Analysing the Ethical Factors Affecting the Purchasing Behaviour of University Youth in the Digital Environment with Extended Planned Behaviour Theory (TPB)

Ethical values, which have become one of the most prominent issues of the digital age, have started to guide consumption behaviour. This situation becomes much more important for businesses in terms of an- alysing consumer behaviour in a country with a young population like Türkiye. This research aims to examine the ethical factors affecting young consumers’ purchasing behaviour in the digital age by extend- ing the TPB theory. In accordance with the purpose of the research, ethical considerations (EC) and trust (TR) were added to TPB. In this way, TPB has gained functionality in terms of explaining ethical con- sumption behaviour as well as adding depth to the study. The proposed research model was tested using the structural equation modelling technique. The convenience sampling method was benefited for this research and the necessary data for the analyses were collected from 333 young consumers, providing adequate data for the sample size, between the ages of 18-25 with the help of face-to-face surveys. Find- ings show that the EC has a partial mediating effect on the relation- ships of attitude (AT), perceived behavioural control (PBC) and trust (TR) with the purchase intention (PI) v. AT, PBC and TR have both direct and indirect effects on the formation of purchasing intention. There is no significant effect of the subjective norms (SN) to purchase intention. The R² value of the PI is 0.41. This value provides a stron- ger explanation for purchasing behaviour than the original model. The research not only provides an understanding of the consumption be- haviours of young consumers in terms of ethical values in today’s dig- ital age but also provides important data to businesses and researchers in this field.