and thus have a different level of green purchase intention compared to those with a low level of environmental knowledge. Thus, we hypothesized H9a as follows.

H9a. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention.

In addition, consumers with unequal awareness of ecological sustainability factors tend to have different perceptions of the image of companies that offer green products. A company’s green image perceived by a consumer is critical to green marketing. Banerjee [104] argued that the firm’s integration of environmental and social responsibility is a key component of a business’s long-term value to shareholders and customers. Green brand equity is established through green brand image, green satisfaction, and green trust [105,106]. These elements have resulted from consumers’ environmental concerns, and consumers with a better understanding of environmental problems and sustainability issues would perceive a company offering green products in a relatively positive way. Therefore, we hypothesized H9b as follows.

H9b. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image.

According to the hypotheses, a research model is proposed and shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

[extracted from page 3 to page 10]

Reviewer 1 comment 5:

When the author described the theoretical contribution of this research, the content of this section can be condensed and simplified.

Response 5:

We really appreciated your suggestion on an impactful improvement point. Accordingly, we have revised the theoretical contribution part to be condense and simplified. Please See Section 5.2 Theoretical Contributions.

5.2 Theoretical Contributions

This study contributed to the existing literature by proposing the extended theory of planned behavior model to investigate consumers' green product purchase behavior. First, while most previous TPB research identified that environmental concern act as an antecedent of attitudes [31,79], our findings proved that environmental concern directly and positively relates to green purchase intention. Therefore, apart from attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, environmental concern is an impactful predictor of consumers’ intention to purchase green products. Second, we found that the company’s perceived green image mediates main antecedents and green purchase intention. Moreover, a company’s perceived green image directly relates to green purchase intention, implying that it indirectly stimulates green purchase intention via the mediating role of purchase intention. While most previous studies examined the impact of a company’s green image on customers’ attitudes and behavior in the context of service providers such as restaurants, hotels, and airlines [16,17], our study broadened research on companies’ green image in the context of green products. By boosting the company's green image, a business can stimulates actual future purchases through the mediating effect of the green purchase intention. Notable, subjective norms do not directly impact green purchase intention, but it indirectly relates to future purchase intention via the mediating role of a company’s perceived green image as green corporate image involves long-term reputation management.

Third, we added consumer innovativeness, which is a consumer trait, into the model to examine its moderating effect. While prior studies have investigated the antecedent role of consumer innovativeness on new product purchase intention [19], our study proposed that consumer innovativeness plays a moderating role. We found a positive moderating effect of innovativeness on the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness products and green purchase intention. Therefore, for a consumer with high PCE, higher level of innovativeness would positively enhance the purchase intention as one is more eager to try a new product. However, we found a negative moderating effect of innovativeness on the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention. It is possible that when a consumer already has a high sense of innovativeness, he or she tends to feel open and eager to try new products on the market. Hence, the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention weakens because the intention to buy the green product has already been influenced by innovativeness. Fourth, we added environmental knowledge, which is a cognitive factors, to the model to examine its moderating role. Previous studies have demonstrated that environmental knowledge is an antecedent of green purchase intention [7,77], while our study focuses more on the moderating effect. We found that environmental knowledge significantly and positively moderated the relationship between environmental concerns and the company's perceived green image. However, environmental knowledge did not significantly moderate the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention but the relationship approached the significance level (p = 0.069). The finding implies that a better understanding of environmental issues would indirectly enhance green purchases via the mediating role of green image. Thus, promoting environmental knowledge to consumers likely results in a positive green image of companies that offers green products and eventually results in consumers' green product purchases.

Last, in line with the theory and hypothesized model, our empirical results showed that PCE influenced the purchase of green products directly and indirectly via the mediating role of green purchase intention. However, unlike previous studies [7,63], our findings revealed that the direct effect of PCE on green purchase behavior is more prominent than the effect of purchase intention. Therefore, apart from green purchase intention, encouraging a tremendous level of PCE would effectively lead to actual purchases.

[extracted from page 20 to page 21]

Reviewer 1 comment 6:

It is suggested that the author write conclusions separately, so that readers can have a clearer understanding of the final results of this study. And when writing management implications, the author is better to describe them corresponding to the conclusions obtained above.

Response 6:

Thank you for your suggestion. We have rearranged the part of Discussion and Conclusion by separating the Conclusion into Section 6. Meanwhile, Section 5. Discussion consists of 4 sub-sections as follows.

5.1. General Discussion

5.2. Theoretical Contributions

5.3. Managerial Implications

5.4. Limitations and Future Research

Accordingly, 5.3. Managerial Implications are based on the results discussed in 5.1. General Discussion.

Please see Section 5. Discussion, Section 6. Conclusion.

