Factors Affecting Green Purchase Intention Amongst Young Consumers:

A Study In Ho Chi Minh City

Mai The Kien

Huynh Nguyen Hong Ngoc

International University

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 ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to investigate a set of factors affecting green
purchase intention amongst young consumers in the range of 18 to 25 years old in Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam. This research not only reexamines the effects of five independent
factors in the prior study but also suggests a new critical factor, health consciousness.
Hence, the research model of this study consists of six variables affecting young
consumers’ intention to purchase green products: (1) environmental knowledge, (2)
environmental concern, (3) attitude towards green purchase, (4) social influence, (5)
perceived behavioral control, and (6) health consciousness. By using convenience
sampling and snowball sampling techniques, the online questionnaire was distributed to
337 target consumers, with a total of 322 valid responses. Besides, the study has applied
the quantitative method which incorporates several statistical approaches such as
reliability test, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis.
The findings revealed that five independent factors: environmental concern, attitude
towards green purchase, social influence, perceived behavioral control, and health
consciousness have a positive influence on consumers’ intentions to purchase green
products. Furthermore, feasible solutions and recommendations were also provided for
businesses and for future research. Research limitations and practical suggestions were
discussed in the final section of this paper.
Keywords: environmental knowledge, environmental concern, attitude
towards green purchase, social influence, perceived behavioral control, health
consciousness, green purchase intention.

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 1. Introduction

Over the past few decades, modern consumers are increasingly noticing the
environmental consideration and they have allocated their growing concern for the
natural surroundings by paying much attention to the negative impacts on the
environment in terms of their daily consumption activities (Krause, 1993). As a result, the
concept of green purchasing is currently becoming popular in both developed and
developing countries when more and more people are likely to have increased demand
for eco-friendly products (Liobikienė, Mandravickaitė & Bernatonienė, 2016).
Consumers, in particular, are more willing to purchase eco-environmental products and
expend at a premium price on green items as they consider that environmental protection
and conservation are not solely the responsibility of governments or organizations, but
also of individuals (Fraj & Martinez, 2006).
Undoubtedly, stimulating green purchases in this day and age is extremely
important and to an extent, very urgent, especially in Vietnam. This is because Vietnam
is a country that is one of the top five countries in the world contributing to plastic
pollution in the sea with 0.28 - 0.73 million metric tons of plastic dumped into the ocean
each year, posing a hazard to marine life (Jambeck et al., 2015). Moreover, in recent
years, Vietnamese adolescents are pursuing a green lifestyle, and the purchasing and
consumption behavior towards eco-friendly products is becoming a popular phenomenon
(Nen, Thanh, Hao, Linh & Khanh, 2021). In an effort to reduce the usage of plastic, at
present many manufacturers are focusing on environmentally friendly products or
adopting green or reusable materials such as inox and bamboo. As a result, consumers’
purchase intention and behavior become a significant subject for manufacturers in terms
of green production. However, green purchasing is still a relatively new notion for
Vietnamese people since it has received little public attention. The reason might be due to
little evidence of consumers’ awareness towards environmental issues, the lack of formal

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studies about green products as well as determinants of purchase intention towards eco-
products carried out in Vietnam.
In light of the fact above, this research aims to develop a better knowledge of
several factors that influence the green purchase intention amongst young consumers in
Ho Chi Minh city and provide a scientific basis for business owners in promoting
consumer habits of making their choices regarding eco-friendly products in order to
achieve sustainable development goals. To reach this aim, the objectives of this research
are as follows:
- Identifying different factors that can have a potential impact on young
Vietnamese consumers’ green purchase intention, especially in Ho Chi Minh city.
- Assessing and investigating the impact and the degree of influence of each factor
on green purchase intention in the context of Vietnamese consumers, especially in
Ho Chi Minh city.
- Providing feasible solutions and recommendations for enterprises as well as for
future research in this field.
To accomplish the research objectives, the following critical research
questions are developed:
 What are multiple factors impacting young consumers’ green purchase intention
in Ho Chi Minh city?
 How much does each factor affect the green purchase intention amongst young
consumers in Ho Chi Minh city?
 How does it help Vietnamese businesses to promote young consumers’ green
products purchase intention in the context of Ho Chi Minh city?
2. Literature Review
2.1 Conceptual Framework
2.1.1 Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB):

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 The conceptual framework of this research is mainly developed based on the
psychological theory – Theory of Planned Behavior built by Ajzen in 1991. The TPB
model suggests that consumers' behavioral intentions are influenced by three different
factors: attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.

