Group Submission (Danish-Salman-Ahmed)

ABR Quantitative Midterm submission

Submitted to: Dr. Huma
Date: 16/04/23

1. Introduction

Human needs are unlimited, and resources are limited so in order to satisfy maximum needs of
human, resources should be utilized efficiently and effectively so wastages can be minimized.
Green marketing tries to preserve limited resources. However, Market dynamics are changing,
and business practices are valued on the basis of environmental concern, company attitude
towards environmental preservation and the production of goods and services in eco-friendly
manner. Consumers are more concerned towards the environment than the product. To analyze
the green product and consumer decision making we are conducting research in the Pakistan to
see the influence of different variable such as environmental concern, green perceived benefits,
Green perceived quality, green awareness of price, green willingness of purchase, and green
future estimation on the purchase decision among young, educated consumer. In order to attract
customers that care about the environment, businesses are increasingly turning to the idea of
green marketing. However, the ability of consumers to make purchases based on products'
environmental and sustainability benefits is crucial to the success of green marketing. To protect
the environment and society, the green marketing can be used in a way which satisfy consumer’s
needs, wants and demands (Martínez et al., 2020). The current environmental issues such as
greenhouse gases, global warming, climate change and pollution are linked with industries and
these issues can be fixed if customer start using the green products instead of products which
deteriorate the environment. Company has started to address the customer preferences by
adopting green production and green marking strategies to build a long term profitable relation
with consumer who deeply care for environment (Sana, 2020).
This paper's findings will provide valuable insights for businesses looking to engage in green
marketing in developing nations, where consumers' attitudes and behaviors towards
sustainability may differ from those in developed nations.

1.1 Purpose of the Study/ Objectives:

The purpose to conduct academic research on green marketing is to:

  To investigate the current situation with green marketing in Pakistan using past studies.
 To close a research gap in green purchase decisions, the TPB model was modified to
include additional constructs such as environmental concerns, green perceived quality,
and future green estimates.
 Peruse the indispensable strands guiding customer purchase decision in Pakistan.