Section 5. Discussion

Discussion

5.1. General Discussion

We employed the theory of planned behavior to examine the direct and indirect antecedents of consumers’ green product purchase behavior. As predicted in H1, green purchase intention appeared to be a meaningful predictor of green purchase behavior. Our model hypothesized four main antecedents of green purchase intention, and three of them, including attitude toward green products in H2, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) in H4a, and environmental concern in H5, significantly led to the intention to purchase the environmentally friendly product. Moreover, PCE also directly influenced green purchase behavior in a positive direction, confirming H4b. However, subjective norms were significantly related to green purchase intention but in the negative direction. Therefore, H3 was rejected, which contrasts with existing literature [40, 49, 50]. The results implied that social norms do not necessarily play indispensable roles in the context of green purchases. Consumers might not pay attention to social influence when purchasing green product and individual self-driven and self-control (such as PCE) factors play more crucial roles in this context instead.

Our findings showed that all four antecedents, including attitude toward green products in H6a, subjective norms in H6b, perceived consumer effectiveness in H6c, and environmental concerns in H6d, significantly and positively influence a company’s perceived green image. Furthermore, perceived green image significantly and positively affected green purchase intention, as hypothesized in H7. These significant relationships showed that the four main antecedents also relate to long-term marketing management by stimulating the company’s green reputation, and a positive reputation would eventually lead to actual future purchases through the mediating role of green purchase intention.

In addition, this study investigated the moderating role of consumer innovativeness, which is a consumer trait, and environmental knowledge, which is one of the cognitive factors. We found that innovativeness significantly moderates the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention, but the moderating effect is in the negative direction, therefore H8a was not supported. However, innovativeness positively moderates the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention, thus, H8b was supported. Accordingly, encouraging consumer innovativeness would be beneficial to targeting consumers with high PCE.

Finally, we explored the moderating effects of environmental knowledge. We found that environmental knowledge did not significantly moderate the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention, therefore H9a was not supported. However, environmental knowledge significantly and positively moderated the relationship between environmental concerns and the company’s perceived green image, hence, H9b was supported. The findings identified the potential of environmental knowledge to facilitate green product purchase via the company’s green reputation enhancement among environmentally conscious consumers.

5.2. Theoretical Contributions

5.3. Managerial Implications

Some managerial implications can be derived from the current study. First, marketers may encourage green product purchase intention by enhancing consumers’ environmental concerns. Apart from positive attitudes toward green products and perceived consumer effectiveness, our findings confirmed that environmental concerns also directly and positively influence green purchase intention. Therefore, promoting environmental concerns through advertising, marketing campaigns, and environmental education programs is recommended.

Second, marketers should also focus on not only consumers’ green purchase intention but also their companies’ green image. Most of the time, businesses focus on generating income from sales without adequate focus on reputation management. A company’s green image is a powerful driver of its reputation. However, this relationship has only been widely studied in service sector contexts such as hotels and restaurants. This study has proven that a company’s green image also plays an influential role in sustaining a reputation for green products. It is recommended that marketers of environmentally friendly products pay attention to not only the sales amount but also the positive green image of the company. In the short run, marketers need to stimulate a positive attitude in consumers toward green products by enhancing the message framing by clearly explaining that green products are beneficial to customers, their families, and communities. Encouraging more positive attitudes via messaging and advertising would lead to greater purchase intention and higher actual sales. However, social influence might not effectively stimulate green purchase intention, as we fail to confirm the antecedent role of subjective norms. Hence, it is preferable to focus on the positive impact of making a difference toward sustainability and to emphasize the ecological benefits. In the long run, marketers can stimulate future sales of sustainable products by strengthening the positive green image of a company. Drivers of a company’s green image include positive attitudes toward green products, subjective norms, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concerns. By focusing on promoting green product features and benefits and companies’ positive green image, marketers can contribute to sustaining the green product business and encouraging sustainable consumption.

Third, encouraging consumer innovativeness can be a useful strategy to increase green purchase intention, especially for consumers who have a high level of perceived consumer effectiveness. To target customers who have strong beliefs that they can contribute to environmental protection by buying green products, we suggest stimulating sales by promoting new and innovative green products as consumers with high innovativeness would want to try newly launched products that are less harmful to the environment.

Fourth, green marketers may emphasize consumers’ environmental knowledge to improve companies’ green image and increase sales. Environmental education be recommended to increase consumers' awareness. As environmental knowledge positively moderates the relationship between environmental concerns and the company's perceived green image, an environmental education campaign would eventually drive more purchases of green products via the company's green image of offering ecologically friendly products.

Fifth, marketers of green products may choose to focus on a specific target market to increase green purchase behaviors in consumers. Consumers' acceptance and selection of green products varies by country. In this study, we attempted to reveal differences between samples from developed and developing countries using multigroup analysis. The results showed that the effect of green purchase intention on green purchase behavior is higher in developing countries than in developed countries. If the firm focuses mainly on the immediate sales amount, then it may be more beneficial to target markets in developing countries.

Last, we employed multigroup analysis to test whether different levels of experience using green products modify the hypothesized relationships in the main model. The results revealed that consumers with a relatively low level of experience using green products showed had a negative influence of environmental concern on the company's green image. Meanwhile, consumers with a high level of experience showed a positive influence of environmental concern on the company's perceived green image. Therefore, marketers should provide more opportunities for consumers to try and become familiar with green products to enhance the company's positive green image and eventually result in future purchases.

