Author(s): Chandan Parsad, Vinita S. Sahay, Soumyajyoti Banerjee
As the world acknowledged the adverse effects of climate change, economies, governments, communities, and religions worldwide started taking stock of environmental concerns. Consequently, most major religions began focusing on the ecosystem. Although contemporary research on religion has progressed, not enough has been done to correlate religiousness and environmental behaviour. Traditionally research has focused more on children, youth, and families and has generally ignored emerging adults. However, emerging adults are significantly different from others and have more disposable income to purchase eco-friendly products. This study explores the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity on eco-friendly consumption behaviour of emerging adults. Emerging adults are significantly different from others and have more disposable income to purchase eco-friendly products. We used a convenience sampling method to collect data from three hundred twenty-three Hindu respondents in ten prominent Indian cities and analyzed the proposed model using SEM. The results indicate that intrinsic religiosity significantly influences emerging adults' attitudes towards ecological problems and their intention to purchase eco-friendly products. The study also emphasizes collaboration among government, business, and religious institutions to raise consumers' awareness of environmental sustainability.