Predicting Consumers’ Purchasing Intentions of a Product; A Critical Analysis of Willingness-To-Pay as the Antecedent

In recent years, consumers have become environmentally conscious through their consumption activities and are more willing to buy green products and services. This is attributed to the progressive increase in environmental consciousness globally. Nevertheless, the massive consumption of plastics continuous to persists. This concern has led to the formulation of a variety of initiatives with the ultimate aim of reducing plastic bags usage. Moreover, eco-friendly bags have been adopted as viable replacements. However, these bags are priced higher than the ubiquitous plastic shopping bags due to the higher costs of production incurred by the manufacturers in the process. Hence, this study was undertaken among 400 respondents in Bangalore and Chennai to explore how their willingness to pay may influence their purchasing intentions toward eco-friendly bags with price and quality attributes being the mediating factors. The formulated research hypotheses were tested using linear regressions and Pearson's correlation analysis. The data collected using survey questionnaires with the convenience sampling technique were statistically analysed with SPSS. The results confirm that price and quality attributes have positive mediating impacts. Finally, willingness to pay is a predictor and major antecedent of consumers’ intentions toward purchasing eco-friendly bags. It is proposed that in order to gain consumers’ intention, it is fundamental to arouse their willingness to pay through better pricing and product quality. Accordingly, as much as this is done, the product will receive an overwhelming response from the consumers.