Impact of opinion leadership on the relationship between consumer emotional intelligence and green purchase behavior in Jordan

Despite the increasing momentum of green purchasing behavior, recent work mainly focuses on consumer emotional intelligence and opinion leadership separately, failing to develop an integrated model to incorporate psychological with social mechanism as antecedents of green purchasing behavior. This study aims to examine the impact of consumer emotional intelligence on green purchasing behavior by analyzing the role of opinion leaders’ selection and consumers’ receptiveness to their content. Based on social influence theories and psychological theories, the study hypothesizes that consumers with high emotional intelligence are more selective in choosing opinion leaders, more engaged with their content, and more inclined to adopt environmentally friendly consumption patterns. Researchers distributed a standardized questionnaire to 265 individuals and then utilized Structural Equation Modelling to analyze the data. The results indicate that the impact of consumer emotional intelligence on green buying behavior is primarily achieved through consumers’ interaction with opinion leaders and their content. This study offers a theoretical contribution by clarifying the relationship between emotional intelligence and social influence in explaining sustainable consumer behavior. The results also offer actionable insights for public policymakers and social marketers to consider choosing opinion leaders who possess credibility and environmental value.