GREEN MARKETING PRACTICES, CONSUMER GREEN PURCHASE INTENTIONS, AND BRAND EQUITY: MEDIATING ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The growing global environmental crisis has significantly changed the landscape of consumers’ behaviour and there is an increasing call on brands to prove their environmental commitment in a holistic sense by implementing a wide range of green marketing practices. Although significant amount of green marketing literature has been created, three gaps can be identified: the specific psychological mechanism by which green marketing practices influence consumer intention to purchase a green brand is underdeveloped; the downstream impact on a key firm-level outcome – brand equity – is under-researched; and the boundary conditions of moderation in emerging economy Muslim majority consumer contexts are almost completely untapped. This study proposes and validates a theory-integrated model built on the bases of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), Signaling Theory (Spence, 1973), and the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory (Stern, 2000) that examines the direct effects of these five green marketing practice dimensions (GMPDs) on consumer green purchase intentions (CGPI) and brand equity (BE); the mediating role of environmental consciousness (EC) in the GMPDs–CGPI–BE pathway; and the demographic boundary conditions of gender and income on the mediated relationships. This study utilizes an urban setting with 512 participants representing consumers in urban areas across five metros namely Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Peshawar cities in Pakistan using a multi-scale survey instrument which is validated and pre-tested for data analysis and mediation testing is done using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) applied through SmartPLS 4.0 software, along with supplementary Hierarchical Regression Analysis (HRA) and Hayes (2022) Macro Model 4 (5,000 bootstrap iterations BCa) for mediation analysis. The results of the analysis indicate that the composite index of green marketing practices (GMP) positively and significantly predict the CGPI (β = 0.487, p < 0.001) and BE (β = 0.412, p < 0.001). Environmental consciousness significantly mediates both the GMP–CGPI relationship (indirect effect = 0.234, 95% BCa CI [0.178, 0.298]; PM = 38.4%) and the GMP–BE pathway (indirect effect = 0.189, 95% BCa CI [0.134, 0.251]; PM = 31.4%). The GMP–EC pathway is significantly moderated by gender with a stronger effect for female consumers reflecting known gender-environmental sensitivity differences. The results contribute to green marketing theory by combining TPB, Signaling Theory and VBN Theory in a single mediated model and provide directions for brand managers, sustainability-focused marketers, and Pakistani consumer market policy makers.

Keywords: Green Marketing Practices, Consumption Green Purchase Intentions, Green Brand Positioning, Green Product Design, Theory of Planned behavior, Value-Belief -Norm Theory, Pakistan.