1.2 Rationale & Research Gap:

Agriculture in Pakistan is of prime importance. It contributes 18.9% to our GDP. It’s a source for
not only food security for local consumption as well as export, but it also supplies raw material
to our industries, specially textile, which is our largest exporter (Azam & Shafique, 2017). As the
world is moving towards sustainability, given the awareness for environmental concerns,
Pakistan still lags in adoption for such measures. We have a very limited setup for organic food
that caters to a small demographic.
As shown by (Akbar et al., 2019), Pakistan consumer puts positive value in social, emotional,
conditional constructs regarding the intention for consumption of organic food. However, unlike
developed countries, we do not have a mature green marketing approach to create a need for
green products. Our younger population, which will be the decision makers of the future, have a
huge potential towards consumption of green products. We want to explore this potential for the
current market, based on empirical data. There isn’t much work done in Pakistan on how the
green marketers impact the green purchasing decision.
This research can help the managers to understand the current gap in the marketing mix that
lacks substantial influx of green products given that the concern and awareness for health,
quality, sustainability, and environment is rising. It’ll help the managers to better strategize and
consequently increase the profitability of the green market. It can also help the policymakers and
regulators to have deeper insight of the market trends regarding green products and regularize to
promote the green markets.
1.3 Research Questions:
This research is aimed to answer the following questions: what are the main factors of green
marketing that are affecting the young consumers’ purchase decision of a green product in a
developing country? What is the current market situation of green products in Pakistan? What
are the relationships among the variables of the proposed model for a green purchase decision?
 2. Literature Review
2.1 Green Marketing:
(Troumbis, 1991) (V., 1991) Stated that most of the people believe that Eco-friendly marketing
alludes merely to market or promote Ozone friendly products. Humanistic and environmentalists
usually are more attracted towards cliché’s used in marketing as “Monohydrate Phosphate” free,
O3 free, reusable and they typically link these attributes with green marketing.
But most of the researchers agree with the statement that the horizon of green
marketing is far greater than perceived. As an instance, spaces which are expert in renewable
resources consumption or running in such a manner which reduces their carbon contribution to
the environment.
The concept of green marketing has matured over the years in recent decades. The popularity of
green marketing can be defined in three stages.
First as an “Eco-Friendly” marketing and this first stage marketing campaigns were more
inclined to showcase products’ Environmental attributes as nostrums concerning deteriorating
environment. Second stage as the “Eco-friendly” green marketing and it erupted on less carbon
emitting technologies for new and innovative products, more value addition to customer
juvenility but least contributing to carcinogen ting of soil and water. The third stage or phase is
of sustainability as “Sustainable Green Marketing”. In the early 1900’s and even at the start of
the previous decade, the idea of marketing was being promoted or exploited for profits than ever
before. One can think that green marketing includes making aware of a product to satisfy certain
need, advertise it and then fulfill their desire for that particular product without compromising
quality, execution, economies of scale, price and smart logistics. But in recent years there are
other requirements too which have also attached the above attributes demanded by customers
such as: portability, energy-efficiency & multi-needs fulfillment. So, today’s marketing zoomed
in more these qualities in products with impeding contribution on climate (Peattie, (2001)).
Green environmental & eco-marketing are important for new advertising perspectives which not
just simply pull together, change or upgrade existing advertising thinking & practice, but also to
look to challenge those perspectives & give a different perspective. In more detail green,
environmental and eco-marketing has a place in bunch of approaches which look to deal with the
absence of fit between marketing as it is as of now being practiced & the ecological & social
realities of the modern marketing world.
(Polonsky, (1994)) communicated that the green marketing entails all tasks to produce or
exchange planned for human needs with the ultimate goal of satisfying these needs with
minimum environmental effects.
However, it is communicated that green marketing is certifiably not an easy task. For sure the
language utilized around there has diverted from mere customer self-satisfaction to overall
environment compatible products.
“Green marketing is the scrutiny of the pragmatic and gloomy facets of promotion on
contaminational, energy exhaustion & non-energy assets consumption issues. This statement
above made is of three key components:
a) Green marketing is a significant part of todays’ marketing.
b) It has focus on beneficial and non-beneficial doing in marketing.
c) A limited scope of environmental repercussions is inspected.
(Prakash, (2002)) has outlaid the green market arrangements and managerial policies. Green
marketing has its focus not just on less environmentally damaging goods promotion but the
overall usage of marketing techniques that are more organic in nature. Even so with absolute
command over 4p’s of promotional mix, a circumspect conception of public approach measures
is required. The referenced paper centers basically around promoting goods through averment of
its natural friendliness, its production and price.
Studies on green advertising have concentrated mostly on 1st world nations. Simultaneously,
non-industrial nations have not been centered impeccably. Accordingly, studies executed in non-
industrial nations are significant and may arrive at different result from those achieved in 1st
world nations. Being so exact inspection of sterling ramification of green marketing is highly
significant on customer satisfaction. Any such dooms may help manufacturers, instructors,
consumers and policy formers to improve the Eco-sustaining goods, thus improving or cemented
customer loyalty as being satisfied.

2.2 Fuzzy Logic Theory:

Fuzzy logic theory is used in the research hypotheses. Fuzzy logic theory is developed by Lotfi
Zadeh which states that individuals make decisions on imprecise and uncertain information. It is
a mathematical framework which enables reasoning with ambiguity and imprecision. Instead of
the conventional binary reasoning, which is based on true or false, this sort of logic works with
degrees of truth. Fuzzy logic is used to tackle issues that are too subjective or complex for
classical reasoning to handle. With the help of fuzzy logic, there is possibility to analyze the
consumer behavior and perception of greenwashing ()
Many industries, including engineering, control systems, artificial intelligence, and decision-
making, use fuzzy logic. It is especially helpful in circumstances with a great deal of uncertainty
or in which conventional logic is inappropriate, such as in natural language processing, picture
identification, and medical diagnosis.

2.3 Theory of planned behavior:

Hypothesis is supported by the theory of planned behavior. The theory of planned behavior
(TPB), a psychological framework that analyses and forecasts behavior in people. Three
variables, according to TPB, affect human behavior: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived
behavioral control. The person's opinion of engaging in the behavior is referred to as their
attitude. The term "subjective norm" describes the perceived social pressure from others to
engage in the behavior or refrain from doing so. The perceived ease or difficulty of carrying out
the behavior is referred to as perceived behavioral control. The article concludes by providing
some recommendations for promoting consumers to purchase authentic green furniture, such as
improving consumer education, enhancing product quality and certification, increasing product
availability and affordability, and strengthening social influence and communication().

