How does green suit me? Consumers mentally match perceived product attributes with their domain-specific motives when making green purchase decisions
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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In: Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. 13, No. 5, 01.09.2014, p. 317-327.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - How does green suit me? Consumers mentally match perceived product attributes with their domain-specific motives when making green purchase decisions
AU - Hahnel, Ulf J.J.
AU - Gölz, Sebastian
AU - Spada, Hans
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2014/9/1
Y1 - 2014/9/1
N2 - Nowadays, environment-friendly products are widely accepted by society. However, market share of sustainable technologies demanding higher investments or behavioral changes is rather small, indicating that consumers seem to generally approve of sustainable products, but rarely perceive them as being compatible with their needs. The present research introduces a model emphasizing the importance of consumers perceiving the product as being suitable to match their motives relevant to the product domain. In investigating a sample of 531 car drivers, the hypothesized model was tested in the realm of a highly relevant sustainable product: electric vehicles (EVs). Findings based on structural equation modeling showed that participants' perceived matching with EV attributes was related to their domain-specific motives (hedonic, freedom, ecological, and financial motives) and a global preference towards the product. Specific to sustainable products, ecological motives strongly influenced participants' matching processes by positively affecting perceived matching with all product attributes. Participants' purchase intentions, in turn, were strongly affected by their perceived matching of the product with their motives. The added value of the model with respect to self-image theories and implications for sustainable product marketing are examined through discussion.
AB - Nowadays, environment-friendly products are widely accepted by society. However, market share of sustainable technologies demanding higher investments or behavioral changes is rather small, indicating that consumers seem to generally approve of sustainable products, but rarely perceive them as being compatible with their needs. The present research introduces a model emphasizing the importance of consumers perceiving the product as being suitable to match their motives relevant to the product domain. In investigating a sample of 531 car drivers, the hypothesized model was tested in the realm of a highly relevant sustainable product: electric vehicles (EVs). Findings based on structural equation modeling showed that participants' perceived matching with EV attributes was related to their domain-specific motives (hedonic, freedom, ecological, and financial motives) and a global preference towards the product. Specific to sustainable products, ecological motives strongly influenced participants' matching processes by positively affecting perceived matching with all product attributes. Participants' purchase intentions, in turn, were strongly affected by their perceived matching of the product with their motives. The added value of the model with respect to self-image theories and implications for sustainable product marketing are examined through discussion.
KW - Consumer motives
KW - Electric vehicles
KW - Perceived matching
KW - Pro-environmental motives
KW - Purchase decisions
KW - Sustainable consumption
KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908283109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cb.1471
DO - 10.1002/cb.1471
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:84908283109
VL - 13
SP - 317
EP - 327
JO - Journal of Consumer Behaviour
JF - Journal of Consumer Behaviour
SN - 1472-0817
IS - 5
ER -