The impact of purchase situation on realized pro-environmental consumer behaviour

Why do pro-environmental consumers not always make pro-environmental purchases? The role of purchase situations, raised 40 years ago by Belk (1975), has attracted only limited attention in research, and so is used here to provide insight into possible explanations of why customers’ intentions don’t always align with their pro-environmental purchase behavior. The model proposed by Carrington, Neville & Whitwell (2010) also introduces the possibility that situational context plays a key role in altering the trajectory of good intentions as they transfer to actual behavior. The current study uses a large sample of Australian consumers (n=772) to empirically test the impact of purchase situations on the disparity between intentions and actual purchase behavior. Purchase situation was found to moderate the intention-behaviour relationship, with time, price, willingness to drive long distances, availability, and ease of purchase having an influence. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding the factors that impact on consumer’s purchase behavior, and practical implications for how to realise pro-environmental consumer behavior.