Linking green skepticism to green purchase behavior

Widespread societal concern that firms are disseminating false or ambiguous environmental information has led to a growing number of customers becoming skeptical about the environmental performance and benefits of green products. As skepticism might have a detrimental effect on consumer responses there is a need for a better understanding of how skepticism affects green purchase behavior. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the role of skepticism in green purchase behaviors. More specifically, based on the attitude-behavior-context theory, this study investigates the mediating role of environmental concern and environmental knowledge in the relationship between green skepticism and green purchase intentions in an emerging economy of Malaysia. The mall intercept method was used to collect responses from 303 actual retail customers. Structural equation modeling results show that environmental concern and environmental knowledge fully mediate the relationship between green skepticism and green purchase intentions. The findings reveal that green skepticism lowers customers' environmental knowledge and environmental concern, in turn adversely impacting their purchase intentions for green products. These findings will assist environmental management scholars and firms to understand how skepticism impacts green purchase behavior and develop strategies to enhance customer attitude and behaviors concerning green products. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.