Ambivalent attitude towards green products: evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

This study explores the predictors of consumers’ ambivalent attitude towards green products which in turn affect their resistance to change. Particularly, the roles of negative factors including greenwashing, consumer skepticism, green confusion, and green risk on determining consumers’ ambivalent attitude towards green products are examined. In addition, how ambivalent attitude affects consumers’ resistance to change from non-green to green products is also investigated. A sample of 310 consumers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was surveyed by ad hoc quotas sampling method with two controlled characteristics of age and gender to test the theoretical model. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that all predictors have positive influences on consumers’ ambivalent attitude towards green products. In which, green confusion has the strongest effect, followed by consumer skepticism and greenwashing, while green risk possesses the least effect on ambivalent attitude. Furthermore, ambivalent attitude towards green products is found to significantly increase consumers’ resistance to change. This study provides practical implications for business managers regarding the ambivalent attitude of consumers by focusing on their negative perceptions, from which appropriate business strategies are suggested to approach the target green consumers. Moreover, this study is a pioneer that simultaneously examines a variety of negative antecedents which belong to green business activities and consumer characteristics. In addition, the role of resistance to change as a consequence of ambivalent attitude is newly studied in the context of green consumer behaviors.