Climate Change Worry and Purchase Behavior Towards Biodegradable Plastic Bags: The New Approach

Abstract

Currently, climate change is causing significant threats to the survival of humanity and future generations. This study is designed to explore the purchase behavior towards biodegradable plastic bags by addressing significant advancements in the protection motivation theory (PMT): investigating the role of climate change worry (CCW) to trigger threat appraisal (TAP) or coping appraisal (CAP), the correlation between deontic justice (DJ), attitude (AT), and purchase intention (PUR), and filling cognition-behavior gap by adding green skepticism (GS). A non-probability sampling technique is employed with a data set of 1,284 Vietnamese consumers, which was analyzed using the SmartPLS program. The findings indicate that the AT mediates the correlations between CAP, TAP, DJ, and PUR. Simultaneously, green skepticism (GS) also plays as the moderator in the correlations between AT and PUR, CAP and PUR, TAP and PUR. Based on the findings, effective marketing campaign can be propose to highlight the possible dangers of environmental pollution to promote consumers’ purchase behavior. Additionally, the findings also highlight the theoretical implications for future studies.