The influence factors on green purchase behaviour based on consumption values theory and values attitude behaviour hierarchy

UNIVERSITYOFECONOMICSHOCHIMINHCITY
InternationalSchoolof Business
------------------------------

Ngo Ngoc Quyen Van
THE INFLUENCE FACTORS ON GREEN
PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR BASED ON
CONSUMPTION VALUES THEORY AND
VALUE-ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR
HIERARCHY

ID: 22120037

MASTEROF BUSINESS (Honours)
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Le NhatHanh

HoChiMinhCity–Year 2015


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The Influence Factors on Green Purchase Behaviour Based on Consumption Values
Theory and Value-Attitude-Behaviour Hierarchy
Ngo Ngoc Quyen Van
22120037
International School of Business – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City
Master Thesis
Dr. Le Nhat Hanh
May 24, 2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, I would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor Dr. Le Nhat Hanh for
her professional guidance, intensive support, valuable suggestions, instructions and
encouragement during the time of doing my research.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Nguyen Dinh Tho, Professor
Nguyen Dong Phong, Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan, Dr. Nguyen Phong Nguyen and other
teachers for their valuable time as the members of the proposal examination committee.
Their comments and meaningful suggestions contributed significantly for my completion
of this research.
My sincere thanks are given all of my teachers at International School of Business –
University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their teaching and guidance during my
Master course.


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ABSTRACT
Green initiatives are fast becoming a catchphrase among societies and business
entities as these entities strive to ensure more sustainable business operations and
lifestyle. Research in green behaviours of consumers in Asia, especially in Vietnam is
only just emerging. The objective of this study, therefore, is to examine the factors that
influence consumers’ green purchase behaviour. The conceptual framework and
hypotheses development are grounded on related literature. We examined five
independent variables which represent five pertinent dimensions of consumer perceived
value and their effects on green purchase behaviour through green purchase attitude. The
questionnaire was adapted from validated items from related prior works. The analysis
was based on 406 valid responses from consumers of Ho Chi Minh City. The findings
reveal that four of the six hypotheses are supported. Particularly, emotional value,

epistemic value and conditional value have positive effects on attitude towards green
products, which in turn significantly affect green purchase behaviour. Managerial and
research implications of the findings are also further discussed.


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Table of Contents
Chapter

1:

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….8
1.1.

Research background…………………………………………..………..8

1.2.

Research gap……………………………………………………….……11

1.3.

Research objectives…………………………………………..….………13

1.4.

Research methodology and scope………………………………..….......13

1.5.

Research contribution………………………………………….………..14

Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………………………………………………..16
2.1. Theoretical framework……………………………………………………..16
2.2. Attitude and behavior towards green purchasing…………………...….......18
2.3. Consumer perceived value…………………………………………….…...21
2.4. The conceptual model and hypotheses of the research………….....…...….24
Chapter 3: Research methodology……………………………………………………..27
3.1. Sample………………………………………………………………...……27
3.2. Data collection and procedure…………………………………..…………28
3.3 Questionnaire design………………………………………..….…………..30


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3.4 Data analysis method……………………………………………..………..34
Chapter 4: Data analysis………………………………………………………..……..36
4.1 Respondents’ demographics…………………………………….……..….36
4.2 Reliability test…………………………………………………………......38
4.3 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)………………………………..….……45
4.4 Discriminant validity test…………………………………………….……53
4.5 Regression analysis………………………………………………….……56
Chapter 5: Conclusion, implications and limitations………………………..…….....63
5.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………..…………63
5.2 Managerial implications…………………………………………..………64
5.3 Limitations and future research……………………………………..……66
References……………………………………………………………………..……..67
Appendices…………………………………………………………………….…….77

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: The theory of consumption values model…………………….………..17
Figure 2.2: A theoretical framework…………………………………….………….25
Figure 4.1: Final theoretical framework……………………………………………62


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Source of data collection…………………………………………. ……...29
Table 3.2 Source of measurement scale……………………………………...………31
Table 4.1 Respondents’ characteristics……………………………………………….36
Table 4.2 Reliability test – Scale: Functional value………………………… ..…….39
Table 4.3 Reliability test – Scale: Emotional value………………………… ..…….41
Table 4.4 Reliability test – Scale: Conditional value…………………………..........42
Table 4.5 Results of reliability assessment for the modified framework……………43
Table 4.6 First time running EFA result for independent variables…………………45
Table 4.7 Reliability test for functional value with six remaining items……..………45
Table 4.8 Second time running EFA result for independent variables…………..…...48
Table 4.9 EFA for dependent variables result…………………………………..……..51
Table 4.10 Correlations matrix…………………………………………………..…….53
Table 4.11 Simple regression analysis result……………………………….…..………57
Table 4.12 Multiple regression analysis result………………………………..………..56
Table 4.13 Result of hypotheses testing…………………………….………..……….61