Figure 1: Theory of Planned Behavior Model (Аjzеn, 1991)

Attitudes towards behavior can be defined as “the degree to which a person

has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or appraisal of the behavior in question”
(Ajzen, 1991, p. 188). Subjective norm is considered as “the perceived social pressure to
perform or not to perform the behavior” (Ajzen, 1991, p. 188). In particular, a
consumer’s perception of green purchase might be influenced, approved, or disapproved,
by the opinions of significant people such as parents, spouses, relatives, close friends, or
co-workers. Perceived behavioral control is considered as “the perceived ease or
difficulty of performing the behavior” (Ajzen, 1991, p. 122). In particular, findings in the
previous study indicated that when people are able to get exposed to the necessary
resources, opportunities as well as self-confidence required to facilitate the performance
of specific behavior, their perceived behavioral control will increase (Taylor & Todd,
1995).

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 2.1.2 Conceptual model of Yadav and Pathak:

Figure 2: Conceptual model of Yadav and Pathak (2016b)

The theoretical framework of Yadav and Pathak incorporates two independent
variables including environmental knowledge and environmental concern into the TPB
model. This framework will be applied in this research, with some adjustments. Since the
research’s focus is to investigate several independent variables which have a direct
impact on green purchase intention, the relationship of environmental knowledge and
environmental concern with attitude will be ignored. Moreover, the research will change
“subjective norm” to “social influence” and “attitude” to “attitude towards green
purchase” which is more specific and easier to understand. Besides, an additional variable
will be added to this current study’s research model, that is consumers’ health
consciousness, which is likely to have a significant influence on consumers’ purchase
intention of green products.

2.1.3 Green purchase intention:

Green purchase refers to the purchase of environmentally friendly products

and avoiding products that harm the environment (Chan, 2001). Green products are
defined as “decomposable, renewable, reusable, and/or recyclable products” (Dangelico
& Pontrandolfo, 2010), The purchase intention for green products, according to Rashid,

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Jusoff, and Kassim (2009), is understood as the eagerness and probability of consumers
to put a high priority on green products over conventional items in their purchasing
decisions. Consumers’ intention to buy green items is generally influenced by a variety of
factors that will be studied and proved to have an impact on green purchasing intentions
in the next section.

2.1.4 Factors affecting consumers’ green purchase intention:

[Link] Environmental knowledge

By definition, environmental knowledge can be described as “a general

knowledge of facts, concepts and relationships concerning the natural environment and
its major ecosystems” (Fryxell & Lo, 2003, p. 45). More specifically, as stated by
Mostafa (2007b), environmental knowledge involves what individuals know about the
current situation of our environment, several primary relationships or factors that lead to
environmental features or consequences, an understanding of "whole systems", the level
of environmental consciousness and environmental responsibilities that are crucial for
maintaining natural surroundings for future generations as well as guaranteeing
sustainable development.
The study by Mostafa (2009) has indicated that consumers’ environmental
knowledge is one of the important factors that exert a significant influence on consumers’
intention and behavior regarding purchasing green products. Specifically, studies on
green products have shown that the higher the level of environmental knowledge of a
consumer when he/she chooses to purchase green products, the higher his/her attitude and
intent to buy these eco-friendly products (Mostafa, 2007b; Wang, Liu & Qi, 2014). Based
on the above literature, the first hypothesis is presented:
H1: Environmental knowledge positively affects green purchase intention.

[Link] Environmental concern

According to Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera (1987), an individual’s concern

for the environment is a fundamental element of environmental studies. Kim and Choi

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(2005) stated that environmental concern refers to individuals’ degree of emotionality,
orientation and awareness towards environment as well as environmental issues and
reveals their personal readiness to be an essential part of the solution to these issues
(Dunlap & Jones, 2002).
Yadav & Pathak (2016b) have found that environmental concern has a direct
impact on green purchase intention of customers. It is true that consumers who are more
concerned about environmental issues are more likely to have a positive attitude towards
green items and to engage in environmental protection activities such as choosing green
products, using biodegradable products, eating organic foods,.., hence resulting in a
healthy and green lifestyle (Paul, Modi & Patel, 2016). Further, various researches on
green purchase intention have proved that consumers who have strong views about
environmental concerns are inclined to have a high engagement level in purchasing eco-
friendly products (Hansla, Gamble, Juliusson & Garling, 2008; Hutchins & Greenhalgh,
1997). Therefore, from the above discussion the following hypothesis is established as
below:
H2: Environmental concern positively affects green purchase intention.

