The effect of moral emotions on green purchase intentions and pollution avoidance intentions – A study in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

This study examines the effects of moral emotions on pro-environmental intentions including pollution avoidance and green purchasing intentions. Findings gathered from 325 people in aged from 18 and over in Ho Chi Minh City. The results show that the self-directed emotions (pride and guilt) have a stronger impact on pollution avoidance and green purchasing intentions than other-directed emotions (gratitude and Other-Condemning Emotions (OCE)). In addition, the impact index also points that positive emotions (e.g., pride and gratitude) exhibit a stronger impact on both intentions for the environment than negative emotions. (e.g., guilt and OCE). However, the research team realized that there is not enough of evidence to conclude that there is the regulation of Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) on the relationships between variables in the research model. The paper is to contribute to enriching the document in Vietnam related to pro-environmental behavior and to serve as the foundation for policy makers and administrators to formulate strategies to promote green purchasing behavior and pollution avoidance behavior.