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Chapter 1: Introduction
This introductory chapter provides the background to this study along with its
rationale. A general picture of the impacts caused need of new and green resources is
drawn, and overview of green consumerism and green purchase behaviour is presented to
highlight the importance and significance of the study. This first chapter also sets out the
research objectives, research questions and briefs some important contents such its
methodology, procedures and research contribution.
1.1 Research Background
Nowadays, the environment is threatened in a wide variety of ways such as global
warming, ozone depletion, shortage of drinking water, loss of biodiversity and land
degradation (Hoang & Nguyen, 2012). According to the Nielsen Sustainability report in
2012, in many of the countries with high percentages of coastal borders, the percentage of
consumers concerned about climate change almost reaches 100, including Thailand
(93%), Indonesia (92%), Vietnam and Philippines (91%). As a result, people are now
seeking for new resources, new products that could reduce the pollution (Sheng, 1995).
Today, 64 percent of consumers, globally, indicated they believe organic products are
good for the environment, including 72% of Asia Pacific respondents think green product
are environmentally-friendly (Nielsen, 2013).
There are several definitions and classifications of green products (Dangelico and
Pontrandolfo, 2010). In particular, The European Communities (2004) defines green


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products as products that "use less resource, have lower impacts and risks to the
environment and prevent waste generation already at the conception stage". In this
research, green product is defined as ecological and environmental friendly produced that
integrates greener strategies in terms of packaging and lesser use of toxic materials which
help reduce natural environment impact (Chen & Chai, 2010). A global consumer report

conducted by Nielsen in July 2013 has revealed that Asia-Pacific were the most receptive
to making an ecological difference by purchasing ecological-responsible products; Thais,
Indonesians, Vietnamese, Filipinos and Chinese are eco-minded and willing to change
their lifestyle to save energy and reduce carbon footprint.
The Development Committee (2008) revealed that Vietnam is one of the countries
hardest hit by climate change and rising sea levels. Therefore, the Vietnamese
Government is adamant that socio-economic development must go together with
environmental protection (Asia Pulse News, 2009). It is reported by the Ministry of
Justice that there are 300 legal documents in the field of environmental protection to
regulate the behaviours of individuals, organizations, economic activities, technical
procedures and raw material production processing. Yet, there are incomplete,
inconsistent and unstable flaws that need amending; however, it states the Government’s
effort in making the change (Hoang & Nguyen, 2012). In the Asia Pulse in 2009,
Vietnam encourages cooperation from foreign partners to conduct research into the
development of green technologies. In addition, the United Nations (2011) denoted that
Vietnam has seen rapid urbanization, rising new wealth and higher disposal income


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population, those are significant advantages together with the perception of green
products because more and more consumers seek for higher life quality. From 2010 to
2011, various campaigns had been held to motivate communities to buy and use green
products (Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper, 2010). Through this event, consumers can
exercise their rights to boycott products from so-called black enterprises, which are
enterprises polluting the environment and call on the community and enterprises to
perform their role in the development of the national economy while still ensuring
sustainable development.
Nevertheless, Hoang and Nguyen (2012) also states that compared with other
countries in the region, the demand of green product in the Vietnamese market as well as

consumer awareness is limited while Vietnamese businesses remain cautious in
investment practices and the application of green production. Besides, many consumers
admits a personal preference for eco-friendly goods, but large percentages of respondents
report setting aside this preference and buying whichever product is cheapest (Nielsen
Sustainability Report, 2011). This situation, consequently, requires green enterprises to
do deliberately and deeply studies to find out what factors stimulate purchasing and using
environmentally friendly products. In order to further understand the consumers’
intention towards purchasing green product, it is helpful to know how they perceive its
value offered and their attitudes towards purchasing green products. This way, businesses
can enhance their understanding and knowledge of consumer behaviour towards green


