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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.
1. Introduction
If individuals are motivated to make a contribution to sustainable development and especially environmental protection, everyday consumption behavior would be an adequate starting point. Groceries account for a substantial share of up to one-third of the environmental impact of household consumption, in which categories such as mobility, home improvement, construction or telecommunications are also included (Fisher et al. , 2013). Environmentally sustainable or "green" purchasing decisions in everyday buyer behavior, therefore, offer a chance to reduce this environmental impact by substituting higher-impact products with products which are environmentally friendlier. This not only produces benefits for the environment but also creates opportunities for businesses. Research found that companies with a green orientation achieve higher profitability and market shares (Menguc and Ozanne, 2005), greater levels of employee commitment (Maignan and Ferrell, 2001) and increased customer satisfaction (Luo and Bhattacharya, 2006). Green product and distribution programs furthermore positively affect companies' overall product - market performance, while green pricing and promotion practices are directly and positively related to companies' return on assets (Leonidou et al. , 2013). In the light of these benefits, the present research seeks to better understand green purchasing behavior to increase the share of green buying by consumers. This will help to preserve the environment and at the same time businesses' bottom lines will profit from it.
It is still unclear whether consumers' green attitudes are consistent with their purchasing behavior and what factors play major roles in the decision-making process. Therefore, the present study addresses the question of whether consumers who are aware of environmental problems really buy green products. The main focus is to identify major influence factors in green purchasing behavior and understand their respective structure and relative importance. In this way, the predictive value of each single factor can be determined. Extant research into marketing with reference to environmental topics largely focuses on investigating consumer behavior particularly with regard to purchasing organic products, especially food (for example, see Honkanen et al. , 2006; Pino et al. , 2012; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2009; Zhou et al. , 2013). To draw a more conclusive picture of green consumption in the sector of daily...