5.4. Limitations and Future Research

Despite the adequate number of statistical samples, the generalizability of our findings may be limited. Among all 974 samples, 50% are from the United States, while 31% are from Asia. We lacked samples that represent Europe, Australia, and Africa; thus, the interpretation of the findings may not be applicable to these populations. Future research may adopt sampling methods that result in more globally representative samples. Alternatively, future research may be conducted in certain countries of interest to green products.

In addition, the measurement items used in this study were modified from the existing literature; therefore, they may fail to cover newly established aspects of the green consumer market. Future research might include add-ons to the field of green marketing by developing new measurement tools that reflect modern consumer perception and behaviors. Moreover, measurements other than questionnaire surveys may be applied to complement the empirical investigations. For instance, the measurement of environmental knowledge may be in the form of quizzes on environmental awareness.

Ultimately, using a one-time questionnaire survey may not perfectly eliminate concerns of common method bias. Furthermore, the results collected cannot reflect a causal relationship between the variables. Concerns of common method bias may be addressed by: 1) requesting the respondents to complete each part of the questionnaires at different time points and 2) using different data sources for each variable. For example, green purchase intention can be measured by a self-report questionnaire, while green purchase behavior can be captured by actual purchases of the respondents during a specified period. Meanwhile, quasi-experimental or experimental research should be conducted to empirically demonstrate a causal effect and enable manipulations of the relationship between relevant constructs.

[extracted from page 19 to page 22]

Section 6. Conclusion

Conclusion

The current study investigated the factors driving consumers’ purchase of green products based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). We extended the TPB model by including environmental concern as a new antecedent, a company’s perceived green image as a mediator, and consumer innovativeness and environmental knowledge as the moderators. The findings showed that in addition to green attitudes and perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), environmental concern also influence consumers’ intention to purchase green products. Furthermore, our empirical results confirm that a company’s perceived green image mediates the relationship between other antecedents and green purchase intention. Therefore, to close the green attitude-behavior gap, green marketers should try to encourage purchase intention by promoting positive attitude toward green product, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern to drive immediate sales. At the same time, future sales can be encouraged by establishing positive green image of the company. Particularly, marketers may focus on target consumers with high PCE by launching new type of green product because consumer innovativeness moderate the relationship between PCE and purchase intention. For both marketers and policymakers, environmental knowledge should be promoted via educational institutions, broadcasts, press, social media and other types of media as it positively moderates the relationship between environmental concern and a company’s perceived green image.

[extracted from page 23]

Reviewer 1 comment 7:
It is recommended that the author do not cite references in the management implication.

Response 7:

Thank you for your comment. We have already removed the parts that contain reference citations from the managerial implication parts.

Reviewer 1 comment 8:
In summary, it is recommended that authors carefully revise their manuscripts based on the above suggestions. I sincerely look forward to receiving the revised version.

Response 8:

Thank you. Your valuable time and comments are truly appreciated. Your guidelines directed us to the potential improvements of the manuscripts. We have made the revisions according to your suggestions and recommended references.

Reviewer 1 Table of Evaluation:

1) Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic? - Must be improved.

2) Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated? - Must be improved.

3) Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling? - Can be improved.

4) For empirical research, are the results clearly presented? - Can be improved.

5) Is the article adequately referenced? - Can be improved.

Response to Reviewer 1 Table of Evaluation:

Thank you very much for the careful review.

We have reviewed all the papers you recommended as well as other relevant papers in this filed, and made the revisions accordingly. The contents are now properly contextualized.
We have made the revisions by identifying the role of PLS-SEM and identifying the direction of the moderating effects in H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b. Thus, the research design, questions, hypotheses, and methods are clearly stated.
In the revised manuscript, the Conclusion has been separated from the Discussions. Section 5.1. General Discussion discusses the results elaborating with the hypotheses. Meanwhile, Section 5.2. Theoretical Contributions, and 5.3. Managerial Implications are based on the results discussed earlier in Section 5.1. Hence, the arguments and discussions of findings are coherent.
By correcting unclear wording in Results, adding the contribution to the Abstract, and separating the Conclusion from the Discussions, the results are clearly presented.
The article is now adequately referenced after adding important references including those recommended by the reviewers.

Thanks again to the reviewers for all valuable suggestions which helped to improve our paper a lot!

Best regards,

The authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Thanks for the opportunity to review this manuscript.

It deals with a very interesting and important topic, very important nowadays. Generically, it is well written. It has however some topics that need to be addressed before final decision and publication.

First, there are parts in the literature that are quite circumstantial. See for example: “Some previous research employed the theory of planned behavior to investigate green purchase behavior in various aspects and locations. For example, Cheung and To [28] examined the value-attitude-behavior model of Chinese consumers in Hong Kong. Ruangkanjanases et al. [29] surveyed the impacts of relevant determinants of green purchase intention among Taiwanese consumers who have used green products.” I wonder what is the added value of those sentences? What types of products? What are the results? What is the pertinence of the arguments used and the importance for this paper?

I would encourage you to add some contextual value to your arguments. The same applies to the different subsections of section 2.2.