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products, which are critical for planning a long-term strategy to win the Vietnamese
market. That is also the motivation for developing this research.
1.2 Research Gap
Perceived value is the essential result of marketing activities and is a central
element in marketing (Ravald & Gronroos, 1996). Perceived value has demonstrated to
be a difficult concept to define and measure (Holbrook, 1999, Woodruff, 1997). In
general terms, it can be defined as the customer’s overall assessment of the utility of a
product. In other words, it is conceptualized as a trade-off between one give component
and one get component (Zeithaml, 1988). Previous research has widely explored
perceived value because it has a positive effect on marketing performance; and value
creation is widely discussed in the practitioner literature and is often a part of
organizations’ mission statements and objectives. (Sweeney, Soutar & Johnson, 1999).
Many commentators see it as the key to long-term success, with Albrecht (1992) arguing,
“The only thing that matters in the new world of quality is delivering customer value”.
Levy (1999) also addresses that customers are currently “value-driven”, hence, the
managers need to understand what customer’s value and where they should focus their

attention to achieve this needed market place advantage (Woodruff, 1997).
When studying perceived value, the most common definition of value is the ratio or
trade-off between quality and price (e.g., Chain Store Age, 1985; Cravens, Holland,
Lamb & Moncrieff, 1988; Monroe, 1990), which is a value-for-money conceptualization.
However, other authors have also suggested that viewing value, as trade-off between only


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quality and price is too simplistic (Bolton & Drew, 1991). Porter (1990), for example,
talks about providing superior value to the buyer in terms of product quality, special
features, or after-sale service. These views suggest that existing value constructs are too
narrow and that dimensions other than price and quality would increase the construct’s
usefulness. Consequently, Sheth et al. (1991) contributes a more sophisticated measure
that enables marketers to get more insight of how consumers value products and services.
The value framework discussed by them incorporates five pertinent dimensions of
customer consumption value: functional, emotional, social, conditional, and epistemic.
In the literature, a number of studies has discussed about the relationship between
values and attitude, for example, in social commerce (Kim, Sun & Kim, 2013), in
consumption of green energy brands (Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2012); or about
the values-behaviour gap, in spa hotel services purchasing (Lu & Shiu, 2011), in online
shopping (Lu & Tan, 2013). Moreover, Lin and Huang (2011) have conducted a study
regarding the relationship between perceived value and consumer choice behaviour
towards green products. However, the intensive literature review indicates that there is a
lack of research on the relationship of value – attitude – behaviour towards green
purchasing. Hence, this paper will fill this gap by adopting the Value – Attitude –
Behaviour Hierarchy (Homer and Kahler, 1988) and the theory of consumption values
(Sheth et al., 1991).
Additionally, according to Hoang and Nguyen (2012), there is the lack of studies in
terms of green products in Vietnam. The reason for that scarcity is that green products

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just have got the concerns of Vietnamese people in recent years. There are very few
studies, for example, the research of Hoang and Nguyen (2012) about environmental
awareness and green purchase attitude; or about market demand, green production
innovation and firm performance in Vietnam motorcycle industry (Lin, Tan & Geng,
2013). These studies, however, focus on other aspects of green products, Thus, in order to
fulfill such gap, this study aims to investigate whether consumer perceived values
influence on consumer’s attitude and behaviour towards purchasing green products in the
context of Vietnam.
1.3 Research Objectives
The overall objective of this study is to examine some factors influencing the
behaviour of purchasing green products. Specifically, it investigates:
• The relationship between attitude towards purchasing green products and the
behaviour of purchasing these products.
• The relationship between functional/social/emotional/conditional/epistemic value
and attitude towards purchasing green products.
1.4 Research Methodology and Research Scope
This study uses questionnaire to collect data. The survey questionnaire is originally
developed in English and then translated into Vietnamese. In-depth interviews are then
conducted with five people in order to modify the Vietnamese version of the
questionnaire before the survey is implemented in mass. The next step is analyzing the


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collected data. The data is processed using SPSS software with three main stages. First,
Cronbach’s Alpha was used to test the reliability of the measurement scale. Then,

