Survey of 392 urban Indian consumers links environmental concern to sustainable purchase intentions

A questionnaire-based study of 392 environmentally concerned urban consumers in metropolitan Indian cities found that perceived consumer effectiveness was the strongest statistical predictor of sustainable purchase intention, followed by environmental concern, eco-friendly packaging, green brand perception and social media engagement. The findings come from a structural equation model combining the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Value–Belief–Norm theory.

Researchers used a structured questionnaire and purposive sampling to collect responses from consumers who said they were concerned about the environment. They analysed the data with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling using SmartPLS 4.0. The study also assessed model fit, non-response and common-method biases as part of its methodological checks, according to the accepted article’s abstract.

Environmental concern was significantly associated with sustainable purchase intention in the proposed model. The specific pathway from perceived consumer effectiveness to sustainable purchase intention through environmental concern was not statistically significant. That result does not establish that environmental concern cannot mediate the relationship under other conditions or among other populations. The abstract reports the ordering of the model’s predictors but does not provide their individual effect sizes, confidence intervals or exact statistical values.

The study examined a sample restricted to environmentally concerned urban consumers in metropolitan cities, so its findings should not be generalized automatically to all Indian consumers, rural populations or consumers without environmental concerns. Because the available evidence is an abstract of accepted research rather than a full assessment of the article, additional methodological details and numerical results cannot be evaluated. The authors characterize the work as a contribution to sustainability marketing in an emerging-market setting and identify marketers, policymakers and sustainability advocates as potential users of its findings.

Subject of Research: Survey analysis of environmental concern and sustainable purchase intentions among urban consumers in India

Article Title: Environmental concern as a mediator of sustainable purchase intention among urban consumers in India

Article References: Kumar, S., Yadav, A., Kumar, M., & Mishra, S. (2026). Environmental concern as a mediator of sustainable purchase intention among urban consumers in India. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04550-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04550-6

Keywords: sustainable purchase intention, environmental concern, consumer behaviour, urban India, questionnaire survey, PLS-SEM, perceived consumer effectiveness, green brand perception, eco-friendly packaging, social media engagement, Environmental, concern