SOCIAL MEDIA AND GREEN CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR OF MILLENNIALS

Abstract

Globalization and economic growth have brought substantial shifts in consumption practices, production and technology revolution in the wake of sudden spurt of social media usage among young consumers. The social media platforms have become a reliable source of communication with consumers and are shaping consumers' purchase intentions. Therefore, a framework was developed to explain and empirically verify the factors shaping green purchase intentions. Three factors Social media usage, Interpersonal Influence and E-WOM have been taken as exogenous variables. The model was tested and validated statistically with the help of structural equation modelling. Total of 500 respondents was sampled to collect the data. All four hypotheses were found to be statistically significant. The impact of social media usage was found to be most influential on purchase intention. The findings of the study will aid marketers to better understand how social media plays an important role in shaping consumers' purchase intentions and how social media can be leveraged in a better way to encourage green consumption among millennials.