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) will check the validity of the measurement scale.
Finally, simple regression and multiple regression are employed as the main method for
investigating the relationships among factors in the research model.
The questionnaire will be implemented in four supermarkets located in the North,
South, East and West of Ho Chi Minh City. This will ensure that the data will represent
exactly the characteristics of Vietnamese citizens, as Ho Chi Minh City is the biggest city
with all the classes in Vietnam.
1.5 Research Contribution
First, to the best of my knowledge, there is a lack of research on comparative effect
of different perceived values (i.e., functional value, emotional value, social value,
conditional value, epistemic value). This paper will not only study all five pertinent
dimensions of customer consumption value, but also demonstrates their diverse causes
towards green purchase behaviour through attitude
Second, this paper will adopt the two theories in order to examine the relationship
between customer perceived values, green purchase attitude and green purchase
behaviour. The theory of consumption values conducted by Sheth et al. (1991) enables
the research to fully understand five perspectives of the consumer perceived value and


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the cognitive hierarchy model of Homer and Kahler (1988) will play as the conceptual
framework for addressing the literature gap.
Lastly, based on findings in the end of this research, we hope to provide practical
contributions to green industry, particularly to green enterprises, which have the intention
to grow and expand the market in Vietnam and especially in Ho Chi Minh City.
Obviously, expansion to a new market always accompanies with great opportunities as
well as considerable challenges. Hence, it is essential for managers of green companies to
find out effective strategies that can maximize opportunities and minimize obstacles. This
study with deep understanding of consumers’ intent to buy eco-friendly products can help

the managers have the high chance to be successful in Ho Chi Minh City market. In
summary, the findings of this study would be helpful for environmentally friendly brand
marketers who want to penetrate the business in Ho Chi Minh City and maintain the
loyalty of the customers.


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Chapter 2: Literature Review
This chapter mainly introduces the theories, which are proposed by many scholars
in academic field, relate to each of factors in the model and research model of the study.
First, some terminologies of green product, green consumer, and green marketing are
defined in order to clarify the green definition. Second, five components of perceived
value concept are introduced to give specifically about their definitions and attributes.
Third, the related theories of each construct, including five dimension of consumption
value, attitude towards purchasing green products are discussed respectively. Finally,
research model is proposed, simultaneously, its constructs and relationship hypothesized
among these constructs are also discussed.
2.1 Theoretical Framework
This section presents the two theoretical models that have widely been utilized in
behavioural studies in the world as a scientific background for proposal of the research
model in this study.
2.1.1 Theory of Consumption Values. This theory suggests that consumers
attach different values to product groups and that these in turn will affect motivations to
purchase. For example, an automobile might be purchased by one customer for its style (
a social value), while for another it might be purchased accordingly to a functional value
(such as fuel economy). Sheth et al. (1991) argue that by analysis of what values
predominate among a given population regarding a product category, one is then able to

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discriminate between brands according to particualr value weightings. Their model is
presented at Figure 1

Figure 2.1 The theory of Consumption Values model
As shown in Figure 2.1, the five values identified by Sheth et al. (1991) are
functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value and conditional value.
Functional value derives from the perceived utility of the object in the choice situation.
Social value attaches to a product from its association with social groups. Emotional
value relates to the affective or emotional response to the product. Epistemic value is a
value obtaining to a product through curiosity, novelty or knowledge seeking.
Conditional value is a value ascribed to an object through circumtances of use. Previous
studies have used the Theory of Consumption Values to determine which values motivate


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consumers to purchase target products and services, inluding airline frequent flyer
programs (Long & Shiffman, 2000), clothing (Park & Rabolt, 2009), tourism (Bodker,
Gimpel & Hedman, 2009), sponsorship in sports marketing (Williams & Soutar, 2005),
and organic foods (Pope, 1998).
2.1.2 Value-Attitude-Behaviour hierarchy. Homer ans Kahle’s (1988) model
integrates the interrelationships between values, attitudes, and behaviours by positing a
hierarchical influence of cognitions in which the influence theoretically flows from more
abstract cognitions (i.e., values) to mid-range cognitions (i.e., attitudes) to specific
behaviours. Hence, the model implies a major flow of causation from values to attitudes
to behaviour, so that the strongest causal effects are between values and attitudes, and
between attitudes and behaviour. As a result, the model can be visually depicted as a
causal sequence: value -> attitude -> behaviour. The main feature of the model is its

emphasis on the mediating role of attitudes on the values and behaviours relationship.
Homer and Kahle (1988) tested the model in a very specific situation; that is,
natural-food shopping. Based on the hierarchical model, they proposed that value
dimensions would influence attitudes toward natural food purchasing, which, in turn,
would influence shopping behaviours among natural-food consumers. Their empirical
findings support this proposal. Although the value-attitude-behaviour cognitive hierarchy
model has been applied in some other areas, such as to explain career attitude (Shim,
Warrington, & Goldsberry, 1999), the model has been used mainly in research on

environmental issues (Milfont, Duckitt, & Wagner, 2010).
2.2 Attitude and Behaviour Towards Green Purchasing


