Role of Social Media in Shaping Sustainable Buying Decisions

Abstract

Despite growing public concern for environmental sustainability, consumer markets continue to display inconsistent patterns of sustainable buying behavior (White, Habib, & Hardisty, 2019). While awareness has increased, actual purchasing decisions often fail to align with stated values, reflecting a persistent attitude–behavior gap (Carrington, Neville, & Whitwell, 2014). Social media has emerged as a central environment in which sustainability narratives are encountered, evaluated, and socially reinforced, yet its role in shaping real buying behavior remains underexplored. Prior research has relied heavily on purchase intentions, platform-neutral assumptions, and complex modeling approaches that obscure behavioral clarity (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006; Johnstone & Tan, 2015). This study addresses these gaps by examining how social media influence mechanisms affect consumers’ actual sustainable buying decisions. Using cross-sectional survey data collected from 412 active social media users, the study applies multiple regression analysis to assess the behavioral impact of social visibility, peer engagement, and influencer credibility. The findings indicate that social visibility and perceived influencer credibility significantly predict sustainable purchasing behavior, while passive exposure alone does not translate into action. Peer engagement effects emerge as conditional rather than uniform, suggesting that sustainability-related interaction must be socially meaningful to shape behavior. By focusing on actual purchase decisions rather than intentions, this study provides clearer behavioral evidence of how social media operates as a decision environment, with implications for sustainability theory and communication practice.