Sustainability, brand trust, and purchase intent in the cosmetics industry

As consumer awareness of sustainable consumption increases, understanding the factors influencing cosmetic purchase intentions from a green perspective becomes more important for both academic research and practical application. This study investigates the effect of four sustainability-related factors: green attitude, green subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and green advertising on brand trust. It also examines how brand trust mediates the relationship between these factors and purchase intention for cosmetics. A mixed-methods approach was employed: initially, qualitative methods were used to refine and contextualize the measurement scales, followed by a quantitative survey analysed using PLS-SEM to test the relationships among the variables. The findings indicate that green attitude, perceived behavioural control, and green advertising each exert a significant positive impact on brand trust. In turn, brand trust mediates the link between these three factors and purchase intention, emphasising trust as a key connector between sustainability perceptions and consumer decisions in the cosmetics sector. Conversely, green subjective norms do not demonstrate a statistically significant influence within the model. These findings contribute to the sustainability marketing literature by clarifying the relative importance of selected green factors in shaping brand trust and, indirectly, purchase intention among young, digitally engaged consumers in an emerging-market setting. While the results highlight the limited role of subjective norms in this sample, such patterns should not be interpreted as broadly generalizable across consumer segments or markets. For managers, the study suggests that in this specific context, building trust through credible green communication and enhancing perceived consumer control may be more effective than relying on social influence mechanisms.