The Role of Social Media, Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations, Subjective Norms, And EWOM In Shaping Green Cosmetics Consumption Behavior: A Case Study of Generation Z in Ho Chi Minh City
Downloads
This study explores the relationship between Social Media, Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations, Subjective Norms and Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (EWOM) in shaping the green cosmetics buying behavior of Generation Z in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. A quantitative approach was adopted in this research whereby primary data was obtained from 302 respondents from Generation Z. The findings reveal that Social Media significantly impacts both altruistic (environmental) and egoistic (health) motivations, along with Subjective Norms, which in turn drive purchase intention and behavior. Also, EWOM plays an important role in consumers’ choices by providing additional information through experiences and opinions that have been shared. This information provides marketers and policy makers with practical suggestions on how to develop appropriate digital communication strategies designed for the youth, who are environmentally friendly and IT-savvy to promote green consumption.
Ahsan, F. J., & Ferdinando, U. (2023). The Purchase Intention towards Green Cosmetics among Female Consumers in Sri Lanka: Role of Health Value as a Mediator. Colombo Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research, 7(1-2), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.4038/cjmr.v7i1-2.68
Alam, M. N., Ogiemwonyi, O., Alshareef, R., Alsolamy, M., Mat, N., & Azizan, N. A. (2023). Do social media influence altruistic and egoistic motivation and green purchase intention towards green products? An experimental investigation. Cleaner Engineering and Technology, 15, 100669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2023.100669
Albarq, A. N., & Al Doghan, M. (2020). Electronic word-of-mouth versus word-of-mouth in the field of consumer behavior: a literature review. Journal of critical reviews, 7(14), 646-654.
Alqahtani, F. M., Abas, M., Alkahtani, M., Hayat, M., & Farrukh, A. (2024). Enhancing Sustainable Safety Practices in Construction: Insights from Cultural and Socio-Economic Analysis. Sustainability, 16(12), 5103. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125103
Arısal, İ., & Atalar, T. (2016). The Exploring Relationships between Environmental Concern, Collectivism and Ecological Purchase Intention. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 514-521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.063
Aslam, S., Jadoon, E., Zaman, K., & Gondal, S. (2011). Effect of word of mouth on consumer buying behavior. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2(3), 497-507.
Bahkia, A. S., Awang, Z., Rahman, A., Nawal, A., Rahlin, N. A., & Afthanorhan, A. (2021). An explicit investigation of occupational stress and safety behavior on the relationships between supportive leadership and safety compliance in sewerage industry. Linguistics and Culture Review, 6, 146-168. https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v6ns1.1987
Brown, M., Pope, N. and Voges, K. (2003), "Buying or browsing? An exploration of shopping orientations and online purchase intention", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 11/12, pp. 1666-1684. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560310495401
Chin, W. W., Peterson, R. A., & Brown, S. P. (2008). Structural equation modeling in marketing: Some practical reminders. Journal of marketing theory and practice, 16(4), 287-298.
Cismariu, C. D., & Hosu, I. (2019). Generation Z and Social Media. In Proc 14th Int Conf Virtual Learn Icvl (pp. 367-73).
Dolot, A. (2018). The characteristics of Generation Z. E-mentor, 74(2), 44-50.
Emini, A., & Zeqiri, J. (2021). Social media marketing and purchase intention: evidence from Kosovo. Ekonomska Misao I Praksa, 30(2), 475-492. https://doi.org/10.17818/emip/2021/2.8
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of marketing research, 18(1), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Franca, C. C. V., & Ueno, H. M. (2020). Green cosmetics: perspectives and challenges in the context of green chemistry. Desenvolvimento E Meio Ambiente, 53. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v53i0.62322
Goldsmith, R.E., Lafferty, B.A. and Newell, S.J. (2000) The Impact of Corporate Credibility and Celebrity Credibility on Consumer Reaction to Advertisements and Brands. Journal of Advertising, 29, 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2000.10673616
Gunawan, D.D. and Huarng, K.H. (2015) Viral Effects of Social Network and Media on Consumers’ Purchase Intention. Journal of Business Research, 68, 2237-2241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.06.004
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis: Pearson College division. Person: London, UK.
Hair Jr, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research. European business review, 26(2), 106-121.
Hirata, D., Rocha, E., Nogueira, R. A., Rezende, L. C. S. H., & Felipe, D. F. (2022). Natural and organic cosmetics: Beneficial properties for the environment and health. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science, 9(11), 276-281. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.911.34
Hoo, W. C., Lean, N. G., Ng, A. H. H., Liau, C. H., Ho, R. C., & Prompanyo, M. (2024). Determinants of Green Cosmetic Purchase Intentions in Malaysia. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences (PJLSS), 22(2). https://doi.org/10.57239/pjlss-2024-22.2.00278
Izagirre - Olaizola et.al. (2015), “Internal determinants of recycling behaviour by university students: A cross-country comparative analysis”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 39, n. 1, pp. 25-34.
Jaini, A., Quoquab, F., Mohammad, J., & Hussin, N. (2020). “I buy green products, do you…?” The moderating effect of eWOM on green purchase behavior in Malaysian cosmetics industry. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 14(1), 89-112.