[Link] Attitude towards green purchase:

According to Allport (1935) attitude is a state of willingness that affects how a

person reacts to numerous events and objects with which it is related. As one of three key
components in the theory of planned behavior, Ajzen (1991, p.188) gave a definition of
attitude as “the degree to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or
appraisal of the behavior in question.”
According to Ajzen (1991), a person's intention to perform a certain behavior
will be strengthened (weakened) by his/her favorable (unfavorable) attitude towards the
behavior. When the consequences are favorable, an individual's attitude is more likely to
be positive, and he/she is more inclined to perform that specific action (Ajzen, 1991).
Further, attitude towards green purchase that has been proven by many empirical studies

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has a strong relationship with green products buying intention (Chan, 2001; Teng et al.,
2011). A study conducted by Van, Duy and Dung (2017) in Vietnam found that attitude
towards green purchase positively influences green purchase intention. Hence, the third
hypothesis is presented:
H3: Attitude towards green purchase positively affects green purchase
intention.

[Link] Social influence

According to Wahid, Rahbar and Tan (2011), social influence can be

considered as a proxy of subjective norm. More specifically, Alam and Sayuti (2011)
identified social influence, also known as subjective norms, peer pressure, or persuasion
conformity, as when an individual’s certain behaviors or actions were affected by social
factors such as social referents or families.
Kim and Chung (2011) found out that if consumers feel that their important
referents believe green products are beneficial, they will have more intention towards
buying these products. Therefore, more and more consumers are expressing a desire to
purchase eco-friendly products in order to demonstrate that they share the same concern
for the natural environment as the rest of society. Many empirical studies on green
purchase intention have identified a positive correlation between social influence and
consumers’ intention towards environmentally friendly products (Ko & Jin, 2017;
Welsch & Kühling, 2009). In consistency with previous studies, the following hypothesis
is formulated:
H4: Social influence positively affects green purchase intention.

[Link] Health consciousness

Health consciousness evaluates consumers’ readiness to engage in daily

activities in favor of their health and well-being and can be defined as “the degree to
which health concerns are integrated into a person's daily activities” (Jayanti & Burns,
1998, p. 10). It is an extent that consumers are increasingly concerned about their well-

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being, so they always attempt to engage in healthy behaviors such as purchasing and
consuming products/food that provide them with emotional satisfaction as well as
physical nourishment in order to avoid things that may be harmful to their health,
enhance and/or preserve their well-being and quality of life. (Glanz, Basil, Maibach,
Goldberg & Snyder, 1998)
Grewal, Singla, Kamboj and Dua (2017) discovered that customers,
particularly in Iraq, will be influenced by health consciousness to purchase green
products since these products are free from toxic and dangerous substances. According to
Yii, Shein and Ming (2020), the more health-conscious consumers are, the more they
intend to buy and consume green products. Earlier investigations have also confirmed
that there is a positive relationship between health consciousness and green purchase
intention (Chen & Deng, 2016; Zinoubi, 2020). Hence, the following hypothesis is
proposed as bellows:
H5: Health consciousness positively affects green purchase intention.

[Link] Perceived behavioral control

As defined by Ajzen (1991), perceived behavioral control is “the perceived

ease or difficulty of performing the behavior, and it is assumed to reflect experience as
well as anticipated impediments and obstacles’’ (Ajzen, 1991, p. 122). Besides, according
to Taylor and Todd (1995), perceived behavioral control, in particular, evaluates an
individual’s perception of how effectively he/she can control and access resources such
as "money, time, personal self-confidence, and other resources" that may facilitate or
limit the activities necessary to deal with a given scenario.
The findings from prior studies have demonstrated that perceived behavioral
control can serve as a direct predictor of green purchase intention (Ko & Jin, 2017; Teng
et al., 2011). Moreover, empirical evidence from a study of Xu, Hua, Wang and Xu
(2020) showed that consumers who believe they have more resources and opportunities
will have better perceived behavioral control when facing external circumstances whilst

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making purchasing decisions. This idea is also supported by Taylor and Todd (1995) as
they stated that people's self-confidence in their ability to perform the certain behavior
positively affect their intention and behavior. From the above discussions, the following
hypothesis is presented:
H6: Perceived behavioral control positively affects green purchase intention.

