Green consumerism among senior high school students: Correlation and effects of consumer guilt, waste segregation, and climate change awareness

• Main Author: Delos Santos, Eleazar Jude R.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Consumer behavior; Refuse and refuse disposal; Climatic changes; Awareness; Consumers; High school students; Environmental Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_bio/3; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=etdm_bio
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research presents the results from a quantitative study of Filipino senior high school students as regards how waste segregation, climate change awareness, and consumer guilt impact their green consumption measured through green purchase intention. The purpose of this research was to offer an empirical study in explaining the direct and indirect effects of the three special factors on green purchase intention as well as the effects of climate change awareness on waste segregation and consumer guilt and the effects of consumer guilt on waste segregation. A conceptual model has been introduced and subjected to empirical verification with the use of the survey data collected from 333 senior high school students. The study revealed that consumer guilt was the most influential factor in the green purchase intention of the students. It is then followed by waste segregation. Consumer guilt, furthermore, has been found to have both direct and indirect effects on green purchase intention while waste segregation only showed direct effects on green purchase intention. Climate change awareness positively influences consumer guilt and mediates it with green purchase intention. Also, it was found that climate change awareness only marginally influences waste segregation. More empirical research should be done to show the long-term engagement of senior high school students in eco-friendly products. Likewise, future research could be focused on the effects on waste segregation policies of consumers.