This study examines how environmental knowledge and peer influence shape Chinese consumers’ green purchasing intention. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, the research develops and tests a structural model using validated multi-item measures and confirmatory factor analysis to establish reliability and validity. The analysis shows that environmental knowledge strengthens favorable evaluations of environmentally friendly products and lowers perceived uncertainty at the point of choice. Peer influence operates through injunctive and descriptive norms, providing social approval and behavioral cues that support intention formation in a collectivist context. The results highlight complementary cognitive and normative pathways to green intention and indicate that information-centered strategies should be combined with social design features and enabling choice architecture. The study contributes context-specific evidence to the consumer sustainability literature and offers practical guidance for firms and policymakers seeking to narrow the attitude to behavior gap and encourage consistent green purchasing in China.
Lu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.