ASSESSING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD THE ECO-FRIENDLY STATIONERY: THE MODERATION ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

Abstract

Sustainable products like eco-friendly stationery have gained much attention recently due to the increasing awareness and consciousness of consumers towards environmental issues. Numerous sustainable products have been studied in the literature but very limited studies have primarily concentrated on eco-friendly stationery from the perspective of university students. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the factors that affect Malaysian university students’ purchase intention (PI) towards eco-friendly stationery. Two environmental factors (perceived environmental responsibility (PER) and environmental knowledge (EK)) have been incorporated into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model together with environmental concern (EC) proposed as a moderator to develop this study’s research model. In this study, 261 usable responses were gathered via purposive sampling. This study utilised the partial least square-structural equation modelling to validate the proposed hypotheses. The result first showed that attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SN), and PER played significant roles in affecting students’ PI towards eco-friendly stationery. Additionally, the moderation analysis further revealed that the influence of SN on PI is significantly strengthened by EC. These findings signified that the students’ PI is directly impacted by ATT, SN and PER only, while the greater EC tends to further enhance the effect of SN on PI. This study’s findings firstly enrich the literature by offering new evidence on the students’ sustainable behaviour, especially in eco-friendly stationery. Besides, the moderating effect of EC on sustainable behaviour is also proven in this study. Moreover, numerous practical implications have also been resulting from this study and it’s useful for the stakeholders to cultivate the students’ sustainable behaviour.