2.2 Research Model and Hypotheses:

Figure 3: Research Model (Adapted from Yadav and Pathak, 2016b)

3. Methodology

3.1 Research method

This study’s aim is to identify different factors affecting young consumers’
green purchase intention as well as to investigate the impact of each factor on green
purchase intention in the context of Vietnamese consumers, especially in Ho Chi Minh
city. Therefore, this research has applied the quantitative method since this method is
considered to be better in terms of confirming and testing a hypothesis, based on the prior
theories.
3.2 Data collection method
Primary data can be defined as “data that you have collected yourself”
whereas secondary data is the data “which has already been collected by others” (Gratton

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and Jones, 2010, p.67). It is true that using secondary data may provide researchers with
greater benefits, such as saving time, effort, and cost because it is readily available and
accessible on different platforms. However, since the data has been obtained for various
objectives other than the specific problem at hand, the data's utility might be restricted in
a variety of ways, such as relevance and accuracy. Therefore, with regards to these
aforementioned reasons, the data in this current research is collected from primary
sources.

3.3 Research design

The entire research process includes 8 steps:

Figure 4: Research process

3.4 Sampling design

3.4.1 Sample size
According to Comfrey and Lee (1992), the adequacy of sample sizes of 50,
100, 200, and 300 may be evaluated respectively on the following scale: very poor – poor

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– fair – good. As a result, a sample size of 322 respondents was considered to be
acceptable for this research.
3.4.2 Sampling technique
Convenience sampling technique is applied in this study due to various
constraints regarding time, geographical reach, human resources, and financial capacity.
To distribute the survey to a large potential pool of respondents in this recent outbreak of
Covid-19 pandemic, the survey will be available in an online format. The online
questionnaire will be disseminated to target respondents via email or social media sites
such as Facebook and Zalo. Then, these respondents can assist in the distribution of the
questionnaire to other qualified individuals who have a close relationship with them,
allowing for easier and faster data collection.
3.4.3 Sampling’s characteristics
Young Vietnamese consumers who are between the age of 18 to 25 years old
is the target population for this research. Specifically, the intended participants for this
study can be students from universities or colleges who have already purchased green
products or at least have purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products
once in their daily lives. These young respondents can have different demographic
backgrounds like diverse ages, races and sex but should be currently living in Ho Chi
Minh city.
3.5 Questionnaire design
The questionnaire designed for this study consisted of three sections for the
purpose of identifying the importance of potential factors.
The first section of the questionnaire contains selective questions which are
designed to exclude disqualified respondents who have never bought green products or
who have never had purchase intentions towards eco-friendly products in their daily
lives.
The second section contains all of the key measurement items which mainly
focus on the respondents’ perception towards 6 independent factors in the proposed

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model affecting their green purchase intention. All measurement items in the
measurement scale of this study have been borrowed and adapted from earlier literature
reviews to ensure the validity of the content of each item and they also have been
adjusted to fit in the Vietnamese context. The five-point Likert scale would be used to
measure the research variables in the model.
The third section contains demographic questions to access the demographic
profile and collect general information of the respondents.
3.6 Data analysis method
After collecting data from survey responses, the sample’s characteristic which
includes response rate, demographic analysis, is then examined with a view to obtaining
an overview of the target sample as well as information about the demographic profiles of
respondents. The primary data collected in this study had been analyzed by using SPSS
software version 26.0. In addition, to examine the validity and reliability of the
measurement scale, various testing steps must be implemented including reliability test,
exploratory factor analysis and correlation analysis. After that, regression analysis was
performed to explore the level of correlation between the dependent variable and several
independent variables and to confirm proposed hypotheses.

IV. Data analysis and findings

4.1 Response rate

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 In total, 337 responses were collected through the online survey for this study.
However, only 322 out of 337 answers were considered valid and would have been used
Table 1: Valid Response Rate

for data analysis. The other 15 invalid cases were deleted due to the fact that respondents
did not meet all of the requirements such as not currently living in Ho Chi Minh City and
having never purchased green items before as well as having no intention to do so in the
future. Furthermore, answer sheets would be considered invalid if respondents had
chosen similar answers for all questions.

4.2 Sample demographic

In this part, 322 survey participants were classified into five categories such as
gender, age group, academic level, occupation, and monthly income. The ratio between
the groups of subjects participating in the survey is diverse, ensuring that the findings
accurately reflect the green purchase intention of young people in Ho Chi Minh city in
general.
Table 2: Demographic Information

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 The majority of survey respondents were female, with 223 females accounting
for roughly 69.3% of the total, whilst 99 were males, accounting for roughly 30.7% of the

