Self-Construal and Green Behaviors: A Study of Young American and Japanese Consumers: An Abstract

Abstract

This research is to examine the impact of self-construal patterns on young individuals’ green consumption behaviors in a cross-cultural context. A survey shows that millennials are more willingly to pay more for green products which are committed to positive social and environmental impact (Nielsen 2015). To date, very little research has focused on the influence of self-construal patterns on young individuals’ green behaviors between Western and Eastern consumers. This study develops a framework to show how differences in self-construal patterns could affect the impact of attitude, social influence, green brand equity and self-consciousness on consumers’ green consumption behaviors. Specifically, which factors are more salient in influencing consumers’ intentions to purchase green products in a cross-cultural context is examined. This study seeks to address the following research questions in regard to the differential role of self-construal plays in the green consumption process in a cross-cultural setting.

• RQ1. How do self-construal patterns moderate attitude toward green advertising, self-expression, brand association and social influence?

• RQ2. How do attitude toward green advertising, self-expression, brand association and social influence affect young American and Japanese consumers’ intentions to buy green products?

• RQ3. Are there any differences in the relationships among the constructs between the two cultures?

Data were collected in the U.S. and Japan using an online survey administered through Qualtrics. Two hundred and sixty-six Americans and one hundred and ninety-nine Japanese consumers participated in the online survey. All respondents were between 18–34 years old. The SEM structural paths show that not all the relationships are significant and positively related in both samples.

The research findings show that both antecedents and outcomes of the relationships are moderated by nations’ cultural orientations. Different factors influence American and Japanese respondents’ intentions to purchase green products. For the American sample, attitude, self-expression, brand association and social influence all have positive impacts on intention to purchase green products. Among them, social influence exhibits a more significant on Americans’ behavioral intentions among all variables. For the Japanese sample, social influence and attitude are the significant predictors of intention. Social influence exerts stronger influence on Japanese consumers’ intentions to purchase green products than attitude does. However, brand effects have less influence on Japanese respondents’ green behaviors. The negative relationship between self-expression and independent-self in the Japanese respondents does reveal that Japanese consumers are less likely to express their self-image in the context of consuming pro-environmentally friendly products.