Green Marketing Practices in India: Strategies, Policies and Sustainable Business Approaches (ISBN : 978-93-49468-54-2)

Decoding Green Consumer Behaviour in Urban India: Awareness, Attitude-Action Gap, and the Role of Price Sensitivity

Author: Rajeta

Green consumer behaviour has emerged as a critical dimension of sustainable marketing, particularly in the context of rapidly urbanising developing economies such as India. Despite rising environmental awareness among Indian consumers, a persistent attitude-action gap continues to impede actual green purchase behaviour. This chapter examines the determinants of green consumer behaviour in urban India, with a particular focus on environmental awareness, eco-labelling recognition, price sensitivity, and the mediating role of green purchase intention. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) framework, the chapter investigates how attitudinal and normative factors interact with economic constraints to shape sustainable consumption choices. The analysis integrates insights from primary consumer surveys, policy documents, and secondary data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and the Labour Bureau. Findings reveal that although urban Indian consumers demonstrate moderate-to-high environmental awareness, their green purchase decisions are significantly moderated by perceived price premium, greenwashing scepticism, and information asymmetry. The chapter also highlights the distinctive role of workplace sustainability norms in shaping employee-consumer green behaviour, connecting organisational HRM practices with individual consumption choices. Policy implications for businesses, marketers, and regulators are discussed, with recommendations to bridge the attitude-action gap through transparent eco-labelling, competitive green pricing strategies, and targeted awareness campaigns.

Download Full Paper: