An examination of the factors affecting consumers' sustainable product purchasing behaviour and an application

Sustainability is a concept related to producing and consuming by taking into account the right to life of future generations. Today, increasing awareness of consumers on environmental sustainability has also affected their purchasing preferences. Consumers' purchasing preferences and consumption habits greatly affect sustainable purchasing behaviour. This study aimed to examine the sustainable product purchasing behaviour of consumers by developing a comprehensive model. This study examines the effect of factors such as environmental awareness, environmental sensitivity, environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness on consumers' sustainable purchasing behaviour through attitudes and intentions. In the research, convenience sampling method was preferred and a sample size of 404 people was reached with the help of an online questionnaire. In the process of evaluating the developed model, explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed, and then structural equation modelling analysis was used to determine the level of influence of the relationships in the model. In this study, it was examined whether environmental awareness, environmental sensitivity and perceived consumer effectiveness have a statistically significant and positive effect on consumers' attitudes towards sustainable products. In the study, no statistically significant relationship was found between the participants' attitudes towards sustainable products and environmental awareness and between their intention to purchase sustainable products and their attitudes towards sustainable products. On the other hand, sustainable product purchase intention has a statistically significant effect on sustainable product purchase behaviour. When people have more positive attitudes towards sustainable products are developed, it can be concluded that it will have a positive effect on the value perception towards sustainability and thus on the sustainable product purchasing behaviour of consumers. The development of positive attitudes towards sustainable products may further increase the intention to purchase sustainable products by affecting consumers' willingness to pay for sustainable products.