What do consumers value more in green purchasing? Assessing the sustainability practices from demand side of business

Abstract Consumers have been recognized as critical enablers of sustainable development as consumption behavior can also shape the way firms do business. Accordingly, many product sustainability indicators have been developed for consumers, yet which attributes the consumers value more in green purchasing remains unknown. By developing a novel scale of environmental and social practices, this research aims to analyze which sustainability information attributes of products are prioritized by consumers and how these attributes drive consumers’ willingness to pay price premium. Given its significance for both economy and sustainable development, the Electric Vehicle Industry has been chosen for analysis with an online survey of 582 consumers. Through the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, the results indicate that environmental impact information has significant influence on green purchasing while social impact does not. This finding contradicts the previous literature that posited that consumers scale products’ social impact attributes as a priority. This means consumers are aware of the importance of a product’s social sustainability performance, but such information does not contribute to their willingness to pay price premium. The scale of environmental and social attributes suggested in this research can be applied to other industries by guiding manufacturers to design business activities.