2.4 Environmental concern:

According to the Economic Kuznet curve theory indicates that as economic development rises,
there is a potential for rising environmental concern, which indicates a close relationship
between economic growth and environmental preservation. The link between economic
expansion and environmental deterioration is not always clear-cut, it should be noted, and
environmental protection can be a key factor in advancing sustainable development. When
people become educated and wealthier they focus more on the environmental concern than the
product.(). According to Bickart and Ruth, how consumers view environmental challenges can
affect how they feel about the significance of environment is to national prosperity ().
Research suggests that consumers with high level of environmental concern respond differently
to the eco-seal (it is the certification that product is environmentally friendly) than those
customers who have less environmental concern. With a high level of environmental concern pay
more attention to the environment than the product. The perception is influenced by the factor
such as brand familiarity, eco-seal source and advertising appeal(). If an advertising highlight its
product is produced in environmental friendly manner and company taken into account the
environmental concern, it influence the consumer attitude, behavior and purchase decision ().
Environmental concern influences the consumer decision process for green products. Consumers
who have higher inclination towards the environmental concern are more likely to buy green
products. Currently, young and educated are paying more attention to environmental issues.
They care deeply about how much effort is required to preserve the environment.

Hypothesis (H1)
Environmental concern has a significant positive influence on the green purchase decision in
young, educated consumers.

2.5 Green Perceived Benefit:

In our research we are shading light on the variable of green perceived benefit influence on
young educated in green purchasing decision
However, the perceived advantages refer to attitudes towards outcomes that are favorable in
relation to actions taken in response to perceived risk. There are one of the six perceived
qualities which includes financial economy, convenience, value, quality, expression, and
entertainment (Martínez et al., 2020). Research suggests that there is positive relation between
perceived benefits and with sustainable building with economic and environmental factors
having the most influence (Xu, Hua, Wang, & Xu, 2020). The article demonstrated that the
results of productivity analysis are impacted by a variety of factors, such as new work
arrangements, new production tools, employee psychology and green construction (Ficko &
Bončina, 2019). As consumers are more inclined towards green products, the organizations have
promoted their goods and services as green to appeal to a growing market for ecologically
friendly items. But if the customers perceived less benefit the company is claiming in the product
they consider it greenwashing which misleads and undermines consumer confidence in green
products in retail(Bickart & Ruth, 2012). Research indicates that green products have multiple
perceived benefits such as promoting good health, being eco-friendly and having good taste.
There is an emergent market where consumers prefer sustainable lifestyle and consumption
patterns which are eco-friendly. Customers are more likely to have a good attitude towards
purchase and to be more satisfied when they recognize the benefits of green products (Bickart &
Ruth, 2012).

Hypothesis (H2):
Green perceived benefits have the positive impact on the green purchasing decision in young
and educated consumers.

Research supports that there is positive influence of environmental concern and green perceived
benefits on the green purchasing decision in young, educated consumer. The results suggest that
young, educated consumers are more concerned towards the environment and green perceived
benefits. They prefer products which are eco-friendly and have less impact on the environment.
They desire to have a sustainable environment. Consumers are worried about the environmental
issues and those with high level of environmental concern prefer the green products and perceive
that green products have higher benefit than other products. So, if a company wants to influence
the customer to purchase its product the company should highlight the environmentally
preservation activities the company is doing as well as the benefits of using its product.

2.6 Green Perceived Quality:

Green perceived quality refers to a consumer’s perception of a product or service’s
environmental attributes. In other words, it is the extent to which a product or service is
perceived to be environmentally friendly (Chen & Chang, 2012). Consumers are willing to pay a
premium for high-quality, environmentally friendly green products and services
Green perceived quality was found to have a positive impact on consumers' intention to purchase
green products in Pakistan. This suggests that companies in Pakistan should focus on developing
high-quality green products and services in order to increase consumers' willingness to buy them.
Additionally, businesses should communicate the environmental benefits of their products and
services to increase consumers' green perceived quality and willingness to pay a premium.
 This empirical study establishes that consumer green perceived quality (GPQ) has a positive
influence on consumers' green purchase decisions and proposes the following hypothesis:
 Hypothesis (H3): Green perceived quality has significant influences on the green purchase
decisions in Pakistan.
 

