Background: Ordering online food delivery has become an urban lifestyle for many people around the world, especially in China. The booming of this online-to-offline market has brought lucrative profits to online food delivery industry players, while consumers are enjoying the diversity of food available through this convenient delivery way. However, the environmental issues are also alarming with huge impact on every aspect of human development. This paper is interested in whether the Chinese Generation Z is thinking green when ordering food online.

Purpose: The study aims to examine the effect of different influencing factors on Generation Z’s green consumer behaviour in three stages: purchasing, using and disposing for a holistic view. This also serves the purpose of an adaptation of relevant theories in green consumer behaviour studies such as theory of planned behaviour and ecological conscious consumer behaviour framework into the Chinese online food delivery industry.

Method: A quantitative research was conducted based on a hypothesised model aiming to analyse the causal relationships between 5 factors (perceived consumer behaviour, environmental control, altruism, narcissism and subjective norm) and ECCB, together with the purchasing, using and disposing stages. 326 valid responses were collected from an online survey for the data analysis procedures in SPSS and SPSS Amos. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were among the analysis methods conducted.

Conclusion: Subjective norm, narcissism, and perceived consumer effectiveness were found to have significant positive effects on green consumer behaviour among the five proposed predictors for Chinese Generation Z. The most impactful determinant is narcissism, followed by subjective norm and lastly, perceived consumer effectiveness.