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In marketing area, attitude of customers is one of the most important indicators for
maketers to achieve consumer insight. Attitude explains how people’s feeling and
evaluation lead to attitudes and how their attitudes form to actions and impact on
performing the behaviour (Vallerand et al., 1992). According to Fishbein and Ajzen ( as
cited in Hanzae & Jalalian, 2012), attitude possesses several attributes:
• Attitudes are not in built, they are formed after real experiences.
• Attitudes can be established through the observed stimulus factors and a
sequence of repetitive behaviours.
• Attitudes hold objective reference which relates to some object person, or issue.
In regards to this trait, they are different from motives and personality traits which reflect
subjective reference.
• Once established, attitudes are usually permanent and remain unchanged under
regular conditions.
• From operational point of view, attitudes reflect responses that relevant with a
specific object situation.

Green purchasing is considered as one of the most effective ways to solve
environmental pollution and natural resources degradation because it drives
manufacturers to focus on waste emission prevention, minimizing and control at source
(Min & Gale, 1997). Many literature have mentioned about environmental behaviour,
but most of them are about environmental behaviour in general, not about green


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purchase behaviour in specific (Lee, 2010) while it is one type of pro-environmental
behaviour.
According to Halpenny (2006), pro-environmental behaviour is preferred to the
actions of an individual or group that contribute to the sustainable use of natural
resources. It includes green purchase behaviour (Mostafa, 2007), energy saving (Kim &
Choi, 2003), waste and recyling behaviour (Kim & Choi, 2003), and participation in
nature related activities (Haron, Paim, & Yahaya, 2005). Among them, green purchase
can be understood as “the consumption of products that are benevolent/beneficial to the
environment, recyclable/conservable, or sensitive/responsive to ecological concerns”
(Mostafa, 2007). In other words, green purchase behaviour can be translated into the act
of buying and consuming products that have minimal impacts on the environment
(Mainieri et al., 1997).
Nowadays, other terms are interchangeably use with green purchase behaviour,
such as green buying behaviour (Kim & Choi, 2003), pro-environmental purchase
behaviour (Tilikidou, 2007) and environmentally responsible purchase behaviour
(Follows & Jobber, 2000).
To date, the majority of the existing literature support a positive relationship
between attitude and behaviour (Homer & Kahle, 1988, Shim & Easlick, 1998). The
prominent theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) is one of the models that have been
successfully applied to understanding and predicting purchase behaviour. In the theory of
planned behaviour, behaviour depends on intention, which in turn is influenced by

attitude towards the behaviour. Hence, the theory of planned behaviour assumes that


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attitude fully mediates the relationship between values and behaviour – that Homer and
Kahle (1988) showed, for example, in the case of buying natural foods. Specifically,
values did not predict behaviour directly, but values predicted attitudes, which in turn
predicted purchase behaviour. These findings support the idea of a hierarchical valueattitude-behaviour organization and thus, the mediating role of attitudes. On the other
hand, consumers’ favourable attitude has been found related positively with healthy food
consumption (Grunert & Juhl, 1995), e shopping behaviour (Jayawardhena, 2004), in
television viewing behaviour (McCarthy & Shrum, 1993), and also environmentalfriendly behaviour (Thogersen & Grunert, 1997, Schultz & Zelezny, 1998). Given the
theoretical foundations and the empirical evidence, this study proposes the following
hypothesis:
H1: Green purchase attitude positively affects green purchase behaviour.
2.3 Consumer Perceived Value
Functional value. Sheth et al. (1991) defined functional value as the perceived
utility for consumers relies on an alternative capacity for functional, utilitarian, or
physical performance, such as reliability, durability, and price. In accordance to Homer
and Kahler’s (1988) cognitive model, functional value will faciliatate the attitude towards
purchasing the products. Bei and Simpson (1995) indicated that consumers examine both
the price and quality of recycled products. The price effect derives from perceived price
different between a recycled and a non-recycled product. This perceived but not actual
difference affects consumer attitude to buy recycled products, because, in Bei and
Simpson’s (1995) study, actual price was not varyingt. For consumer of recycled