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total. The number of consumers aged 18-25 years old had the greatest response rate up to
96% out of 322 valid questionnaires collected, followed by the number of consumers
aged 26-35, with nearly 2.8%. The remaining 1.2% belongs to the response rate of
consumers under the age of 18. In terms of academic level, the group of consumers who
graduated from university/college accounted for the highest proportion with 88.2%,
followed by those who got their postgraduate degree, with approximately 9.3%. Whereas
only 2.5% of survey respondents graduated from high school. When it comes to
occupation, students account for the greatest proportion of the total respondents, at
67.7%, which is understandable given that the study's target population is consumers
aged 18 to 25. The rest of percentages are office workers (19.6%), executives (6.8%),
retailer/housewife (2.5%) and others (3.4%). Regarding monthly income, 47.2% of
survey participants earn 5-10 million VND per month, while 37.9% earn less than 5
million VND per month. The group of respondents having middle (15-25 million VND),
upper-middle (25-35 million VND) and the highest income level (>35 million VND)
constituted 10.6%, 2.8% and 1.6% respectively.

4.3 Reliability Analysis

The reliability test is performed in this section to ensure the validity and
internal consistency of the measurement scale. Simply put, conducting this test aims to
find out and eliminate inappropriate variables in the research model before undertaking
factor analysis. In the reliability test, the total correlation coefficient of Corrected Item -
Total Correlation and the value of Cronbach’s Alpha are two crucial factors reflecting the
close correlation amongst all observed variables from the same factor. Evaluation rules of
Cronbach's Alpha’s are presented as follows, according to George and Mallery (2003):

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 Table 3: Rule of thumb for Cronbach’s Alpha:

Table 4: Corrected Item-Total Correlation and Cronbach’s Alpha

No Items Initial Cronbach’s Alpha Corrected Item – Cronbach’s

Total Correlation Alpha if Item
Deleted

Environmental Knowledge

1 EK1 0.744 0.507 0.702

2 EK2 0.561 0.685

3 EK3 0.553 0.688

4 EK4 0.262 0.774

5 EK5 0.531 0.694

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6 EK6 0.519 0.696

Environmental Concern

1 EC1 0.593 0.830

2 EC2 0.607 0.827

3 EC3 0.846 0.680 0.809

4 EC4 0.693 0.803

5 EC5 0.703 0.801

Attitude towards Green Purchase

1 AT1 0.551 0.692

2 AT2 0.534 0.701

0.751
3 AT3 0.545 0.695

4 AT4 0.559 0.687

Social Influence

1 SI1 0.762 0.571 0.704

2 SI2 0.589 0.697

3 SI3 0.565 0.708

4 SI4 0.526 0.720

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5 SI5 0.403 0.760

Health Consciousness

1 HC1 0.580 0.640

2 HC2 0.741 0.562 0.661

3 HC3 0.557 0.666

Perceived Behavioral Control

1 PBC1 0.446 0.720

2 PBC2 0.540 0.665

0.734
3 PBC3 0.587 0.639

4 PBC4 0.531 0.670

Green Purchase Intention

1 GPI1 0.770 0.537 0.730

2 GPI2 0.589 0.713

3 GPI3 0.535 0.731

4 GPI4 0.523 0.735

5 GPI5 0.525 0.734

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 From table above, all the measure items are well-designed and reliable, except
EK4. Specifically, the item EK4 was eliminated from the scale because its Corrected
Item-Total Correlation was 0.262, less than 0.3. After removing EK4, the value of
Cronbach’s Alpha of the factor Environmental Knowledge would increase to 0.774,
higher than the initial one which was 0.744. As a result, when the item EK4 was
removed, the Cronbach’s Alpha of all factors are higher than 0.6 and the Corrected Item-
Total Correlation of all remaining measured variables are higher than 0.3, indicating that
the questionnaires in this study have a good design, a high level of internal consistency
reliability, and contribute significantly to quantifying the effect of independent factors.
4.4 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
EFA is conducted to transform a group of observed variables with similar
characteristics into a new set of variables with more significant factors. This analysis is
carried out after all variables in the questionnaire have been tested for Cronbach's Alpha
reliability and the inappropriate item has been eliminated. Therefore, the EFA was
conducted with 31 qualified items.
In order to guarantee a good analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was used
to indicate if the EFA is an appropriate approach for the data set and if its index should
fall between 0.5 and 1 (Kaiser, 1974). Furthermore, the significance level for Bartlett’s
Test of Sphericity should be less than 0.05 which indicates the correlations among items
in the same group. In the analytical model, only factors having an Eigenvalue greater
than 1 and Total Variance Explained above 50% are considered valid. In addition, if a
variable's Loading Factor < 0.5 and is loaded in two or more components with a
difference of less than 0.3, it will be removed to assure the quality of the result.
4.4.1 EFA for Independent Variables

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 Table 5: KMO and Bartlett’s Test of Independent Variables (First Round)

Table 6: Total Variances Explained of Independent Variables (First Round)

From table 13, the KMO index equals 0.790 (> 0.5) and the significance level
of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity gives the value of 0.000, which has met the criteria.
Furthermore, according to the table 13, there are 6 extracted components corresponding
to 6 independent factors in this research with Eigenvalues higher than 1 and the result of
Total Variance Explained equals 58.941% > 50%, which have met the general validity
test rules and can be indicated that 6 extracted components could demonstrate 58.941%
of the total variance in the 26 variables.

