Drivers or Prerequisites? The Roles of Green Marketing, Digital Technology, and Green Products in Shaping Customer Behavior among MSME Customers in Batam City: A PLS-SEM and NCA Study

Green marketing does not necessarily translate into changes in customer behavior. This study examines the relationships of green marketing (GM), digital technology (DT), and green products (GP) with customer behavior (CB) among customers of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Batam City. It combines partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), necessary condition analysis (NCA), and predictive assessment. Questionnaire data were collected from 150 purposively selected MSME customers who had used an e-wallet for more than one year. PLS-SEM results showed that green products (β = 0.488, p < 0.001) and digital technology (β = 0.313, p = 0.003) were significant predictors of customer behavior, whereas green marketing was not (β = 0.118, p = 0.232). NCA, however, identified all three constructs as necessary conditions, with the largest necessity effect for green marketing (d = 0.260), followed by green products (d = 0.247) and digital technology (d = 0.152). PLSpredict and CVPAT results indicated better predictive performance than the benchmark models. The findings distinguish factors associated with customer behavior from conditions that may be necessary for achieving higher levels of that behavior. For MSMEs, they suggest attention to green product quality, digital convenience, and credible, evidence-based environmental communication. These results should be interpreted in light of the study’s sample and respondent-selection criteria.