Another aspect that deserves more attention is the way you put down Hypotheses H8a, H8b, H9a and H9b. You have to be very specific on how you defend your conjecture: You claim “exerts moderating effects” (H8a. Innovativeness exerts moderating effects on the relationship between attitude 303 toward green products and green purchase intention; H8b. Innovativeness exerts moderating effects on the relationship between perceived 312 consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention; H9a. Environmental knowledge exerts moderating effects on the relationship be-337 tween environmental concerns and green purchase intention; H9b. Environmental knowledge exerts moderating effects on the relationship be-349 tween environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image) however, you do not refer to positive or negative effects, when you must be very clear about that. As a result, you validate your hypotheses with both results negative (-0.191) and positive effects (0.123) as if they were both naturally true, when in fact you need to explain why innovativeness moderates positively and negatively GPI.

As such section 2.3 needs some elaboration and adaptation of the hypotheses.

What is the rationale for analyzing two multigroup analyses? From the theoretical point of view is this justifiable? From the academic point to of view, I was with the idea that this is just ‘crunching data and let’s see what the results bring about’.

The discussion of the results needs to be elaborated according to the hypotheses formulated, namely, H8a, H8b, H9a and H9b and theory developed.

I would recommend to articles to include in your literature review:

Fontes, E., Moreira, A.C., Carlos, V. (2021) The influence of ecological concern on green purchase behavior. Management and Marketing, 16(3), 246–267.

Trivedi, R. H., Patel, J. D., & Acharya, N. (2018). Causality analysis of media influence on environmental attitude, intention and behaviors leading to green purchasing. Journal of Cleaner Production, 196, 11–22.

Other minor aspects:

Line 428: Table 3 ‘explains’? Do you mean shows? presents?

Table 3 displays discriminant validity and not reliability. Reliability is shown in Table 2.

Results of Table 5: the variables displayed in H9a and H9b are just the same. Correct them.

Author Response

Note: Changes in the revised manuscript are marked in blue.

REVIEWER 2 COMMENTS

Reviewer 2 comment 1:

Thanks for the opportunity to review this manuscript. It deals with a very interesting and important topic, very important nowadays. Generically, it is well written. It has however some topics that need to be addressed before final decision and publication.

Response 1:

Thank you for the valuable time and consideration. We have addressed all your suggestions for improving the quality of the manuscript and made the revisions accordingly.

Reviewer 2 comment 2:
First, there are parts in the literature that are quite circumstantial. See for example: “Some previous research employed the theory of planned behavior to investigate green purchase behavior in various aspects and locations. For example, Cheung and To [28] examined the value-attitude-behavior model of Chinese consumers in Hong Kong. Ruangkanjanases et al. [29] surveyed the impacts of relevant determinants of green purchase intention among Taiwanese consumers who have used green products.” I wonder what is the added value of those sentences? What types of products? What are the results? What is the pertinence of the arguments used and the importance for this paper?

I would encourage you to add some contextual value to your arguments. The same applies to the different subsections of section 2.2.

Response 2:
Thank you for your suggestions. We have revised the literature review by adding more details about the results of previous research mentioned, the value added found, and the relevance to our paper. Please see Section 2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development.

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the extended TPB model

2.2. The Determinants of Extended TPB Model

2.2.1. Green Purchase Behavior

2.2.2. Green Purchase Intention

H1. Green purchase intention positively influences green purchase behavior.

2.2.3. Attitude toward Green Products

H2. Attitude toward green products positively influences green purchase intention.

2.2.4. Subjective Norm

H3. Subjective norms positively influence green purchase intention.

2.2.5. Perceived Consumer Effectiveness

H4a. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences green purchase intention.

H4b. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences green purchase behavior.

2.2.6. Environmental Concern

H5. Environmental concern positively influences green purchase intention.

2.2.7. Company’s Perceived Green Image

In accordance with green corporate image (GCI), a company’s perceived green image refers to the series of perceptions that consumers create in their memories about business-related environmental responsibilities and concerns [85]. Numerous businesses have begun to recognize the prospects of the green market due to the advent of this reform movement and the rise in consumer demand for green products. The creation of green brands is seen as an inevitable future outcome [86]. Using green features to differentiate products can enhance a company’s green reputation. Most of the existing consumer study literature examines green brands or green image of the company in various context such as green brand authenticity and self-concept [4] or a firm’s corporate social responsibility initiative and green purchase intention [27], but there are still few studies on the relationship between green attitude and green image [17,87,88]. For instance, Han investigated the roles of attitudes toward green behaviors on the company’s image in the aspect of eco-friendly decision making of hotel customers, and indicated that customers with highly positive attitudes toward environmentally friendly behaviors would perceive the positive images of the company and accordingly tend to have higher level of willingness to choose the green hotel [87]. This finding supports the empirical evidences of the relationship between green attitudes and green image inhospitality industry businesses such as hotels and restaurants. However, we still lack of empirical studies in the contests of green product purchase. We analyzed the impacts of green attitudes on a company’s green image by hypothesizing H6a.

H6a. Attitude toward green products positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H6b. Subjective norms positively influence a company’s perceived green image.

H6c. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H6d. Environmental concern positively influences a company’s perceived green image.

H7. A company’s perceived green image positively influences green purchase intention.

