It is conceded that environmental education help generates awareness, concern, and acknowledgment of the outcomes of a person’s actions, which leads to the embracement of environmentally responsible behavior (Salequzzman & Stocker, 2001). Ecological knowledge is characterized as “a general learning of facts, ideas, and relationships concerning the natural environment and its extensive ecosystems” (Fryxell & Lo, 2003). It embodies the condition of learning and what consumers think about nature, awareness of the ecological issues, ecological concern, and the aftermath of humankind's activities on nature (Goh & Balaji, 2016).
Ecological knowledge includes positive and negative perspectives of information about nature as well as information in regards to protection of the natural habitats for land, sea, air, plants and animals. Additionally, the information and solutions of environmental problems
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and consumer behaviors about ecological knowledge are other factors (Frycell & Lo, 2003).
Tanner and Wölfing-Kast (2003) emphasize the importance of action-related knowledge because it is crucial for consumers to understand what actions they could take to protect the environment. As a result, ecological knowledge is useful to predict ethical consumption.
Additionally, ecological knowledge is defined as a collection of knowledge related to the environment that people possess (Conraud-Koellner & Rivas-Tovar, 2009)
According to D’Souza, Taghian, and Lamb (2006), when one is informed about ecological problems, their awareness levels are boosted and hence it possibly leads to the promotion of great demeanors towards environmentally-friendly products. Extant research studies predict that ecological knowledge holds crucial determinants in consumers’ green purchase decision.
Mostafa (2007) characterizes ecological knowledge as “how informed the people are in regards to the environment, the awareness an individual has about the environment, fundamental characteristics leading to environmental impacts, recognition for the entire frameworks, and collective responsibilities essential for sustainable development.” In Mostafa’s (2007) study, he emphasized the critical role of ecological knowledge as the indicator to eco-friendly consumer conduct. Accordingly, it is predicted that an increase of ecological knowledge will result in a rise of purchase intention for sustainable consumption conducts.
This thought was supported by Bamberg and Moser (2007), who stressed the element of knowledge in deciding consumers’ attitude and intentions towards eco-friendly conducts.
In Smith and Paladino (2010) findings, ecological knowledge had a positive correlation to a consumers’ positive attitudes and intentions towards a natural product. In a multi-country study, Goh and Balaji (2016) established that pre-test subjective knowledge was an essential element in predicting environmentally friendly conduct.
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More recently, Cheng and Wu (2015) demonstrated that ecological knowledge has effects on green advertisements’ message framing that results in eco-friendly conducts. This review shows that consumers’ ecological knowledge empowers them to separate the properties of green products from traditional goods and this prompts the development of positive, ideal states of mind towards the environmentally-friendly products (Goh & Balaji, 2016).
Chan and Lau (2000) conceptualize the measurement of a person’s knowledge concerning environmental issues as ecological knowledge. and this knowledge affects his or her decision-making process. Nik Abdul, Jusoff and Kassim (2009) claimed that the importance and influence of knowledge on decision-making process had been reviewed in various studies such as Laroche et al. (2001); Verdugo (1996); Oskamp, Harrington, Edwards, Sherwood, Okuda, and Swanson (1991).
There is evidence suggesting that the hypothesis that an individual’s ecological knowledge or eco-literacy is a major indicator of green conducts. In Chan and Lau’s, (2000) study, they predicted eco-friendly purchases in China by using ecological knowledge as one of their criterion variables. The findings reported that the relationship of Chinese people with higher ecological knowledge indicated greater intent to participate in a green purchase.
Similarly, this relationship between ecological knowledge and eco-friendly purchasing behavior proved significant in a study by Nabsiah and Elham (2011) on Penang, Malaysia’s green volunteers.
Interestingly, in Tadajewski and Tsukamoto’s (2006) qualitative study, a knowledgeable group of respondents failed to display green behavior on their daily shopping conducts, despite their respondents having knowledge on life-cycle analysis, Consistently, do Paço and Raposo’s (2009) research demonstrated that ecological knowledge does not contribute to green purchasing. A prior study by Laroche et al. (2001) too found that
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ecological knowledge was not a significant indicator of green behavior. Their outcome from the T-test indicated that the ecological knowledge results are identical for both eco and non-eco-friendly consumers. This finding is supported by Alba and Hutchinson’s (1987) study that knowledge was not significantly related to how consumers gather, assemble, and evaluate products.
However, recent findings were found to be contradicting to earlier findings. In Suki (2013) and Mostafa (2006) study, it was demonstrated that ecological knowledge empirically impacted an individual’s views and behaviors towards eco-friendly goods. It was indicated that there was a positive correlation between ecological knowledge and eco-friendly consumer conduct.
Based on the extant analysis, it is assumed that relying upon the levels of ecological knowledge, consumers’ green purchase intentions would differ. This study investigates ecological knowledge in understanding the customers’ intentions to purchase green products because the absence of ecological knowledge is considered as an impedance to consumers’
environmental practices.
As a result of contradicting findings from previous reviews (Tadajewski & Tsukamoto, 2006; Laroche et al., 2001; do Paço & Raposo, 2009) that claim ecological knowledge has no influence on green purchase intention, it will be fascinating to examine the relationship between consumer ecological knowledge and green purchase intention in the context of Malaysian university students. Due to the inconclusive empirical findings, this current study using Malaysia as context subsequently inquire:
RQ1: Is the relationship between ecological knowledge with green purchase intention and actual green purchase positively related?
18 2.6 Ecological Concern
Schouten (1991) contends that the emotional factor is a standout amongst the fascinating segments of a man’s conduct, especially in the investigation of consumer behavior. According to Maloney, Ward, and Braucht (1975), ecological concern implies to the level of emotionality an individual has attached to environmental issues. The affection is attributed to the feelings and emotions that an object causes to a man.
