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1. Introduction
Recently, the increase of environmental problems has led to an environmental concern (EC) in society. Consumers who are concerned about the environment have started to show environmental awareness by means of their buying behaviours. Consumers have begun to express their environmental consciousness through the products they purchase. In the recent years:
[…] when the environmental problems were increased, consumers began to search environment-friendly alternatives to the usual products they were buying, rather than decreasing their consumption. Then, the green consumer was born (Schlegelmilch et al., 1996, p.37).
Consumers who take into account environmental consequences would be more careful about their consumption behaviours (Kim, 2011, p. 67).
Finally, consumers have become more concerned about environmental problems and therefore, green marketing has gained importance. This happened in two ways: first, public awareness about the environmental considerations has been expanded. Second, there has been an increase in the evidence of environmental responsibility. Thus, the increase in environmental knowledge (EK) and concern is a good marketing field to adopt new management practices (Do Paço et al., 2008, pp.18-19).
Main purpose of this study is to explain the factors that affect the green buying behaviours and the relations between these factors. For this purpose, three main factors were added to the Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to develop a more comprehensive model, namely EC, EK and perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE). It is believed that these variables could help understanding the green buying behaviour and extending the TPB model.
2. Literature review and hypotheses
2.1 Theory of reasoned action – theory of planned behaviour
Human behaviour is a complex and difficult concept to explain. The most popular and useful model for explaining human behaviour is Ajzen’s TPB. TPB has been used in many studies (sociology, psychology, social psychology) for explaining human behaviour. Researchers (Dean, 2016; Paul et al., 2016; Mostafa, 2007; Davies et al., 2002; Tonglet et al., 2004; Chan, 2001) also used the TPB in their studies for explaining green consumer behaviour.
TPB is an extended version of theory of reasoned action (TRA), (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). The difference between TPB and TRA is the variable of perceived behavioural control (PBC). PBC “is the perception of behavioural control and its impact...