2.3. The Determinants of Moderating Effects

2.3.1. Innovativeness

H8a. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention

H8b. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention.

2.3.2. Environmental Knowledge

H9a. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention.

H9b. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image.

According to the hypotheses, a research model is proposed and shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

[extracted from page 3 to page 10]

Reviewer 2 comment 3:

Another aspect that deserves more attention is the way you put down Hypotheses H8a, H8b, H9a and H9b. You have to be very specific on how you defend your conjecture: You claim “exerts moderating effects” (H8a. Innovativeness exerts moderating effects on the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention; H8b. Innovativeness exerts moderating effects on the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention; H9a. Environmental knowledge exerts moderating effects on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention; H9b. Environmental knowledge exerts moderating effects on the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image) however, you do not refer to positive or negative effects, when you must be very clear about that. As a result, you validate your hypotheses with both results negative (-0.191) and positive effects (0.123) as if they were both naturally true, when in fact you need to explain why innovativeness moderates positively and negatively GPI.

As such section 2.3 needs some elaboration and adaptation of the hypotheses.

Response 3:

Thank you for pointing out about making clear of moderating effect direction. Based on the literature, we have identified the positive moderating effects for H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b. Accordingly, Section 2.3 have been revised. Please see Section 2.3. The Determinants of Moderating Effects, and Section 4.3 The Results for Moderating Effects.

2.3. The Determinants of Moderating Effects

2.3.1. Innovativeness

H8a. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention

H8b. Innovativeness exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention.

2.3.2. Environmental Knowledge

H9a. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention.

H9b. Environmental knowledge exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image.

According to the hypotheses, a research model is proposed and shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

[extracted from page 8 to page 10]

4.3. The Results for Moderating Effects

We manipulated the latent moderated effect model to test the moderating effect of innovativeness (IN) and environmental knowledge (EK). To examine the moderating effect of innovativeness, we added the interaction term of attitude toward green products x innovativeness (AGP x IN) and perceived consumer effectiveness x innovativeness (PCE x IN) into the model. As illustrated in Table 5, both interaction terms of IN showed statistically significant moderating effects. However, innovativeness negatively moderated the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention (ß = -0.191, t = 4.387, p < 0.001), therefore H8a is not supported as we hypothesized that the moderating effect should be in the positive direction. Simultaneously, innovativeness positively moderated the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention (ß = 0.123, t = 2.800, p < 0.01), thus, H8b is supported.

The moderating effect of environmental knowledge was investigated by adding the interaction terms of environmental concern x environmental knowledge (EC x EK) into the model. Table 5 provides evidence that environmental knowledge did not significantly moderate the relationship between environmental concerns and green purchase intention (ß = -0.045, t = 1.818, p > 0.05), therefore, H9a is not supported. However, environmental knowledge exerted a moderating effect on the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image (ß = 0.069, t = 2.013, p < 0.05), hence, H9b is supported.

Table 5. Results of the moderating effects.


Hypotheses	Paths	Path Coefficient	t value	Results
	AGP→GPI	0.524	14.008***
H8a	IN→GPI	0.056	2.036*	Not Supported
	AGP x IN→GPI	-0.191	4.387***
	PCE→GPI	0.310	7.748***
H8b	IN→GPI	0.056	2.036*	Supported
	PCE x IN→GPI	0.123	2.800**
	EC→GPI	0.692	18.130***
H9a	EK→GPI	0.031	0.743	Not supported
	EC x EK→GPI	-0.045	1.818
	EC→PGI	0.543	11.108***
H9b	EK→PGI	0.237	4.856***	Supported
	EC x EK→PGI	0.069	2.013*

Notes: (1) *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; (2) AGP = Attitude toward Green Products; GPI = Green Purchase Intention; IN = Innovativeness; PCE = Perceived Consumer Effectiveness.

We followed the method of Dawson [134] to visualize the moderating effect in a plot diagram. Figure 3 shows that the positive relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchase intention weakened when consumer innovativeness increased. Figure 4 shows that the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and green purchase intention strengthened when consumer innovativeness increased. Figure 5 shows that the relationship between environmental concerns and a company’s perceived green image strengthened when the consumer’s level of environmental knowledge increased.

Figure 3. Interaction between innovativeness and attitude toward

green products on green purchase intention (H8a).

Figure 4. Interaction between innovativeness and perceived consumer

effectiveness on green purchase intention (H8b).

Figure 5. Interaction between environmental knowledge and

environmental concern on a company’s perceived green image (H9b).

[extracted from page 15 to page 17]

Reviewer 2 comment 4:

Response 4:

Thank you for pointing out about making clear of the rationale for the multi-group analysis. We have added the theoretical viewpoint regarding possible influences of different geographical locations and different level of green product experience in Section 4.4. Please see Section 4.4 Multigroup Analysis.

