The effect of sustainable environmental awareness and environmental sensitivity on ecological product purchase behavior

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of university students' sustainable environmental awareness and environmental sensitivity on their behavior on purchasing ecological products. For this purpose, a questionnaire study was conducted with students studying at Gaziantep University in 2021. The sample of the study consists of 418 students. Analyzes were made with the obtained data using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, T test, One-way ANOVA test and structural equation model. As a result of the research, it has been observed that sustainable knowledge and sustainable attitude do not have a significant effect on ecological product purchasing behavior, but sustainable behavior and environmental awareness have a significant and positive effect on ecological product purchasing behavior. In the analysis results made in line with the demographic characteristics of the participants, it was determined that there was a significant difference between gender and income level, sustainable environmental awareness, sustainable knowledge and environmental sensitivity levels, but there was no significant difference between sustainable attitude, sustainable behavior and ecological product purchasing behavior. In the structural equation model, it was determined that sustainable knowledge, sustainable attitude, sustainable behavior and environmental sensitivity could explain 60.5% of the variance of ecological product purchasing behavior.