Green Brand Positioning and Consumer Purchase Intention: The Dual Mediating Roles of Self-Image and Functional Congruence

With growing environmental consciousness and projections that green markets will represent 10% of global market value by 2030, a significant gap persists between consumers' stated environmental concerns and actual purchasing behavior for green products. This study investigates how green brand positioning influences consumer purchase intention for green technology products, examining the mediating roles of self-image congruence and functional congruence, and the moderating effects of product involvement level and product optionality. A quantitative survey was conducted with 354 US participants who possess at least a bachelor's degree and have experience with technology products, using validated scales to measure green brand positioning, congruence factors, and purchase intentions through structural equation modeling and mediation analysis. The findings demonstrate a significant positive relationship between green brand positioning and purchase intention (β = 0.775, p < 0.001). Self-image congruence partially mediated this relationship, accounting for 21.5% of the total effect, while functional congruence also served as a significant mediator. Product involvement level positively moderated the mediation effect of self-image congruence, whereas product optionality negatively moderated the mediation effect of functional congruence. Green brand positioning effectively enhances purchase intention when consumers perceive alignment with their environmental self-image and when products maintain functional equivalence to non-green alternatives. Companies should focus on building environmental self-congruence while ensuring product quality to maximize green marketing effectiveness and bridge the intention-behavior gap.