Understanding the Green Buying Behavior of Younger Millennials From India and the United States: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Abstract
A majority of past studies have used the consumer socialization framework to study children and adolescents in the U.S. but there is a dearth in academic articles that focuses on Millennials. Furthermore, there is a large, understudied Millennial population in India. The purpose of this study was (1) to propose an integrative theoretical model for determining the relative importance of socialization factors on Millennials' green buying behavior and (2) to study the impact of culture in selecting socialization agents as sources of green product information. An online survey was administered to a sample of younger Millennials from India and the U.S. For both countries, results showed that interpersonal sources were more important in elevating environmental concerns and promoting green buying behavior than mass media. Environmental concern was found to play a mediating role in the socialization process and differences between and within genders in each country were found. Implications are discussed.