4.4. Multigroup Analysis

Acceptance and adoption of green product may vary across geographical locations due to factors such as cultural values [31]. For instance, the recyclable materials are more relevant in the United States than in Germany, implying that consumers’ expectations on green products differ depending on where they live so companies need to explore how targeted segments value the environment and green product [135]. Previous studies have investigated the green purchase behaviors in developed countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan [136–138]. Interestingly, in recent years, many have examined consumers’ selection of green products in developing economy [45,48,51], signaling the potential of developing countries in promoting green consumerism and long-term resource efficiency. Apart from geographical locations, a consumer's experience in using a green product also has a massive impact on whether they will continue to use it [139]. Consumer perceptions of new green products are established based on indirect experience, which is insufficient to make a purchase decision. Furthermore, consumers with a high level of expertise using certain products tend to have more direct experience-based information than consumers with a low level of experience [140]. As a result, the amount of experience may have a distinct impact on the determinants of adopting green products.

Accordingly, we conducted two multigroup analyses to examine whether there is a difference between: 1) samples from developed and developing countries, and 2) samples with a high and low level of experience in purchasing and using green products.

Using the country as the grouping variable, we divided respondents into 711 (73.00%) from developed countries and 255 (26.18%) from developing countries. Table 6 presents the results of the multigroup analysis (MGA) regarding the respondents’ country, pointing out one significant difference for the path of H1. The influence of green purchase intention on green purchase behavior is higher in developing countries than in developed countries (ß = -0.059, p < 0.05).

Using the level of use experience as the grouping variable, we considered a green purchase experience value greater than or equal to 4.00 to be a high level of experience. Table 7 explains the results of the multigroup analysis regarding the level of experience with green products, identifying the significant difference for the path of H6d. Environmental concern positively influences the company’s perceived green image when consumers already have a high level of experience with green products. In contrast, consumers with a relatively low level of experience with green products showed negative influences on the company’s green reputation (ß = 0.202, p < 0.05).

Table 6. Multigroup Analysis (Developed country and Developing country).


Hypothesized path	Path Coefficient			Results
Hypothesized path	Developed Country	Developing Country	Difference	Results
GPI → GPB (H1)	0.304	0.363	-0.059*	Supported
AGP → GPI (H2)	0.445	0.407	0.038	Not supported
SN → GPI (H3)	-0.082	-0.037	-0.045	Not supported
PCE → GPI (H4a)	0.24	0.188	0.052	Not supported
PCE → GPB (H4b)	0.514	0.517	-0.003	Not supported
EC → GPI (H5)	0.145	0.176	-0.032	Not supported
AGP → PGI (H6a)	0.169	0.451	-0.282	Not supported
SN → PGI (H6b)	0.19	0.14	0.050	Not supported
PCE → PGI (H6c)	0.399	0.28	0.119	Not supported
EC → PGI (H6d)	0.109	0.059	0.050	Not supported
PGI → GPI (H7)	0.159	0.208	-0.049	Not supported

Notes: (1) * p < 0.05; (2) EC = Environmental Concern; AGP = Attitude toward Green Products; SN = Subjective Norm; PCE = Perceived Consumer Effectiveness; GPI = Green Purchase Intention; GPB = Green Purchase Behavior; PGI = Company’s Perceived Green Image.

Table 7. Multigroup Analysis (High level of experience and Low level of experience).

Hypothesized path	Path Coefficient			Results
Hypothesized path	High level of experience	Low level of experience	Difference	Results
GPI → GPB (H1)	0.270	0.254	0.016	Not supported
AGP → GPI (H2)	0.401	0.398	0.003	Not supported
SN → GPI (H3)	-0.056	-0.093	0.037	Not supported
PCE → GPI (H4a)	0.188	0.253	-0.064	Not supported
PCE → GPB (H4b)	0.438	0.444	-0.006	Not supported
EC → GPI (H5)	0.162	0.149	0.013	Not supported
AGP → PGI (H6a)	0.169	0.226	-0.057	Not supported
SN → PGI (H6b)	0.165	0.215	-0.05	Not supported
PCE → PGI (H6c)	0.326	0.364	-0.038	Not supported
EC → PGI (H6d)	0.167	-0.035	0.202*	Supported
PGI → GPI (H7)	0.132	0.208	-0.076	Not supported

[extracted from page 17 to page 19]

Reviewer 2 comment 5:

The discussion of the results needs to be elaborated according to the hypotheses formulated, namely, H8a, H8b, H9a and H9b and theory developed.

Response 5:

Thank you for your comment. We already added the term H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b into the general discussion (discussion of the results) part so that it is clear and elaborated with the hypotheses as well as the theoretical framework. Please see Section 5.1 General Discussion.

5.1 General Discussion

[extracted from page 19 to page 20]

Reviewer 2 comment 6:

I would recommend two articles to include in your literature review:

Fontes, E., Moreira, A.C., Carlos, V. (2021) The influence of ecological concern on green purchase behavior. Management and Marketing, 16(3), 246–267.

Response 6:

Thank you for the recommendation. The two articles specify useful points about inward and outward environmental attitudes which relates to the inconsistency of empirical results of the relationship between behavioral attitudes and purchase intention in green product context. Therefore, both articles are now included in the literature review and also in the introduction.

Recommended papers were referred in the revised manuscript as follows.

