Green Consumer Practices: How Does Gender Matters?

ABSTRACT Green consumerism has evolved as a significant trend in global markets, which shows increasing awareness among buyers about the environmental impact of their purchase decisions. This growing concern about environmental sustainability is reengineering buyer behavior and impacting market dynamics in different industries. Despite the extensive literature on green consumerism and consumer behavior, several critical gaps remain that warrant further investigation. This study answers specific questions about how do environmental concerns of companies influence the evolution of green consumer behavior over time; what are the socio-economic factors that most significantly impact green consumer behavior and how do perceptions of product quality and effectiveness influence consumer willingness to purchase green products. This study is specific to Himachal Pradesh using quantitative and qualitative methodologies to collect data from a random sample of 706 respondents using online surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Data has been synthesized using descriptive statistics such frequency distribution, percentages, mean, standard deviation, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. After then, demographic characteristics, particularly gender of the respondents has been used to cross-tabulate the associations. The hypotheses have been examined using Chi-Square Test of Independence and t-test. The analysis reveals significant gender differences in various aspects of green consumerism. Females are more influenced by environmental sustainability in purchase decisions, notice more green marketing, and are more affected by green marketing in their purchasing behavior. On the other hand, males show greater concern about the environmental impact of products before purchasing and have higher trust in companies' environmental claims. No significant differences were found in areas such as promoting brands as eco-friendly or supporting brands for their environmental commitment, suggesting that some perceptions of green consumerism are shared between genders.