The mediating effect of sustainability awareness on the impact of green advertising attitude on purchase intention: A study on Süleyman Demirel University students

Increasing resource problems and unconscious resource consumption have become a major issue threatening the lives of all living beings. Over time, as people have become more aware, they have developed a consciousness of a livable world both for themselves and for the society they live in. This awareness among consumers has also influenced brands and businesses in the same direction. Due to the increasing prominence of sustainability, brands and businesses have started using green advertisements to position themselves as sustainable brands in the eyes of consumers, attract their interest, and communicate their sustainability initiatives. As sustainability has gained a top position on the agenda, it has turned into a competitive factor among businesses, leading to the emergence of insincere advertisements known as greenwashing. These advertisements have further confused consumers who are already uncertain about how businesses can address environmental issues. As a result, consumers have started to adopt multiple attitudes toward green advertisements and exhibit inconsistent purchasing behavior. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between consumers' sustainability awareness, their attitudes toward green advertising, and their purchase intentions. To test the hypotheses formulated within this scope, the Hayes Process Macro add-on was used. The results of this regression analysis, which measures the mediating effect, revealed that sustainability awareness serves as a partial mediator between green advertising attitude and green advertisement purchase intention. A survey method was used as the data collection technique, and the study sample consisted of 381 Süleyman Demirel University students selected through a simple random sampling method. Participants were asked a total of 54 questions divided into five sections. The collected research data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 27.0 software, applying reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, normality analysis, and mediation tests. The findings confirmed the hypotheses, and the research objectives were achieved. Keywords: Sustainability, sustainability communication, green advertising