Presenting the conceptual framework of in-store factors affecting green consumption behavior

Introduction: With increasing environmental concerns regarding the negative consequences of industrial activities, nowadays green consumption behavior and the movement towards "going green" has become one of the main paradigms in the business field; Because the organization's green actions are not only important from the environmental aspect; It also causes the good reputation of the organization and thus creates a strong relationship between the organization and the customers; A category that is the ultimate goal of all organizations in today's highly competitive world. The scientific contribution of this article is to help strengthen the literature in the field of retail management (especially domestic literature) and show directions for further research. From a practical point of view, this article, by emphasizing the importance of green visual marketing as a sustainability-oriented management strategy, increases retail managers' awareness of the key role of store interior layout in realizing green consumption behavior. Due to the environmental problems caused by business activities in recent years, attention has been paid to the green measures of companies to solve environmental problems. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of the impact of green visual marketing on green consumption behavior.
Methods: This study aims to provide a conceptual framework of in-store factors affecting green consumption behavior. The research method of the current research is descriptive-correlation type and according to the application of the results in improving the performance of the organization, it is practical in terms of purpose and it is carried out in a cross-sectional way in terms of time. The statistical population includes all customers of the chain store of Afogh Korosh in Tehran (unlimited population). Based on this and using Cochran's formula, a sample size of 384 people was selected. The necessary data to answer the research questions were collected through an adapted questionnaire. To measure green visual marketing from the questionnaire of Sadakar et al. (2022); To measure green consumption behavior from the scale of Ali et al. (2023) including 5 items, to evaluate the green design in the store using the questionnaire of Jaha et al. (2023), to measure the green attitude from the 6-question questionnaire of Soharanto et al. Ecologically, the three-question questionnaire of Chi et al. (2021), for measuring green packaging, the questionnaire of Vandosel et al. (2021), and the questionnaire of Petro et al. The questions of the questionnaire are organized on the basis of a five-point Likert scale. To check the validity of the questionnaire from the construct validity (external model). Convergent validity (AVE) and divergent validity were used. In order to calculate the reliability, composite reliability (CR) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of each factor were calculated. The combined reliability and Cronbach's alpha of all dimensions should be greater than 0.7. Descriptive statistics methods such as frequency distribution tables and inferential statistical methods and partial least squares technique have been used to investigate the research hypotheses. Also, the data obtained was analyzed using Spss23 and Smart PLS statistical software.

Findings: The results of the research hypotheses test showed that green green visual marketing has a positive and significant effect on green design inside the store, green packaging and ecological label. It was also found that green communication moderates the relationship between green visual marketing with environmental interest, green in-store design, and eco-labeling. It was also found that the ecological label, green design inside the store and green packaging all have a positive and significant effect on the green attitude. Finally, it was found that green attitude has a significant effect on green consumption behavior.
Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in the first three hypotheses of the research, it was found that green visual marketing has a significant effect on green design inside the store, ecological label and green packaging. One of the goals of the actions that are followed under the green visual marketing is that through the use of elements that support the environment, a positive view of the environment can be institutionalized in the minds of customers. On the other hand, such an approach makes them use products with green packaging and ecological labels, all of which affect the emotions and perceptions of customers. The results obtained are in line with the findings of Sina et al. (2023) and Do et al. . One of the remarkable results in this research was that it was determined that the relationship between green visual marketing and other variables is affected by the green communication of sales personnel; A category that has been less discussed in previous researches. This finding emphasizes the importance of customer-seller relationships as a complementary factor in the effectiveness of store green measures. This green awareness in the organization creates an environment that supports the environment inside the store and on the other hand, it helps to engrave environmental concepts in the minds of customers. In a number of studies that have been done before, the importance of green communication has been pointed out as an effective factor in the effectiveness of green visual marketing measures (Haneh et al., 2023; Abdul Aziz et al., 2024). Also, the results obtained in this research showed that all three factors of green design in the store, ecological label and green packaging have a positive and significant effect on green attitude. According to the theory of rational behavior as well as the theory of planned behavior, human behavior is influenced by his attitude. If we consider the green attitude of customers as a conscious behavior to protect the environment through innovative and innovative actions, then we can expect that this conscious behavior originates from a person's positive attitude towards the environment, which is also the case in previous researches. It has been mentioned (Bhutto et al., 2020). On the other hand, customers' green and pro-environment behaviors largely depend on the environmental elements inside the store - including the ecological label and green packaging - and this issue has been mentioned in previous articles as well (Farooq et al., 2021). Finally, it should be pointed out that part of people's behavior is caused by their feelings (and not only their perceptions). From this point of view, it can be said that if a person has a lot of environmental concern and interest, then the probability of green behaviors to help the environment will increase; A problem that other researchers have also pointed out (Kazi et al., 2020). Finally, the results of this research show that the green attitude of customers has a positive and significant effect on green consumption behavior. Although the organization's movement towards green consumption behavior depends on long-term policies and plans that are determined by senior managers; But it is the customers of the organization who translate all plans into practical actions; Therefore, the more "green" the customers' behavior is (Abbas et al., 2021). On the other hand, the green attitude of the customers will cause the customers to provide their green and environmental ideas to the managers of the organization (positive feedback towards green measures), which can have an impact on the environmental orientation of the future plans of the organization. In this regard, Lu (2021) has also pointed out the effects of customers' green attitude towards moving towards green consumption behavior.