Factors affecting sustainable consumption behavior: Roles of pandemics and perceived consumer effectiveness

Abstract

The objective of the study is to assess the roles of pandemics and perceived consumer effectiveness in factors affecting the sustainable consumption behavior in the Vietnam's context. Based on two main theoretical foundations: Ajzen's TPB theory (1991) and Schwartz's NAM model (1977), the study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods with 9 scales of 43 observed variables. 645 valid survey responses were collected from five major cities in Vietnam in 2022 and were analyzed by using SPSS and SmartPLS 3.8 softwares. The results showed that pandemics have positive impacts on factors affecting the sustainable consumption behavior, including: environment concern, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal norms. Except the subjective norms factor which did not reach statistical significance, the remaining hypotheses were tested to have positive impacts on the intention and sustainable consumption behavior. In addition, the study also demonstrated a positive moderating effect of perceived consumer effectiveness on the relationship between intention and sustainable consumption behavior. Some managerial implications and future researches are also suggested.

Keywords

• Environment concern
• Pandemics
• Perceived consumer effectiveness
• Personal norms
• Subjective norms
• Sustainable consumption behavior