Understanding Green Purchase Behavior. Is Gender Important?

Since the second half of the last century, with the increase in environmental degradation worldwide, the environment has been one of the most discussed topics by different segments of society, mobilizing not only civil society, but also governments and policy makers from all regions of the world. Environmental protection has undoubtedly become a common understanding and a global development strategy, in which all countries, without exception, have duties and obligations in environmental governance. Purchasing environmentally friendly products, also known as green products, is an effective way to protect the environment. The main purpose of this research is to explore and understand the importance and the effect of the individuals` socioeconomic characteristics on their green purchase behavior, with particular emphasis to gender. To this end, it was used a set of data gathered trough an online survey conducted during the month of march 2021 among the population over 18 years old residing in Portugal. Some data analysis techniques were used, including descriptive analyses and parametric and non-parametric tests. Our findings allow us to know better the Portuguese consumer of green products and to understand the importance of the individuals` socioeconomic characteristics as behavior determinants. Our findings also confirm the importance of the individuals` gender, since the results show that Portuguese women buy more environmentally friendly products and are more willing to buy more environmentally friendly products. Portuguese women also show a greater generational concern, a more positive attitude and a greater accessibility of information regarding green products. We also found significant differences regarding to subjective norms.