Identity-Based Motivation and Green Purchase Intentions: The Mediating Role of Conspicuous Signaling

This study examines how moral identity shapes green purchase intentions among young consumers in an emerging market context, and why identity-driven morality often requires expressive pathways to become behaviorally effective. Drawing on Identity-Based Motivation Theory, the study distinguishes between moral identity internalization and symbolization and propose that their effects on green purchase intentions operate through Green Conspicuous Consumption Motives (GCCM). Survey data from 206 students and young professionals in Ghana were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that neither dimension of moral identity directly predicts green purchase intentions. Instead, moral identity internalization significantly predicts self-oriented GCCM, while moral identity symbolization predicts other-oriented GCCM. Both forms of GCCM, in turn, positively influence green purchase intentions. These results indicate that moral identity motivates green consumption primarily when it can be affirmed or communicated through visible, identity-expressive behaviour. This study makes three key contributions. First, it clarifies mixed findings in prior research by showing that moral identity influences green consumption indirectly rather than directly. Second, it extends Identity-Based Motivation Theory by identifying conspicuous consumption motives as a critical mechanism linking identity to sustainable behaviour. Third, by focusing on Ghana, it broadens the geographic scope of green consumption research and highlights the growing role of digital self-presentation in shaping ethical consumption among youth in emerging markets.