2.7 Green Awareness of Price:

Price awareness refers to a consumer's awareness of the cost of a product or service. discovered
that it has a significant negative impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Consumers who are
aware of a product or services high cost are less likely to purchase it, even if it is
environmentally friendly. As a result, businesses must ensure that their green products and
services are competitively priced in order to increase consumer willingness to purchase them.
Price awareness has been found to have a negative impact on consumers' intention to purchase
green products in Pakistan. This emphasizes the importance of competitively pricing green
products and services in order to increase consumer intent to purchase them.
According to the above literature review, we can hypothesize the following:
Hypothesis (H4): Awareness of Prices of Green Product have significant influence on the green
purchase decisions in Pakistan.

2.8 Green Willingness to Purchase:

Green willingness to purchase is the inclination of consumer to purchase green products because
of their increased utility value (Krstić, Kostić-Stanković, & Cvijović, 2021). Utility value
increases in terms of health, safety, quality, and environmental impact. Studies show that the
consumer is willing to pay higher price for increased utility value and reducing health risks and
environmental concerns (Chandon, Wansink, & Laurent, 2000). Willingness to pay is defined as
the surplus of money that the consumer pays before and after adding food attributes. For green
products, food attributes pertain to health, safety, quality, and environmental concerns. If the
perceived value of the green product is low, the green willingness to purchase is negatively
affected.
Green products are costlier than regular products. However, the customers are willing to pay the
premium price if they get the required attributes out of their green product. An example of a
green product is organic food. It is free of artificial ingredients and agents such as fertilizers,
pesticides, and genetically engineered organs (Ries, Bilec, Gokhan, & Needy, 2006). In their
study, it was found that consumers have perceived value for organic food. Such products have a
competitive advantage for their health benefits. Promoting these benefits influences consumer
behavior in favor of these products. Such products do not compete in prices. This conclusion is
also concurred by (Ries et al., 2006). According to them, food quality and safety has a positive
influence on willingness to purchase.
Theory: For this construct we use the same theory as our main theory for developing
relationships of all the variables included in this research. Hence, we’ll be using the theory of
planned behavior (TPB). This theory helps us understand human behavior in a specific context
(Martínez et al., 2020). TPB is used to predict human behavior towards a specific act. If a person
has positive intentions towards a behavior, they are likely to decide to engage in behavior.
Green willingness to purchase has a positive relation with the consumer’s purchase behavior who
have perceived value in health, safety, quality and environmental friendliness (De Silva, Wang,
& Kuah, 2021). We’ll use “Green Willingness to Purchase” as a variable and attempt to establish
its relationship with Green Purchasing Decision. Thus, our hypothesis is:
Hypothesis 5 (H5): Young, educated consumers’ green willingness to purchase influences on
the green purchase decisions.

2.9 Green Future Estimation:

Future estimation is predicated on current market trends (). To understand the future trends of
green products, it is important to understand how the current market is reacting towards these
products. Developed countries have an already huge demand and supply systems established for
green products. Green marketing has already matured and established itself in these markets. The
consumer base has seen a sustained growth for green products. Most of the big producers are
focusing and including green products in their product line. Amazon has acquired whole food
chains and is actively promoting green marketing. Big food chains are adding value to their
products by making them more sustainable.
In developing countries, the trend for purchase of green products is still nascent. Given how
frequent environmental calamities are increasing concerns for the environment, consumers have
an increased value for green products. Majority of the population in Pakistan is still you. 30% of
the entire population are aged between 10-24. These will be the future consumers with increased
concerns for the environment. If they have a positive experience with green products, their
purchasing behavior will repeat. Thus, we postulate following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 6 (H6): Green future estimation of a product has a significant positive influence on
green purchase decisions in young, educated consumers.

