The impact of ecological values on the consumer behavior of young Indonesian consumers

Young consumers, particularly millennials and generation z, have become the main force in the global consumer market, expected to account for over 50% of the global consumer population by 2025. They value personalization, digitali-za-tion, and socialization, while also showing a high level of concern for envi-ron-mental protection and sustainable development. They are more inclined to choose eco-friendly products and support sustainable brands, and their con-sumer behavior is reshaping the global market landscape. Therefore, re-searching the ecological values and consumer behavior of young consumers is of signifi-cant value for businesses in formulating marketing strategies and pro-moting sustainable development. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this article collected 256 valid ques-tionnaires and used spss 27.0 software to verify data validity through reli-ability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Direct and mediating effects were constructed to explore the impact of ecological values on the green con-sumer behavior of young Indonesian consumers. The research conclusions are as fol-lows: 1. Impact of ecological values on green consumer behavior: The to-tal ef-fect of ecological values on green consumer behavior is positive, and the direct path is significant, supporting hypothesis h1. 2. Chained mediating effect: Eco-logical values indirectly influence green consumer behavior through con-sumer attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, supporting hy-potheses h2, h2a, h2b, and h2c, manifesting as a complex chained mediating ef-fect. 3. Influence of mediating effects: (1) The three chained mediating paths—ecological values → consumer attitude → green consumer behavior, ecolo-gi-cal values → subjective norm → green consumer behavior, and ecological values → perceived behavioral control → green consumer behavior—are all significant. (2) The perceived behavioral control effect accounts for the largest proportion (28.88%), followed by the subjective norm effect (25.56%), and the consumer attitude effect is the smallest (18.57%). Enhancing perceived be-hav-ioral control levels and increasing the prevalence of subjective norm can effec-tively stimulate green consumer behavior among young Indonesian con-sumers.