As conceptualized by Karsaklian (2008), the affective component, correlates to the assessment of how an image is shaped. Karsaklian describes it as either a positive or negative feeling and the subsequent feelings when an individual is stimulated by images. A strategy by the marketer is to empower our emotions towards a certain context used frequently in advertisements.
Arnold and Reynolds (2009) bolster the idea that a superior comprehension of the impact of affection on consumer behavior can be attained if studies are conducted to assess a consumer’s state of mind, sentiments, and feelings.
Tamashiro and Silveira (2013); Maloney and Ward, (1973); Dispoto (1977) claim that even with limited awareness of the environment, people might still display a strong emotional connection with the environment.
Consistently, Laskova (2007) asserts that individuals with a higher degree of environmental concern and affection are prone to exhibit positive, eco-friendly behaviors in comparison to people with a lower level of interest and love for nature. Hence for this study, it is anticipated that:
H1: The relationship between ecological concern with green purchase intention and actual green purchase is positively related.
19 2.7 Man-Nature Orientation
Bina and Vaz (2011) conceptualize man-nature orientation as the relationship that exists amongst man and the natural environment. Mayer and Frantz (2004) posit that Western cultures have a tendency to assume themselves as separated from nature, while Asian culture has a tendency to live in peace and harmony with nature. In support, Feigenbaum and Manning (2012) alleged that American and European societies have practiced exceptionally sensible-based culture and they take after dominance over the earth, whereas other Asian cultures such as the Japanese, and Chinese have practiced living in accordance with nature.
Hinds and Sparks (2008) back this claim that environmental behavior is higher among individuals belonging to the collectivist cultures than those from individualistic cultures.
Additionally, according to Cartmel, Loescher, and Villar-Werstler (1992), Muslim religion and cultures tend to believe they need to live in liberation with nature (Rehman, & Bin Dost, 2013). Since Malaysia is an Asian multi-racial country consisting of mainly the Malays, Chinese, and Indians, it is essential to take into consideration the Malaysians view on the environment. It is significant to examine how man-nature orientation is perceived amongst Malaysians, as it is generally a valued concept amongst most Asian cultures. Therefore, this study wants to see if Malaysia interprets man-nature orientation as significantly valuable as other Asian countries. Culture is an effective influencer and hence it is rational to exert that this influencer should not be taken for granted (Kongsompong et al., 2009).
In Chan and Lau’s (2000) study, they discovered that cultural beliefs and practices dictate a consumer’s green behavior. In their study of the effects of man-nature orientation, it was predicted that there would be a positive influence on Chinese’s people’s green purchase intention as well as actual green purchase. Therefore, for this study, it is too predicted that:
H2: The relationship between man-nature orientation with green purchase intention and actual green purchase is positively related.
20 2.8 Price Sensitivity
According to Hansen and Sørenses (1993), price sensitivity is defined as the significance of cost to a consumer when making purchase choices. Additionally, Goldsmith and Newel (1997) characterize price sensitivity to a feeling an individual has towards paying a specific price for the considered product or services. Similarly, Monroe (1973) described price sensitivity as the degree of consciousness and feeling displayed when a consumer sees the price differences for the products or services. Anderson (1996) complements these assertions by arguing that price sensitivity is based on the level a consumer tolerates price changes for a particular product or services regarding the economic and psychological increase.
Oliver and DeSarbo (1988), translates price sensitivity as the extent of the consumer’s outcome/input to that of the supplier’s outcome/input. Customers would accept rational price differences if they could distinguish that the proportion of their outcome to input is comparable to the ratio of outcome to input experienced.
According to Li, Lu, Zhang, Liu, Wang, and Jiang (2016); de Medeiros, Ribeiro and Cortimiglia (2016); Moser (2016), price has exhibited an immense effect on consumers’
assessment of product alternative and their final buying outcome. Price plays two key roles in consumer’s assessment of product choices. First it is the measurement of sacrifice, which refers to the amount of money consumers need to spend; second, it is the informational cue, the quality, and status construed by ownership of the product (Hsu et al., 2017).
As pointed out by Bolton and Lemon (1999), customers appraise what is “fair,” “right,”
or “deserved” for the cost of the offering. The client needs to be able to see that the money exchanged for products is balanced or equal. A consumer will leverage if they are willing to pay more (the surplus) for green products that are likely to benefit the environment, which in turn indirectly benefits them too in comparison to other competitor’s cheaper products that
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are non-environmentally friendly. Morganosky (1986) also noted that a price-orientated consumer is more price sensitive. Hence, the price of a product or service becomes a strong decision-making consideration (Ang, Leong, & Kotler, 2000).
Likewise, for green products, consumers consider price as one of the important factors in a purchasing decision. Consistently, the prior studies have shown that a product’s price is highly reviewed by customers when they buy eco-friendly goods (Mandese, 1991) More recently, Connell (2010) reinstated that consumers heighten the effects of price when they are from a lower economic power, and this hinders the purchase of eco-friendly goods.
Understanding price sensitivity is crucial because it enables academics to identify sources of influence for actual purchase; furthermore, it would also be beneficial to retail managers to develop pricing strategies based on the level of consumers’ price sensitivity. For the purpose of this study, price sensitivity is conceptualized as indicated by Hansen and Sørenses (1993), and it refers to the significance of price for a consumer when making purchase choices. With price sensitivity as moderating variable, it is hypothesized that:
H3: Price sensitivity will moderate the relationship between green purchase intention and actual green purchase.