Jin, N.(P)., Line, N.D. and Lee, S.-M. (2017), "The health conscious restaurant consumer: Understanding the experiential and behavioral effects of health concern", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 2103-2120. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2016-0170
Kapoor, R., Singh, A., & Misra, R. (2019). Green Cosmetics - Changing Young Consumer Preference and Reforming Cosmetic Industry. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE), 8(4), 12932-12939. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.d6927.118419
Kumar, A., & Pandey, M. (2023). Social media and impact of altruistic motivation, egoistic motivation, subjective norms, and ewom toward green consumption behavior: An empirical investigation. Sustainability, 15(5), 4222.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054222
Le, T. D., Tran, H. D., & Hoang, T. Q. H. (2022). Ethically minded consumer behavior of Generation Z in Vietnam: The impact of socialization agents and environmental concern. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1).
https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2102124
Liao, X., Shen, S. V., & Shi, X. (2019). The effects of behavioral intention on the choice to purchase energy-saving appliances in China: the role of environmental attitude, concern, and perceived psychological benefits in shaping intention. Energy Efficiency, 13(1), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09828-5
Limbu, Y. B., & Ahamed, A. J. (2023). What influences green cosmetics purchase intention and behavior? A systematic review and future research agenda. Sustainability, 15(15), 11881. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511881
Lius, S., & Salim, L. (2024). Do female generation Z have purchase intensiton on green comestics based on their environmental knowledge, environmental concern, health consciousness, attitude and subjective norm?. Fokus Ekonomi: Jurnal Ilmiah Ekonomi, 19(1), 95-110.
Maichum, K., Parichatnon, S., & Peng, K. C. (2017). The influence of environmental concern and environmental attitude on purchase intention towards green products: a case study of young consumers in Thailand. International Journal of Business Marketing and Management, 2(3), 1-8.
Mohammadi, F., & Mahmoodi, F. (2019). Factors Affecting Acceptance and Use of Educational Wikis: Using Technology Acceptance Model (3). Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences, In Press(In Press). https://doi.org/10.5812/ijvlms.87484
Mude, G., & Undale, S. (2023). Social media usage: A comparison between Generation Y and Generation Z in India. International Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR), 19(1), 1-20.
Nahm, F. S. (2017). What the P values really tell us. The Korean Journal of Pain, 30(4), 241-242. https://doi.org/10.3344/kjp.2017.30.4.241
Naz, F., Oláh, J., Vasile, D., & Magda, R. (2020). Green purchase behavior of university students in Hungary: An empirical study. Sustainability, 12(23), 10077.
Noor, M. N. M., Jumain, R. S. A., Yusof, A., Ahmat, M. A. H., & Kamaruzaman, I. F. (2017). Determinants of generation Z green purchase decision: A SEM-PLS approach. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 4(11), 143-147.
Noor, N. M., Noranee, S., Zakaria, M. F., Unin, N., & Suaee, M. A. H. M. (2020, February). Online shopping: The influence of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on purchase intention. In Proceedings of the 2020 the 6th International Conference on E-Business and Applications (pp. 33-36).
Pop, R. A., Săplăcan, Z., & Alt, M. A. (2020). Social media goes green—The impact of social media on green cosmetics purchase motivation and intention. Information, 11(9), 447.
Roberts, J. A., & Bacon, D. R. (1997). Exploring the Subtle Relationships between Environmental Concern and Ecologically Conscious Consumer Behavior. Journal of Business Research, 40, 79-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(96)00280-9
Sánchez-Fernández, R., Iniesta-Bonillo, M. Á., and Holbrook, M. B. 2009. The conceptualization and measurement of consumer value in services. International Journal of Market Research 51(1): 1-17.
Santos, P. M. D., & Cirillo, M. Â. (2021). Construction of the average variance extracted index for construct validation in structural equation models with adaptive regressions. Communications in Statistics - Simulation and Computation, 52(4), 1639-1650. https://doi.org/10.1080/03610918.2021.1888122
Sapri, N. S. A., Ghani, M. R. A., & Yusuf, D. H. M. (2023). Factors influencing consumer purchase intention towards green comestics products among young customers in Malaysia. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Management Practices, 6(23), 131-142.
https://doi.org/10.35631/ijemp.623010
Savita, U., & Verma, V. (2017). Influence of attitudes and Subjective Norms on intention to buy organic food: a literature review. Management insight-A glimpse of contemporary research, 455-468.
Sony and Ferguson (2015). How to go green: unraveling green preferences of consumers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 7 (1), 56–72.
Sharma, P., Sarstedt, M., Shmueli, G., Kim, K. H., & Thiele, K. O. (2019). PLS-based model selection: The role of alternative explanations in information systems research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 20(4), 4.
Sinh, N. H. (2024), Understanding Green Consumption Behaviors in an Emerging Market: The Influence of Environmental Concern, Health Consciousness, and Product Availability in Vietnam, Journal of Logistics, Informatics and Service Science, Vol. 11 (2024) No. 10, pp. 237-251.
Sun, Y., & Wang, S. (2020). Understanding consumers’ intentions to purchase green products in the social media marketing context. Asia pacific journal of marketing and logistics, 32(4), 860-878.
Sun, Y., & Xing, J. (2022). The impact of social media information sharing on the green purchase intention among generation Z. Sustainability, 14(11), 6879.
Tarkiainen, A., & Sundqvist, S. (2005). Subjective Norms, Attitudes and Intentions of Finnish Consumers in Buying Organic Food. British Food Journal, 107, 808-822. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700510629760
Wong, K. K. K. (2013). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques using SmartPLS. Marketing bulletin, 24(1), 1-32.
Xie, S., & Madni, G. R. (2023). Impact of social media on young generation’s green consumption behavior through subjective norms and perceived green value. Sustainability, 15(4), 3739.
Zhu, M., Hu, X., Lin, Z., Li, J., Wang, S., & Wang, C. (2020). Intention to adopt bicycle-sharing in China: introducing environmental concern into the theory of planned behavior model. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(33), 41740-41750. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10135-1
Zinoubi, Z. G. (2020). Motives of green consumption: the moderating roles of perceived consumer effectiveness and price sensitivity. Archives of Business Research, 8(1), 261-277. https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.81.7429
Copyright (c) 2025 Man Minh CAO

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All Content should be original and unpublished.

