Consumer eco-innovation adoption: Assessing attitudinal factors and perceived product characteristics

Abstract

For business and environmental reasons, increased understanding of green consumer behavior is essential. This paper addresses consumer adoption and non-adoption of a high involvement eco-innovation (the alternative fuel vehicle, AFV). The purpose is to integrate two research streams to explore factors driving and hindering adoption. The factors are rooted in environmental psychology research and the diffusion of innovation literature. Survey results on Swedish car owners are reported. The results indicate that adopters and non-adopters differ on norms, attitudes, novelty seeking and on how innovation attributes are perceived. Furthermore, the results show that the groups rank car attributes such as fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions differently. The main contribution of the paper is the integration of norms and attitudes together with consumer adoption factors in analyzing green consumer behavior in relation to a high involvement product. The implications for business and marketing strategy and for environmental policy are discussed. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.