THE FACTORS AFFECTING GREEN PURCHASE INTENTION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ELECTRIC CARS IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

As consumers become more attentive about the environmental issues all around the world, they tend to switch to more and more sustainable purchasing and consumption patterns in their lifestyle. This trend in consumption stimulated the demand for green products. The majority of the marketers identified this growing trend in consumer behavior and revised their marketing strategies to win more customers. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in green consumer behavior and green marketing. However, far too little attention has been paid to the green purchases of vehicles. Most of the green marketing vehicle related research studies have been conducted related to hybrid cars. To author’s best knowledge, there have been relatively few studies conducted on green purchase intention of electric car in Sri Lankan context. The electric car was introduced as a solution to the ever-growing negative impact of CO2 emission and heavy fuel consumption. Still the percentage of usage of traditional vehicles, which is a major contributor in CO2 emission, is greater than electric cars. This has motivated the current study to analyze about the factors affecting green purchase intention of an electric car in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, it can be seen from the past literature that the impact of the factors such as consumers’ attitudes, environmental knowledge, environmental concern, social influence, price, and green consumption values have been less measured related to electric cars. Accordingly, the purpose of the considered research is to measure the impact of these factors on the green purchase intention of an electric car in Sri Lankan context. The research philosophy of the current study is a positivist research paradigm and follows a deductive approach. First an extensive literature review was conducted to develop hypothesis. A quantitative study has been carried out using a questionnaire as the primary data collection method. The data were obtained for 200 respondents who were selected through the convenience sampling method. A regression analysis has been conducted in developing the findings. The findings of the present study reveal that consumer attitude towards electric car, environmental knowledge and environmental concern, price and social influence have a significant impact on green purchase intention. However, this study indicates that the impact of green consumption values is insignificant related to electric cars in the Sri Lankan context. Further, consumer attitude toward electric cars has been identified as the salient factor of green purchase intention of the electric car in Sri Lanka.