Intention and behavior towards bringing your own shopping bags when shopping instead of using plastic bags in Vietnam: an investigation using the theory of interpersonal behavior

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting Vietnamese consumers' intention and behavior towards “bringing your own shopping bags” (BYOB) instead of using plastic bags based on the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB).

Design/methodology/approach

We used a combination of in-depth interview and large-scale survey methods with the official research sample of 536 Vietnamese consumers to explore the relationship among factors in the research model including: attitude, affect, social factor, facilitating conditions, intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags. The collected data went through quantitative analysis steps including Cronbach's Alpha reliability test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) for scales and hypotheses testing.

Findings

The results show that intention towards BYOB has a positive effect on consumers' behavior towards BYOB. Facilitating conditions have a stronger and more positive influence than attitude and affect intention towards BYOB. Meanwhile, the hypothesis about the relationship between social factors and intention towards BYOB was rejected by this study.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this paper is that the findings of the present study are limited to elements of the TIB.

Practical implications

Based on the results of the study, we made some suggestions for state management agencies and retailers to promote intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags.

Originality/value

This study applies the TIB to understand the relationship between factors such as attitude, affect, social factors and facilitating conditions on intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags.

Citation

Nguyen, T.P.L., Tran, N.M., Phan, T.T.H., Vu, T.N., Tran, M.L. and Nguyen, T.D. (2022), "Intention and behavior towards bringing your own shopping bags when shopping instead of using plastic bags in Vietnam: an investigation using the theory of interpersonal behavior", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 1439-1456. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-09-2021-0230