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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN GREEN PURCHASING DECISIONS
Abstract
The concept of green consumption is becoming increasingly important as climate change and sustainable development principles influence both individual consumer behaviour and business strategies. However, given the growing awareness of environmental challenges, green purchasing is still limited. Although consumers often claim to want to buy green products, their actual behaviour often differs from the declared values. This paper presents the findings of a study which aims to analyse the main factors hindering consumers' decisions to purchase green products and to propose solutions to mitigate this problem. The study used a survey and interview method to identify consumer opinions. In the quantitative part, a questionnaire survey was conducted with consumers of different ages from Latvia to understand their attitudes and behavioural patterns towards green purchasing. Expert interviews were conducted to analyse the perspectives of companies' sales policies. The study identifies the most important factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions. The results show that the main barriers to green purchasing are higher prices, lack of trust in eco-labels and limited availability of products. Despite high self-rated environmental awareness, only 22% of respondents regularly choose sustainable products. The qualitative analysis revealed that greenwashing significantly undermines consumer confidence in sustainable products. The influence of social norms and habits on purchasing behaviour was strongly pronounced among younger consumers. The data represents the first part of the study and will be continued in the next phases of the study.
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