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 Table 7: Rotated Component Matrix of Independent Variables (First Round)

Based on the statistics from the table 15, all of the items are loaded onto six
different columns, with no item on the same component. Except for item SI5, which has
no factor loading, the remaining items’ loading factors were all greater than 0.5. As a
result, item SI5 will be eliminated from the measurement scale in the next round.

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 Table 8: KMO and Barlett’s Test of Independent Variables (Second Round)

Table 9: Total Variances Explained of Independent Variables (Second Round)

In the second round, after removing the item SI5, the KMO index equals
0.782 (> 0.5) and the significance level of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity equals 0.000,
indicating the good and appropriate values. Besides, the Eigenvalues of 6 extracted
components are all greater than 1 and the result of the Total Variance Explained gives the

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value of 59.903% > 50%, meaning that 6 components may demonstrate 59.903% of total
variance in the 25 variables.

Table 18 presents that all of the valid items are loaded onto six different
columns, with no item on the same component, meaning that no item has a mutual
correlation with more than one factor. Additionally, the loading factors of items were all
larger than 0.5, demonstrating that no variables would need to be adjusted or eliminated
from the measurement scale and thus, the EFA is applicable for independent variables.

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 4.4.2 EFA for Dependent Variable
Table 11: KMO and Barlett’s Test of Dependent Variable

Table 12: Total Variance Explained of Dependent Variable

As can be shown in the table 19, KMO of dependent variable is acceptable as

it is greater than 0.5; and the significance level of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity equals
0.000, which indicates the good results as well. Furthermore, Table 20 shows that the
Eigenvalues of components in dependent factor are all greater than 1 and the Total
Variance Explained is 52.228%, meaning that 1 component could demonstrate 52.228%
of total variance in the 5 variables. The measurement scale for dependent variable is
reasonably adequate at this point.

Table 13: Component Matrix for Dependent Variable

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 According to table 21, the loading factors of all extracted components in
dependent variable are greater than 0.5, GPI2 with the highest value of 0.765 and GPI4
with the lowest of 0.703, implying that the EFA is applicable for dependent variable.
4.5 Correlation Analysis:
A Pearson Correlation and a two-tailed test were used to conduct the
Correlation Test. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) value may be calculated as
follows: the greater the linear correlation, the closer r is to either -1.0 or +1.0; r = 0
indicates the variables have no linear correlation between each other.
Table 14: Correlation Tests

Table 22 demonstrates that there are correlations between 5 independent

variables and the dependent variable because the sig. values between every independent
variable and dependent vаriable are all 0.000 (< 0.01), with the exception of the

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relationship between EK and GPI, which has a sig. value of 0.118. Therefore, only 1
independent variable Environmental Knowledge does not have a relationship with the
dependent variable Green Purchase Intention and will be removed in further analysis.
Besides, the results from table 22 also revealed that there might be existence
of correlations between several independent variables with one another, although the
Pearson Correlation between them is not very strong. As a result, while running
regression analysis in the following step, the problem of multicollinearity will be taken
into account.
4.6 Regression Analysis:
In the last stage of the data analysis procedure, Regression Analysis is applied
to investigate how and how much the 5 remaining independent variables (environmental
concern, attitude towards green purchase, social influence, health consciousness,
perceived behavioral control) influence dependent variable (green purchase intention).
This analysis must be conducted since it helps to test the proposed hypotheses.
Table 15: Model Summary

Table 16: ANOVA

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 Table 17: Coefficients

According to the results shown in table 22, the R-Squared value is 0.583. This
illustrates that the remaining independent variables in this model may roughly represent
58% of the dependent variable's variation. Meanwhile, as can be observed in table 23,
with 322 respondents and 5 independent variables influencing the intention to purchase
green products amongst young consumers, the model is indicated to be statistically
significant with a significant value of 0.000 (p < 0.05).
In addition, based on the statistical results in table 24, it is obvious that all
significant values of the 5 independent variables are less than 0.05, indicating that all 5
variables have an impact on dependent variable. Furthermore, when concerning
Collinearity Statistics, all variables' Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) values are less than
2, indicating that multicollinearity does not exist in the equation. Therefore, the linear
regression equation is written as below:
GPI = 0.302* PBC + 0.242*EC + 0.241*HC + 0.218*AT + 0.172*SI
Where:

