Purchasing Intention for Green Handicraft Products: The Role of Altruistic and Egoistic Values in Green Consumer Behavior

Purpose - Over the years, the rate of green product consumption remins to be lacking despite developments in technology and redirection of business trends. Amidst scholarly studies exploring the diverse nature of this movement, egoistic and altruistic values were found to be valuable motivations in exhibiting ethical behavior toward positive consumption. These two values are strikingly distinct from each other and their influencing effects also vary for every product and/or industry. Hence, it is important to evaluate the effect of these values and motivations separately to develop a better understanding about the appropriate determinants of green product acceptance. Design/Methodology/Approach - The study analyzed, under the robust foundation of the Theory of Planned Behavior, the green purchase intention for indigenous people-made handicrafts, under the contrasting altruistic and egoistic values. A single organization was subjected under the study with a total respondent turnover of 97. Considering the small sample size, structural equation modelling was used, using SmartPLS, to test the formulated hypotheses. To provide additional business insights for readers, respondent clustering was conducted. Findings - Results showed altruistic values and attitude towards green consumption as significant positive determinants of green purchase intention. On the other hand, egoistic value is not a predictor of green purchase intention but has an indirect effect through attitude. It was also shown that egoistic values have a larger influence on green product attitude as compared to altruistic motives. These results, at the Philippine context, were relatively unique. Research Implications - This study has somewhat different results compared to the extant literature, thus, suggesting that both egoistic and altruistic values have a significant and direct influence on green purchase intention. Generalizing the results of this paper might be a challenge considering its sample size, but future research can use its results as a take-off point for further analysis.