No.	Citation	Authors	Article title	Citation in
No.	Citation	Authors	Article title	1. Introduction	4.2. Structural Model	2. Literature review
1	[14]	Fontes et al. (2021)	The influence of ecological concern on green purchase behavior	/		/ (Please see Section 2.2.2.)
2	[9]	Trivedi et al. (2018)	Causality analysis of media influence on environmental attitude, intention and behaviors leading to green purchasing	/		/ (Please see Section 2.2.3.)

Please see Section 2.2.2. Green Purchase Intention, Section 2.2.3. Attitude toward Green Products, and Section 1. Introduction.

Section 2.2.2 Green Purchase Intention

2.2.2. Green Purchase Intention

H1. Green purchase intention positively influences green purchase behavior.

[extracted from page 4]

Section 2.2.3. Attitude toward Green Products

2.2.3. Attitude toward Green Products

[extracted from page 4 to page 5]

Section 1. Introduction

Introduction

[extracted from page 1 to page 3]

Reviewer 2 comment 7:

Other minor aspects:

Line 428: Table 3 ‘explains’? Do you mean shows? presents?

Response 7:

Thank you for pointing out the unclear expression. The word “explains” was revised to “shows” to make it clear. Please see Section 4.1 Measurement Model.

4.1. Measurement Model

IBM SPSS 26 and SmartPLS 3.3 were applied to conduct the analyses and assess the quality of the measurement model. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was adopted to check the convergent validity and discriminant validity of the model. First, the internal reliability of the measurement model was investigated by using Cronbach’s alpha (α) and composite reliability (CR). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding 0.7 [125] prove internal consistency. The CR for all constructs should be above 0.7 [126]. As shown in Table 2, Cronbach’s alpha and CR for all constructs were above the threshold values. Then, convergent validity was evaluated by examining whether the average variance extracted (AVE) values were above 0.5 [127]. Table 2 illustrates that all AVE values are greater than 0.5, reaffirming that the items adequately reflect the constructs. Next, discriminant validity was tested by comparing the square root of AVE for each construct with the correlations between constructs [127]. Table 3 shows that the square root of AVE for each construct is larger than the correlation between the constructs, thereby indicating the discriminant validity among constructs.

Table 2. Measurement properties.


Variables	Construct Identifier	Items	SFL	α	CR	AVE
Environmental Concern	EC	EC1	0.797	0.749	0.841	0.570
		EC2	0.731
		EC3	0.750
		EC4	0.739
Attitude toward Green Products	AGP	AGP1	0.810	0.794	0.866	0.618
		AGP2	0.802
		AGP3	0.757
		AGP4	0.775
Subjective Norm	SN	SN1	0.838	0.777	0.855	0.597
		SN2	0.771
		SN3	0.764
		SN4	0.711
Perceived Consumer Effectiveness	PCE	PCE1	0.800	0.753	0.844	0.576
		PCE2	0.664
		PCE3	0.788
		PCE4	0.774
Green Purchase Intention	GPI	GPI1	0.815	0.761	0.847	0.582
		GPI2	0.753
		GPI3	0.763
		GPI4	0.718
Green Purchase Behavior	GPB	GPB1	0.835	0.756	0.844	0.576
		GPB2	0.767
		GPB3	0.769
		GPB4	0.654
Company's Perceived Green Image	PGI	PGI1	0.825	0.798	0.869	0.623
		PGI2	0.763
		PGI3	0.780
		PGI4	0.790

Notes: (1) SFL = standardized factor loading, α = Cronbach’s alpha, CR = composite reliability; (2) All factor loadings are significant at the 0.05 level.

Table 3. Mean, SD, and correlations.


	Mean	SD	EC	AGP	SN	PCE	GPI	GPB	PGI
EC	3.967	0.695	0.755
AGP	4.077	0.695	0.654^**	0.786
SN	3.809	0.744	0.527^**	0.500^**	0.773
PCE	3.967	0.692	0.607^**	0.644^**	0.555^**	0.759
GPI	4.050	0.699	0.601^**	0.681^**	0.447^**	0.643^**	0.763
GPB	3.920	0.715	0.647^**	0.637^**	0.599^**	0.645^**	0.589^**	0.759
PGI	3.960	0.698	0.594^**	0.617^**	0.531^**	0.640^**	0.607^**	0.661^**	0.789

Notes: (1) p**<0.01; (2) EC = Environmental Concern; AGP = Attitude toward Green Products; SN = Subjective Norm; PCE = Perceived Consumer Effectiveness; GPI = Green Purchase Intention; GPB = Green Purchase Behavior; PGI = Company’s Perceived Green Image; (3) The values in the shaded diagonal are the square root of the AVE.

[extracted from page 12 to page 13]

Reviewer 2 comment 8:

Other minor aspects:

Table 3 displays discriminant validity and not reliability. Reliability is shown in Table 2.

Response 8:

Thank you. The term “reliability” has been removed from the sentence explaining Table 3. Please see Section 4.1 Measurement Model.

4.1. Measurement Model

Table 2. Measurement properties.


