Environmental purchase behaviour concerns of African Generation Y students in South Africa

Costa Synodinos ()
Additional contact information
Costa Synodinos: North-West University

No 9912363, Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences

Abstract: Preserving the natural environment has rapidly become a pressing matter amongst the youth in South Africa. This may result from the youth or Generation Y individuals being inundated with information pertaining to the deteriorating state of the natural environment. This tech-savvy cohort has grown up with environmental issues constantly being placed in the spotlight both towards them and on a worldwide scale. Consequently, heightened environmental awareness and environmental concern have kick-started green consumerism in South Africa and organisations have begun to notice. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a popular tool used in business practices to gain a competitive advantage targeted at environmentally conscious consumers. However, studies show that CSR does not always guarantee green purchase behaviour, especially when targeting the ambivalent Generation Y cohort. The focus of this study was to determine the effect environmental knowledge, attitude and subjective norm have towards African Generation Y students? green purchase behaviour in the South African context. The 332 data points were collected from full-time students currently enrolled in four South African higher education institutions in the Gauteng province. Statistical methods used to analyse the data included internal-consistency reliability and validity measures, descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that African Generation Y students consider themselves to be knowledgeable over environmental issues, possess positive environmental attitudes and subjective norms. Additionally, these aspects positively predict African Generation Y students environmental purchase behaviour. The implications of this study will aid both practitioners and business organisations who are aiming to target the lucrative Generation Y cohort and gain a competitive advantage by implementing environmental practices.

Keywords: environmental knowledge; attitudes; subjective norms; green purchase behaviour; Generation Y students; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M31 Q59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 52nd International Academic Conference, Barcelona, Oct 2019, pages 525-546

Downloads: (external link)
https://iises.net/proceedings/international-academ ... 99&iid=063&rid=12363 First version, 2019

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sek:iacpro:9912363

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klara Cermakova ().