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GPI = Green Purchase Intention
PBC = Perceived Behavioral Control
EC = Environmental Concern
HC = Health Consciousness
AT = Attitude towards green purchase
SI = Social Influence
4.7 Summary of results:
After all of the required analyses have been completed, table 26 demonstrates
the results of the proposed hypothesis. Additionally, the final research model is shown as
below:
Table 18: Summary of Hypotheses

Denoted
Proposed Hypothesis Results
Hypothesis
Environmental knowledge positively affects
H1 REJECTED
green purchase intention.
Environmental concern positively affects green
H2 SUPPORTED
purchase intention.
Attitude towards green purchase positively
H3 SUPPORTED
affects green purchase intention.
Social influence positively affects green purchase
H4 SUPPORTED
intention.
Health consciousness positively affects green
H5 SUPPORTED
purchase intention.
Perceived behavioral control positively affects
H6 SUPPORTED
green purchase intention.

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V. Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions:
This present study was undertaken with the goal of identifying different
determinants that may have a potential influence on the intention to purchase green
products amongst Vietnamese consumers, specifically assessing as well as confirming the
impact of (1) environmental concern, (2) attitude towards green purchase, (3) social
influence, (4) health consciousness, (5) perceived behavioral control on green purchase
intentions. Furthermore, the study also lay the groundwork for additional analysis and
marketing predictions for enterprises targeting green buyers.
Perceived behavioral control has the greatest impact on customers' intentions
to purchase green products. The factor reveals how a person perceives his/her ability to
perform a certain behavior, in particular, evaluate an individual’s perception of how
effectively he/she can manage and access internal capabilities (skills, self-confidence, and
abilities) and external resources (time, money), according to Taylor and Todd (1995). As
be one of the important parts of the TPB model, Perceived Behavioral Control can serve
as a direct predictor of green purchase intention. Furthermore, according to Xu et al.
(2020), consumers who believe they have more resources and opportunities will have
better perceived behavioral control in making purchasing decision when facing external
circumstances. The results in this study are consistent with prior research that found a
positive correlation between green purchase intention and perceived behavioral control
(Ko & Jin, 2017; Teng et al., 2011).
Environmental concern and attitude towards green purchase are the second
and the fourth influential factor that impacts consumers’ green purchase intentions.
Consumers who have positive attitudes towards green purchasing and are more
concerned about environmental issues, are more likely to have a high intention level in
purchasing eco-friendly products. Further, in a study conducted by Van et al. (2017),
green purchase intentions of Vietnamese consumers were proved to be positively

29
influenced by their attitude towards green purchase. Moreover, according to Schlossberg
(1990), 84% of consumers expressed their concern about environmental problems, and
many of them decided to change their consumption habits due to their environmental
concerns. These findings were also proved in many prior studies (Ha & Janda, 2012;
Hansla et al., 2008; Hutchins & Greenhalgh, 1997).
Health Consciousness is the third most influential determinant impacting
consumers' green purchase intentions. This result is in line with the findings of (Chen &
Deng, 2016; Yadav & Pathak, 2016a), which all confirmed that there is a positive
relationship between health consciousness and green purchase intention. As stated by Yii
et al. (2020), the more health-conscious consumers are, the more they intend to buy and
consume green products. Moreover, in a study conducted by Grewal at al. (2017), it
shows that customers, particularly in Iraq, will have a tendency to purchase green
products because they care about their health and believe that these products are free
from toxic and dangerous substances.
Social Influence is the factor which has the lowest impact on customers'
intentions to purchase green products. This positive relationship was also supported by
the argument proposed by Kim and Chung (2011), in which if consumers feel that people
who are important to them believe green products are good, they will have more intention
towards buying these products. Many previous studies on this field also pointed out a
positive relationship between social influence and consumers’ intention towards
environmentally friendly products (Ko & Jin, 2017; Welsch & Kühling, 2009).

5.2 Recommendations and limitations:

As stated in the research objective section, this study provides marketers and
manufacturers with understandings related to customer purchasing intentions, which they
may use to formulate marketing strategies to increase sales as well as obtain competitive
advantages in terms of green products. Moreover, the study also aims to provide further
evidence for future research.