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products, quality is a another consideration. Recycled baby wipes and toilet paper are

examples of low-priced things, but because they are perceived poor quality, consumers
seem to avoid using them. Laroche, Bergeron and Barbaro-Forleo (2001) conducted a
range of surveys in the field over a period. In 1989, 67% of Americans stated that they
were willing to pay 5-10% more for ecologically sound products. By 1991,
environmentally concious individuals were willing to pay between 15 and 20% more for
green products. By 1993, in a mail survey in the United Kingdom, 79% of female
participants revealed willingness to pay up to 40% more for a product that is identical in
every respect to their usual brand but with proven green credentials. It is clearly that
some customers care enough regarding ecological detriment to choose to pay more for
green products. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H2: Functional value positively affects green purchase attitude.
Social value. Social value is the perceived utility derived from an alternative
association with one or more specific social groups (Sheth et al., 1991). The subjective
norm construct refers to perceived social pressure to approve and adopt a style of
behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). Although subjective norms reflect external social pressure,
personal norms and moral attitudes constitute rules or values that inform motivation
because of anticipated self-administered that environment-based marketing efforts should
be linked explicitly to beneficial outcomes (Arvola et al., 2008). Therefore, marketers
must show how consumers who choose to go green are helping in the struggle to preserve
the environment (Straughan & Roberts, 1999). Consumers wishing to avoid negative
outcomes are keen to pursue more information sources when facing with social risk.


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Expert opinion is seemingly a powerful way of reducing consumer perceptions of risk
(Aqueveque, 2006). Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H3: Social value positively affects green purchase attitude.
Emotional value. Emotional value is the perceived utility derived from an
alternative capacity to arouse feelings or affective states (Sheth et al., 1991). Goods and

services are connected frequently with emotional responses. The importance of this
combined set can be seen in a comment by MacKay (1999), who stated that the attraction
of the product or services is a combination of emotional and rational factors and that
emotions take part in every purchase decision. Bei and Simpson (1995) found that most
respondents (89.1%) often feel that they are saving the environment when they purchase
recycled products. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H4: Emotional value positively affects green purchase atitude.
Conditional value. Conditional value is the perceived utility derived from an
alternative as the result of a specific situation or set of circumtances facing the decision
maker (Sheth et al., 1991). Belk (1974) defined such a situation as one in which all
factors relate to particular times and places and do not depend on personal knowledge and
stimulus (choice of alternative) attributes, which have desmontrable and systematic
effects on current behaviour. Situational variables refer to the circumstances surrounding
individuals as they respond to stimuli relevant to their needs and wants (Nicholls et al.,
1996). When personal situation, that is, consumer situational variables, change, consumer
purchase attitude may be affected (Laaksonen, 1993). Studies of home furnishings
(Burnsed, 2009), food and grocery (Kumar, Reddy, & Mahathi, 2014) , and hydrogen-


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electric motorcycle (Chen, Chen, Chen, & Hsieh, 2012) have desmonstrated that sales
and purchases of products are frequently in response to particular situations. Therefore,
this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H5: Conditional value positively affects green purchase attitude.
Epistemic value. Epistemic value is the perceived utility derived from an
alternative capacity to arouse curiosity, provide novelty, or satisfy a desire for knowledge
(Sheth et al., 1991). Consumer research recognizes knowledge as a element that
influences all phases in the decision process (Solomon, 2004). In addition to the needs
associated with a purchase situation, consumer knowledge of a product also plays an

essential role in settling new product adoption (Laroche et al. 2001). Besides,
exploratory, novelty seeking, and variety seeking motives has been suggested to enable
product search, trial and quicly changing their purchase attitude (Howard & Sheth, 1969).
Recently, researcher has also reported the positive influence of novelty value on purchase
attitude (Duman & Mattila, 2005,). Therfore, espitemic value is expected to have a
positive effect on purchase attitude:
H6: Epistemic value positively affects green purchase atitude.
2.4 The Conceptual Model and Hypotheses of The Research
The conceptual framework is presented in Figure 2.1 and consisting six
hypotheses from H1 to H6, in there, the group factors correspond with H2 to H6 are
independent and qualitative variables, they affect directly on attitude towards green
purchasing, a dependent variable. Its turn, attitude towards green purchasing will be