Anticipated Emotions and Green Purchasing: Investigating the Antecedents and Influence of Anticipated Emotions (Guilt and Pride) on Green Purchase Intention Among Consumers

Abstract

In the midst of numerous concerning events related to the severe environmental harm that is occurring today, the green consumption model has garnered strong attention. Given this, scholars have made significant efforts to study what motivates consumers to buy environmentally friendly products in order to enhance their adoption. Recently, as an alternative to the main elements of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a number of studies have recently started applying anticipated emotions, including pride and guilt, in order to forecast green purchase behavior. However, simultaneous studies on these two emotions in the context of green purchasing remain relatively scarce and lack depth. Therefore, we conducted this research to address this problem and fill the current research gap. Specifically, we investigated two common antecedents of anticipated emotions (guilt & pride), namely degree of concern (DC) and awareness of consequences (AC), and the impact of these anticipated emotions on consumers’ green purchasing intentions. The study uses a quantitative design by developing a questionnaire to gather data through quota sampling, with a final sample size of 350 observations. Descriptive statistics, scale assessment, Harman’s one-factor test, structural model assessment with hypothesis testing, and FIMIX analysis were among the main methods used in the processing of the collected data utilizing SPSS 26.0 and SMARTPLS 4.1.0.9. The results show that the degree of concern and awareness of consequences positively stimulates both anticipated pride and anticipated guilt. Moreover, the study confirms the positive impact of these two anticipated emotions on consumers’ green purchasing intentions (GPI). Additionally, when examining the influence of environmental awareness, we observed an intriguing outcome where environmental awareness interacts with anticipated pride and guilt in distinct manners. Environmental awareness reduces the positive relationship between anticipated pride and GPI, while it strengthens the positive relationship between anticipated guilt and GPI. Our findings provide valuable insights for businesses and policymakers to better understand the factors affecting green purchase intentions, improve marketing strategies, and encourage green consumption. However, our study has some limitations, including not considering other types of anticipated emotions, focusing solely on Vietnam and studying green purchasing generally rather than focusing on specific green product categories, leaving room for further research