9th Student Research Conference in Marketing (SRCM) - 2025
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Item The Impact of Greenwashing on Green Purchase Intention with The Moderating Effect of Green Skepticism in the Organic Food Industry in Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2025) Cooray, M. A. R.; Mirando, U. J.Green marketing has grown rapidly in recent years, and businesses have used it to outperform their competitors. Greenwashing has become a critical factor in the organic food industry, especially in developing country markets such as Sri Lanka, where consumer trust plays a crucial role in green purchasing intention. While previous studies have been conducted in Western countries, this study in Sri Lanka is an attempt to partially fill the discrepancy. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of greenwashing on green purchase intention while investigating green skepticism as a moderating variable in the organic food industry in Sri Lanka. The researcher can extend the moderating effect of the factor of green skepticism among greenwashing and green purchase intention, which has been less used in previous studies. The researcher has developed a conceptual framework to examine the impact of greenwashing and green purchase intention in the Organic Food Industry in Sri Lanka. The variable green skepticism is also considered to examine the moderating effect of the above relationship. This study has adopted a positivism research philosophy, and the researcher has used a quantitative methodological approach to examine causal relationships between the variables. This was cross-sectional descriptive research based on an online survey method and data were collected using a structured questionnaire and a 5-point Likert scale-based measure of the dimensions of greenwashing, green purchase intention and green skepticism. The questionnaire includes seven dimensions of greenwashing, five dimensions of green purchase intention and four dimensions of green skepticism. The sample consisted of 384 Sri Lankan consumer respondents. The researcher has used the convenience sample technique under the non-probability sampling method. Two hypotheses were developed based on literature and hypotheses were tested using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) with Hayes process model and simple regression analysis. After in-depth analysis, the researcher obtained the findings explained below. The study indicates that greenwashing has a significant negative impact on green purchase intention and significantly impacted green skepticism between greenwashing and green purchase intention in the organic food industry in Sri Lanka. This study’s results reveal that greenwashing impacts green purchase intention. The study highlights useful data to assist practitioners in addressing these issues and emphasizes the significance of decreasing greenwashing for increasing green purchase intention. The findings offer recommendations for further study in countries that are developing as well as implications for businesses that seek to increase the consumption of organic foods and decrease green skepticism. The researcher has considered only the moderating effect of green skepticism, as there may be other variables that mediate or moderate the relationship between greenwashing and green purchase intention. Future researchers could explore the mediating and moderating impact of other factors overlooked in the current study, such as perceived risks, environmental concerns, and customer attitudes, information and knowledge that might affect the association between greenwashing and green purchase intention.Item Impact of Consumer Attitude on Consumer Buying Behavior with the Moderating Effects of Price Sensitivity and Consumer Trust with Special Reference to the Organic Food Industry Western Province in Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2025) Dileesha, W. M. N.; Mirando, U. J.The organic food industry in Sri Lanka, especially in the Western Province, has shown significant growth in recent years due to increasing consumer awareness of health and sustainability. Understanding consumer attitudes and their impact on purchasing behavior is crucial for effectively targeting and retaining consumers in this emerging market as well as for business survival. In today's health-conscious society, there is a strong demand for organic foods. Consumers look for more information when buying organic food than when buying conventional food. In some cases, when buying organic food, there is doubt in society about whether the food is organic food. There is a question in the market that needs to be researched in this field to find out the reason why the price of organic food is higher than non-organic food and how price sensitivity influences consumer behavior. Along with knowledgeable and educated consumers, consumption could be raised on another level. Do people who talk about sustainability and organic pay attention to sustainability and organic when they buy in the market? Or whether they buy non-organic items and don't buy organic items because their prices are high or because of a no belief that the vegetables are organic or not, no study has been done specifically for vegetables. limited product choice, high price, consumer distrust toward organic products, satisfaction with conventional food, or a lack of consumers perceived differences in the taste of organic products. In recent decades, there has been extensive growth in the global demand for organic. There is no recent study on how consumer trust and price sensitivity affect buying attitudes and buying behavior and there is no study that correlates these variables. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of consumer attitudes on purchasing behavior in the organic food sector while also examining the moderating effects of price sensitivity and consumer trust. This research takes a deductive research approach. The research utilized a quantitative approach, with primary data collected from 384 respondents in the Western Province of Sri Lanka through a structured questionnaire. Data collection is one of the important steps within the research study. It will be facilitated testing the hypothesis and to guarantee the representativeness of the population the random sampling method was consumers. The standard questionnaire was distributed among the current and potential organic food consumers. The questionnaire used a five-point Likert scale to indicate the respondents’ ideas. Convenience sampling was employed to construct the sampling framework. The data were analyzed usindescriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis with IBM SPSS Statistics 23 to identify the relationships between key variables. The findings suggest that consumer attitude significantly influences purchasing behavior, with positive attitudes toward organic food leading to higher purchase intentions. These suggestions for future research can help deepen our understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviors toward organic food products in Sri Lanka, as well as provide insights that can inform marketing strategies, product development, and industry policymaking. Price sensitivity was found to moderate this relationship, as price-sensitive consumers are less likely to translate favorable attitudes into actual purchases. Normally, consumer trust in organic food labels and certifications emerged as a critical moderator, enhancing the strength of the relationship between attitude and purchasing behavior. These results underscore the importance of building trust and addressing price concerns to increase consumer engagement in the organic food market. This research contributes to the existing literature by providing insight into the interplay between consumer attitudes, price sensitivity, and trust in the organic food industry. The study offers useful practical recommendations for marketers, including strategies to enhance consumer trust with transparency and education, and ways to reduce price sensitivity through targeted promotions. This study is important for several reasons. It is important for businesses operating in the organic food industry to understand consumer behavior, which will help them develop and implement effective marketing strategies and policies. It also suggests future research directions, focusing on exploring the influence of physiological, cultural, and demographic factors on purchasing behavior in the organic food sector. The research study has several limitations that affect the generalizability and robustness of its findings. Its geographical focus is limited to the Western Province of Sri Lanka, limiting the applicability of the results to other regions with different economic conditions and cultural backgrounds. A limitation of the study is that it did not use a longitudinal data system. The data used here is cross-sectional. Relying on surveys as the primary data collection method may introduce participant self-reporting errors and biases.