Environmental guilt and cultural values explain how green identity shapes sustainable skincare purchase intention among Arab Generation Z

Abstract

This study explains why Generation Z consumers in Arab markets form intentions to purchase sustainable skincare products and clarifies the psychological mechanism through which green self-identities are converted into intention. Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior with constructs derived from value-belief-norm theorizing (green self-identity and eco-guilt), a Green Influencer Marketing (GIM) construct measured with a validated eight-item scale and modelled as a single reflective composite, appearance-related social media consciousness, and the horizontal-vertical individualism-collectivism framework, the study positions eco-guilt as the mediating mechanism and appearance-related social media consciousness and vertical collectivism as moderating boundary conditions. Data were collected in January 2026 through an online survey of Generation Z consumers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar; after screening and the exclusion of fifteen underage respondents, 369 adult responses (ages 18 to 29) were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 4 with 10,000 percentile bootstrap subsamples. The findings show that the model explains 78.3% of the variance in purchase intention with strong out-of-sample predictive relevance (Q²predict = 0.734). Attitude, eco-guilt, GIM, vertical collectivism, horizontal individualism, and vertical individualism exert significant positive effects, whereas subjective norms exert a significant negative effect and perceived behavioral control and horizontal collectivism are non-significant. Green self-identity influences intention entirely indirectly through eco-guilt (indirect effect = 0.159, 95% CI [0.100, 0.219]), appearance-related social media consciousness attenuates the GIM effect, and vertical collectivism strengthens the identity-intention link. The pattern is consistent with identity-based sustainability dispositions requiring moral-emotional activation and with cultural hierarchy licensing their behavioural expression, although the cross-sectional design does not permit causal inference. Theoretically, the study clarifies the mechanism connecting self-identities to intention and identifies two boundary conditions of digital and cultural origin; practically, it directs sustainable beauty brands toward moral-emotional framing, relational rather than appearance-centric green influencer strategies, and family- and duty-anchored positioning in Arab markets.