Study on the impact of haze pollution on residents' green consumption behavior: the case of Shandong Province

At present, Chinese residents have been suffering from the influence of air pollution, especially haze pollution. However, residents' consumption is also one of the main sources of haze pollution. Therefore, residents' green consumption can reduce haze pollution. This paper is to explore the impact of haze pollution on residents' green consumption behavior. Shandong Province is taken as the illustrative case to carry on the empirical analysis. Firstly, the grounded theory is used to develop the residents' green consumption behavior model affected by haze pollution. Secondly, based on the data obtained by investigation, the structural equation model is used to test the theoretical model. Finally, the hierarchical regression model is utilized to study the moderating effect of situational variables on residents' green consumption behavior. The green consumption willingness (GCW) has a significant positive driving effect on green consumption behavior. Furthermore, the haze pollution perception (HPP) plays the most positive role in promoting green consumption willingness, followed by behavioral constrain (BC) and haze mitigation responsibility (HMR). Among all situational variables, the government incentive (IM) has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between green consumption willingness and invested green consumption behavior (IGCB). However, publicity and education activities (PEA) have a reverse moderating effect on the relationship between green consumption willingness and invested green consumption behavior. The difference of the impact of age, income, occupation and household structure on habitual green consumption behavior (HGCB) is significant. However, there are significant differences in the effects of age, income, and educational background on invested green consumption behavior. According to the results received in this paper, more policy recommendations are presented.