30
 Recommendations for business:
Firstly, Perceived behavioral control was found to be the strongest factor that
primarily impacts customers' intentions to purchase green products. This indicates that
young consumers have more volitional control over themselves when making purchase
decisions about green items. In other words, targeted consumers in this study appear to be
more willing to purchase green products if they have more opportunities to be exposed to
these products. In view of this, marketers should develop infomercial advertising
highlighting the performance of green products and should make green/eco-friendly
products readily available in most areas, which helps consumers save time, effort, and
encourages their abilities to purchase green products.
Secondly, environmental concern and attitude towards green purchase are also
quite important factors significantly and positively determining green purchase intention.
According to Ajzen (1991), when people are aware the consequences are favorable, their
attitudes are more likely to be positive and are more inclined to perform the specific
action. Likewise, when people believe that their consumption habits could have a
detrimental influence on the environment, leading to numerous environmental issues and
affecting their habitat, they would have a favorable attitude towards green products that
are environmentally friendly. As a result, marketers should place a greater emphasis on
disseminating knowledge about the harmful effects of all environmental concerns
currently affecting nature and human well-being, allowing customers to see and learn
what they previously did not know, and encouraging them to take action. On the other
hand, managers should focus their available resources on improving product
characteristics that have a lower negative impact on the environment and offering
relevant authority-verified certifications such as eco-labels, which may help to show
consumers the long-term benefits of green items, positively influencing consumers’
attitude toward buying these products.
Thirdly, health consciousness is the third most influential factor having a
positive correlation with green purchase intention. The results reveal that young people

31
intend to consume a green product because they believe it has good benefits for their
health, in other words, the more health-conscious young people are, the more green
consumption they will engage in. Therefore, business owners should effectively utilize
marketing communication through various channels such as television, magazines,
broadcasting, or the Internet to emphasize health-related benefits of green products, in an
attempt to encourage the purchase intention of health-conscious consumers.
Lastly, although social influence is the lowest impact factor on green purchase
intention, it still has a positive relationship with that dependent variable. The results after
several analyses show that consumers’ intentions are relatively motivated by social
pressure and as a result, they are likely to purchase environmentally friendly products
when the social group which they belong to also adopts this behavior. Hence, marketers
should invest more in social activities and marketing campaigns which emphasize the
benefits of green products, both for health and the environment. Specifically, marketers
can promote their green products by using opinion leaders or well-known public figures,
which may appeal to the participation of individuals who wish to protect their health and
safeguard the environment in terms of consuming green products. Furthermore, these
types of green campaigns also help enterprises broaden the image of their green product
and boost brand awareness through word-of-mouth. By doing this, the impact of social
influence will be increased and as a result, the business will get a lot of credibility and
consumers will feel more supported from society when they choose to go green.
Recommendations for future research and limitations of the study:
This paper also carries several limitations, as does every research, however,
these shortcomings may give directions for future research.
Firstly, this study only investigated a small sample size using a quantitative
method. Due to some constraints regarding time, geographical reach, financial capacity
and the current situation of the pandemic outbreak, this research was only able to be
carried out in Ho Chi Minh City and employed an online survey to collect data from
approximately 322 young consumers in the range of 18 to 25 years old. As a result, the

32
information gathered may not be representative of all young residents in Ho Chi Minh
city and other parts of Vietnam, since only 322 people were reached. Hence, for future
research it is necessary for other authors to examine different data gathering techniques,
such as personal interviews, group discussions, offline surveys… and collect data from
more areas to generate a more diverse and generalized sample for the study. Furthermore,
interview sessions may help to enhance the accuracy and completeness of responses
because when a self-administered questionnaire is used, it is hard to know whether every
participant is totally honest in their responses, or if they answer questions in a hurry and
in an unorganized or random manner.
Secondly, the Regression Anаlysis demonstrated thаt only 58.3% of the totаl
vаriance in the dependent vаriable (Green Purchаse Intention) could be explаined by five
independent vаriables (Perceived Behavioral Control, Heаlth Consciousness, Attitude
towards green purchase, Environmental Concern and Social Influence). The remaining
41.7% of the total indicated that there are still different factors that were not identified in
this paper. As a result, it is strongly recommended that further studies should be
conducted to explore the influence of other possible determinants and different research
models in order to get a more thorough and reliable result.
Finally, the limitation of this study is that because the measuring scale is
based mostly on previous international research, it may be subject to translation
problems, which might lead to confusion and difficulties for some respondents in
selecting appropriate answers.

33
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