Antecedents of Consumers’ Green Beauty Product Brand Purchase Intentions: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach

Societies across the globe are growing increasingly environmentally aware, resulting in more and more consumers demanding eco-friendly product alternatives. This phenomenon is also evident in the beauty industry, with many beauty brands striving to add green beauty products to their range and new green beauty product brands continuously emerging in markets. Despite the increased popularity of green beauty products, there is a paucity of published research concerning the antecedents of consumers’ green beauty product brand purchase intentions. As such, the goal of this study was to apply an extended version of the theory of planned behavior to ascertain the factors that predict consumers’ green beauty product brand purchase intentions. Following an explanatory research design, data were gathered from 500 consumers in South Africa. Data analysis comprised structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a reliable and valid seven-factor measurement model with good model fit. The path analysis results indicate that collectively perceived environmental knowledge, perceived behavior control, green beauty product ethicality beliefs, green beauty product attitudes, socio-altruistic values, and subjective norms account for 77 percent of the variance in consumers’ purchase intentions toward green beauty product brands. The findings of this study provide a comprehensive view of the antecedents of consumers’ green beauty product brand purchase intentions, which will be of significant value to beauty product marketers in or seeking to enter the green product market. In addition, the psychometric properties and strong predictive power of this model reflect a research instrument that can be used in future research into consumers’ purchase intentions toward green beauty products.