A study on factors in electric vehicle's purchase intention of Chinese consumers

Abstract

Purpose - In China, electric vehicle industry has been increased attention as a environmental friendly transportation to solve pollution problems, and still growing to solve a technological gap issues in automobile industry. Although the interest of electric vehicle is getting bigger, there are not many studies that showing consumers' intention to purchase an electric vehicle. Because of this phenomenon, this study tried to find the factors which can affect the purchase intention of electric vehicle. Research design, data, and methodology - Drawing on the Planned Behavior Theory(TPB), this study examined attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm of environmental protection, and the influence of economic benefits on purchase intention through survey. we measure 233 Chinese samples. Results - The results showed that attitude toward electric vehicles, subjective norms of environmental protection, and economic benefits had a significant effect on purchase intention. To be specific, the consciousness of environmental protection, economic considerations, product image and its characteristic are all considerable aspects from the standpoint of Chinese consumers. In addition, we found that the higher the age group, the weaker relationship between attitude toward electric vehicle and purchase intention. Conclusion - This study suggests that diverse factors related to the purchase intention of electric car in China market and Chinese consumers. Especially, economic benefit factors, which have a statistically significant and significant influence on the purchase intention of electric vehicles, are not significant variables in the existing electric vehicle research. This result is considered to be the result of the fact that the electric vehicle is not only an automobile having an environmentally friendly factor but also a product which makes it consider the economic situation. Put together, the results of this paper give us the theoretical basis for establishing an electric vehicle marketing strategy in the rapidly changing Chinese market. Also, this paper will provide new ventures for marketing and distribution strategies for Korean companies that are looking to expand into China.