Green Perceived Green Marketing

Benefit (GPB) (GM)
Green Willingness Green purchasing Decision Green Awareness
to Purchase (GWP) (GPD) of Price (GAP)

Green Future Green Perceived

Estimate (GFE) Quality (GPQ)

Figure1. Proposed conceptual model of the green purchase decision.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research design

In our research we are going to collect data through primary and secondary sources. In the
secondary resources we collected the data from the article already published related to green
products and their influence on the purchasing decision. We used the other researcher work to
support our hypothesis and mentioned the theories used in their research to indicate the
relationship among the hypotheses. In the secondary research we used the google scholarly
articles to back our study. Furthermore, we will make a questionnaire in which each hypothesis
questions will be asked from the respondent to evaluate our hypothesis. Our questionnaire has
six separate parts, and each part has questions specific to the hypothesis we are evaluating. We
will make the google form and will circulate this google form in groups, email and through other
social media sources and the participant of the questionnaire will be the young educated and
professional studying in the universities, college and working in the industry to know how they
perceive green product influence on their decision making. We are planning to take data from
150 plus respondents to support our studies and only data of those respondents will be taken who
are using the green product to better know how individual decision is impact due to green
product. Once the data has been collected, we will filter the data in the excel file. Once data is
filtered it will be run on the SPSS to see whether our hypothesis is accepted or rejected. Once we
process the data and the results, we obtain through SPSS will be analyzed and will be used to
support our research.
3.2 Sampling Design:
This research is conducted to determine the impact of green marketing on customer satisfaction.
Sample framework of this research can be framed through knowing target population, sample
size and applying sampling techniques to the above two variables.
Target Population:
Target population is a group of people that are required for research and analysis. The target
population for this research are the individuals that are of age (25-50) as millennials are the main
buying decision makers in any market.
Sample Size:
Sample size is the number of participants that are needed to conduct the particular research. 150
is the ideal sample size taken for this research. As the population size for the matter of survey
was unknown, therefore Cochran's formula is used to determine the sample size.
Sampling Technique:
Sampling technique is divided into two groups: probability and non-probability that are used in
research. Sampling techniques are of two types of probability and non-probability. Probability
sampling is done randomly, and every participant gets an equal chance of selection. It includes
simple random sampling, systematic random sampling, stratified random sampling and cluster
random sampling. The second group of sampling is non-probability sampling, in which different
criteria of selection is used and based on subjective judgement of researcher. It includes quota,
snowball, purposive and convenience sampling. In the simple random sampling, each member of
the population has the same and equal chance to get selected. In systematic sampling whole
population data is required and one unit after each selected interval is considered randomly. In
stratified random sampling on the basis of common attributes and characteristics, groups are
made from population. In cluster random sampling, geographically large group of population is
divided to get selected. In purposive sampling population is selected on the basis of researcher
judgements. In snowball sampling other participants are hired to research for the particular study.
In quota sampling common characters are filter step by step from homogenous population to
collect data. In convenience sampling data is collected conveniently from everywhere without
any restriction.
For the purpose of this research, there is no requirement of sampling technique. However
unrestricted nonprobability sampling technique is used in this research.

Instrument of Data Collection:

The instrument that was used in this research as a tool for data collection was a questionnaire
which was based on close ended question using linear scale. Close ended questions were
generalized as to match the best view point the attendee will have for any question. This
consequently helped in collecting the data in a general yet specific and standard manner. The
questionnaire had a total of twenty questions. Four questions belonging to Environmental
Concerns, two belonging to Perceived Benefits, three belonging to Perceived Quality, two
belonging to awareness of price, two belonging to willingness to purchase, three to future
estimation & four belongs to Purchasing Decision variable of the research.
Different methods have been designed to test the validity of the results acquired through this
method of data collection. To make sure the data acquired is accurate and valid a technique is
used, and the results achieved from the technique are denoted by the term Cronbach Alpha. If the
value of Cronbach Alpha is above 0.7 and in the green zone, then it means the results are valid.

Procedure of Data Collection:

The procedure that was used as a method of data collection included the designing of a
questionnaire, then spreading this questionnaire to the target audience and then collecting the
data acquired from that questionnaire. The questionnaire was made in quite a simple manner to
increase the ‘ease of use’ factor for those who would answer the questions. The questions were
divided into two basic parts one part that was designed to collect the data related to the person
answering the questions, the other part was related to the research and were based on the main
variables of the research.
3.3 Plan of Analysis:
Statistical technique: We’ll be using IBM SPSS statistics 23 software for the statistical analysis
of the data. We’ll use partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) model to
analyze the data. We’ll try to find the correlation of variables and test the hypothesis based on
that. PLS-SEM can be used for regression analysis that will help to establish the relationship of
our variables and test the hypothesis.
Reliability Analysis:
Reliability analysis will be done using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha and t composite reliability.
This will help us test the internal consistency of the constructs. Cronbach’s alpha will test how
closely items are related in a set.

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