Variables	Construct Identifier	Items	SFL	α	CR	AVE
Environmental Concern	EC	EC1	0.797	0.749	0.841	0.570
		EC2	0.731
		EC3	0.750
		EC4	0.739
Attitude toward Green Products	AGP	AGP1	0.810	0.794	0.866	0.618
		AGP2	0.802
		AGP3	0.757
		AGP4	0.775
Subjective Norm	SN	SN1	0.838	0.777	0.855	0.597
		SN2	0.771
		SN3	0.764
		SN4	0.711
Perceived Consumer Effectiveness	PCE	PCE1	0.800	0.753	0.844	0.576
		PCE2	0.664
		PCE3	0.788
		PCE4	0.774
Green Purchase Intention	GPI	GPI1	0.815	0.761	0.847	0.582
		GPI2	0.753
		GPI3	0.763
		GPI4	0.718
Green Purchase Behavior	GPB	GPB1	0.835	0.756	0.844	0.576
		GPB2	0.767
		GPB3	0.769
		GPB4	0.654
Company's Perceived Green Image	PGI	PGI1	0.825	0.798	0.869	0.623
		PGI2	0.763
		PGI3	0.780
		PGI4	0.790

Notes: (1) SFL = standardized factor loading, α = Cronbach’s alpha, CR = composite reliability; (2) All factor loadings are significant at the 0.05 level.

Table 3. Mean, SD, and correlations.


	Mean	SD	EC	AGP	SN	PCE	GPI	GPB	PGI
EC	3.967	0.695	0.755
AGP	4.077	0.695	0.654^**	0.786
SN	3.809	0.744	0.527^**	0.500^**	0.773
PCE	3.967	0.692	0.607^**	0.644^**	0.555^**	0.759
GPI	4.050	0.699	0.601^**	0.681^**	0.447^**	0.643^**	0.763
GPB	3.920	0.715	0.647^**	0.637^**	0.599^**	0.645^**	0.589^**	0.759
PGI	3.960	0.698	0.594^**	0.617^**	0.531^**	0.640^**	0.607^**	0.661^**	0.789

[extracted from page 12 to page 13]

Reviewer 2 comment 9:

Other minor aspects:

Results of Table 5: the variables displayed in H9a and H9b are just the same. Correct them.

Response 9:

Thank you. We confirm that the variables displayed in H9a and H9b are different. The variable in H9a is GPI, while the variable in H9b is PGI. Therefore, we did not make any revisions for Table 5.

Reviewer 2 Table of Evaluation:

1) Is the content succinctly described and contextualized with respect to previous and present theoretical background and empirical research (if applicable) on the topic? – Must be improved.

2) Are the research design, questions, hypotheses and methods clearly stated? – Must be improved.

3) Are the arguments and discussion of findings coherent, balanced and compelling? – Must be improved.

4) For empirical research, are the results clearly presented? – Must be improved.

5) Is the article adequately referenced? – Must be improved.

Response to Reviewer 2 Table of Evaluation:

We would like to thank you for the comments and advices.

Following your guidelines, we added the comments on the results of previous studies in the literature review. The contents are contextualized with respects to previous empirical research in the revised manuscript.
To the improvement of the research design, we already revised H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b by clearly hypothesizing the positive moderating effects in out extended TPB model. The research design, questions, hypotheses and methods stated more clearly in the revised manuscript.
According to your suggestions, we made the discussions of the results elaborated with H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b. After the correction, Section 5.1. General Discussion became Consequently, Section 5.2. Theoretical Contributions, and Section 5.3. Managerial Implications discuss the results based on Section 5.1. Therefore, the discussions of findings are coherent and balanced.
After the correcting the explanation of Table 3, the discriminant validity of the construct is presented clearly and correctly. And after defining the direction of the moderating effects when stating H8a, H8b, H9a, and H9b, the results of moderating effects are also presented clearly and correctly. Consequently, the discussion of the results is clear for the readers.
We have added important papers including those recommended by the reviewers to the revised manuscript. The references now cover previous literature in the aspects of research backgrounds, theoretical framework, reviews, and methodologies.

Thanks again to the reviewers for all valuable suggestions which helped to improve our paper a lot!

Best regards,

The authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I very much appreciate the time and care you took to respond to my review. I believe it is reasonable to publish the paper 'as-is' now.

Author Response

We would like to thank you for your time and careful review. Your comments and advice are truly appreciated.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Congratulations on your effort.

I just prepared some comments for further improvement of your paper.

I have, however, some points that need to be dealt with:

the authors have to explicitly refer (between lines 503-508) that they are using the Fornell-Larcker criterion to analyze discriminant validity, as you have other methods, gaming which I can mention HTMT.
the title of Table 3 should include 'and discriminate validity'
In line 517 you have ' shaded diagonal'. ??? I think you have to correct that.
In line 562 you wrote 'manipulated', which normally has a negative meaning. I would recommend to swop it for 'used', which is neutral and instrumental.
I am not convinced by your arguments regarding the moderating effects of innovativeness (in lines 677-679). You are clearly struggling to explain the 'why not'. The situation is very simple: GPI grows in both situations low and high effect of innovations. As such, it means that attitude is more important than the effect of innovation. I think that you have to manage to put this thinking down in your paper.
the references are slightly messy.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your time and valuable comments.

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

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