The research findings reveal that consumers who are environmentally conscious are more likely to pur-chase green products. Traditional product attributes such as price, quality, and brand are still the most important attributes that consumers consider when making green purchasing decision. As D’Souza etal. (2006) suggest there is an expectation on the part of consumers that all products offered should be environmentally safe without a need to trade off quality and/or pay premium prices for them.This research reveals that consumers who purchase
green products are between 18 and 45 years old,hold a postgraduate qualification and have a positiveattitude towards the environment. The results also
showed that consumers who are married or in a De
facto relationship are more likely to purchase green
products. It is possible that this group of consumers
purchase green products because they care about the
health status of their family including their future
generations. Contrary to the expectation, ethnicity
group did not impact consumers’ decision to pur-
chase green products. This may be due to the un-
equal sample distribution in this research, since the
majority of respondents are New Zealand European
and other Europeans.
Higher price has a negative effect on the probability
of consumers purchasing green products. Consum-
ers are less likely to purchase green products if the
products are more expensive. This is consistent with
D’Souza et al. (2006) and Blend and van Raven-
swaay’s (1999) findings.
Unfamiliar brand also has a significant negative
effect on the probability of consumers’ purchasing
green products. Consumers are less likely to pur-
chase green products if it is not from a brand that
they are familiar with. This finding is consistent
with previous studies (see Glegg et al., 2005; Johri
and Sahasakmontri, 1998). D’Souza et al. (2006)
suggest in their study that consumers’ perceptions of
green products as more expensive and inferior in
quality are some reasons that cause their reluctance
to switch brands.
Consumers were asked if they are likely to purchase
a product that is labelled “green” given no other
information. Contrary to the expectation, a green
label did not affect consumers’ decision to purchase
green products. D’Souza et al. (2006) argue that
some consumers considered the information given
on product labels inaccurate and therefore they do
not rely on the labels to make purchasing decisions
towards green products.
Implications and limitations