GREEN MARKETING AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE PURCHASE DECISION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON STUDENTS FROM KING ABDUL AZIZ UNIVERSITY IN JEDDAH

Abstract

Environmental crisis that our world faces, are the motive to many countries, institutions and individuals to support and innovate policies and programs which protect the environment, preserve and sustain it. Bad marketing practices are one of these crises that harmed the environment from one side and the costumer in another side. In response to these considerations, green marketing appeared in the beginning of nineties decade of the last century as a solution to this crisis.

This research aims was informing consumers about green marketing, evaluating their environmental awareness,  identifing factors affecting when making a purchase decision, and eliciating useful recommendations and proposals.

Students of King AbdulAziz University at Jeddah were considered to determine if they considered green marketing when they made purchases. Of the 383 surveyed students, 46.6% became aware of green marketing through the distributed survey while 15.6% heared about it through television and15.6% through internet. When asked about the extent of awareness of green marketing (not aware, low awareness, medium awareness or high awareness), 40.7% replied that they have low awareness. Statistical tests showed that there was correlation between gender and level of study of consumer and green marketing awareness. It also showed that there was no correlation between age and income and green marketing awareness. The respondents had positive trend throw buying green products,the pollution of the environment and Rationalization of consumption. This implies businesses can use green marketing to promote their products. It also implies a bright future for green marketing if there were efforts to increase awareness.