Measuring antecedents of green consumption in a circular economy: An empirical study of household consumers for moral identity and pro-environmental self-accountability

Abstract

This paper’s goal is to investigate how consumers' moral identities and pro-environmental self-accountability combine to influence their green consumption behavior. In this study, the researcher looked at the latest literature in the area and hypotheses were framed. Previous research on structural relationships is lacking in the literature on antecedents of green consumption. Due to gaps in the literature, this research combines the theories of social-cognitive perspective moral identity theory, and self-accountability theory on the relationship between moral identity and green consumption as well as examines the impact of pro-environmental self-accountability on green consumption. The hypotheses were tested after data was collected through questionnaires. A measurement model and structural models were also assessed. The results demonstrate that consumers' moral identities affect their green consumption. In particular, consumer green consumption is impacted when they are encouraged to have a high level of self-accountability. This study adds to the body of knowledge on how to increase consumer green consumption, which has managerial and governmental policy implications. However, the dependent measures are likewise constrained as the authors only included household consumers as participants. Future studies can use different sample types and dependent metrics to test the conclusion's generalizability.