Green consumer behaviour: an experimental analysis of willingness to pay for remanufactured products

Products' end‐of‐life management has recently become a critical business issue. One of the possible end‐of‐life strategies is remanufacturing, which can provide competitive advantages through material and energy savings. Beyond industrial organization challenges, there is a question about the interest of developing a green marketing strategy for remanufactured products. Indeed, remanufactured products can be considered as green products since their industrial process has environmental benefits. Our paper asks whether consumers are willing to pay for remanufactured products, especially when they are informed that these products are ‘green’. We use experimental auctions to elicit consumers' WTP for specific characteristics of remanufactured products. Our study indicates that consumers tend to value the remanufactured product less than the conventional one unless they are informed about their respective environmental impacts. We find no evidence that consumers are willing to pay a premium for the green (i.e. remanufactured) product. However, providing environmental information to consumers has an effect on their WTP for the conventional product: they generally decrease significantly their WTP for the conventional (and thus most polluting) product. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Determinants of consumer demand for circular economy products. A case for reuse and remanufacturing for sustainable development

We investigate determinants of consumer demand for circular (reused and remanufactured) products. Based on exploratory choice-based conjoint experiments with a sample of 800 adults in the United Kingdom, we examine two types of premium segment electronic appliances: a mobile phone and a robot vacuum cleaner. We find that consumers prefer partly circulated products over fully or not at all circulated products and that circular products can likely successfully enter the existing market at the retail price of a new product. Interestingly, circular products compete for market share primarily with new products, leaving the market share of second-hand options less affected. The results show a promising path for firms considering a transition to circular business models.     

The effect of human image in B2C website design: an eye-tracking study

On B2C shopping websites, effective visual designs can bring about consumers’ positive emotional experience. From this perspective, this article developed a research model to explore the impact of human image as a visual element on consumers’ online shopping emotions and subsequent attitudes towards websites. This study conducted an eye-tracking experiment to collect both eye movement data and questionnaire data to test the research model. Questionnaire data analysis showed that product pictures combined with human image induced positive emotions among participants, thus promoting their attitudes towards online shopping websites. Specifically, product pictures with human image first produced higher levels of image appeal and perceived social presence, thus stimulating higher levels of enjoyment and subsequent positive attitudes towards the websites. Moreover, a moderating effect of product type was demonstrated on the relationship between the presence of human image and the level of image appeal. Specifically, human image significantly increased the level of image appeal when integrated in entertainment product pictures while this relationship was not significant in terms of utilitarian products. Eye-tracking data analysis further supported these results and provided plausible explanations. The presence of human image significantly increased the pupil size of participants regardless of product types. For entertainment products, participants paid more attention to product pictures integrated with human image whereas for utilitarian products more attention was paid to functional information of products than to product pictures no matter whether or not integrated with human image.     

Toward a circular economy: Understanding consumers' moral stance on corporations' and individuals' responsibilities in creating a circular fashion economy

For long, the fashion industry has adopted the linear economy's “take-make-use-throwaway” system, an approach that has adverse side effects, such as economic loss, environmental destruction, and threats to human society. To address these adverse consequences from fashion's linear system, governments and business leaders are advocating the societal need for a shift from the linear economy to the circular economy, which endorses the “take-make-use-reuse” system. Despite the growing demand for changing to a circular economy in the fashion business (circular fashion [CF]), two critical issues remain understudied in the current literature. First, although academic research on CF has increased in the past 5 years, the lack of scalable CF research has hindered the industry's ability to increase its adoption of a truly circular economy. Second, although the fashion industry faces complex challenges in instituting CF in that just one supply chain member's (a fashion retailer's) commitment is not sufficient to create a truly CF without the involvement of others (consumers), there is yet no empirical research that investigates whether consumers morally support the idea of a CF and feel obliged to take part in fashion businesses' CF offerings. Thus, we investigate whether and how morally grounded traits—corporate moral responsibility (H1+), consumer moral responsibility (H2+), their interaction effect (H3), and corporate hypocrisy (H4−)—influence consumers' attitudes and engagement (H5+) toward fashion corporations' CF offerings. Our empirical evidence, using a U.S. consumer survey dataset of 351 responses, shows that all of these hypotheses are supported. The results provide important theoretical and managerial implications.     

基于不同类型消费者的再制造策略研究

本文对一个垄断制造商的再制造策略进行了研究。首先根据消费者对于再制造产品的接受程度把消费者分为两类，然后根据不同类型消费者的特点，给出了在不同的价格策略下，再制造产品和新产品的需求函数。据此本文建立了制造商的最优决策模型，并分别给出了制造商的最优价格策略。最后通过数值分析对结果进行了进一步的验证。     

Agent-based modeling of the word-of-mouth effect on promoting brand-name agricultural products

Developing brand agricultural products (BAPs) has become a strategic choice for consumption upgrading and agricultural modernization in China. As a powerful marketing method, word-of-mouth (WOM) is rarely applied to BAPs. Based on the particularity of the agricultural environment and products in China, this paper focuses on the WOM behavior of consumers regarding BAPs. An agent-based simulation model was designed, including attitude and motivation functions. The former determines consumers’ attitudes toward BAPs, whereas the latter determines whether consumers will spread information by WOM. The model was validated, and some parameters were measured through a survey of Beijing consumers. Then, experiments were conducted to simulate the evolution process of consumers’ attitudes and willingness to engage in WOM and the influence of consumer heterogeneity on WOM spreading. Exploratory findings mainly show that (1) only when the strength of WOM marketing reaches a certain degree can it affect consumer attitudes toward BAPs, (2) in the early stage of WOM spreading, the greater the strength of economic stimulation to consumers, the greater the rate of WOM communication, and (3) the higher the education level of the target group of WOM marketing, the higher the efficiency of WOM communication.

     

The impact of corporate social responsibility associations on trust in organic products marketed by mainstream retailers: a study of Italian consumers

This paper investigates the determinants of consumer attitudes toward organic products marketed by mainstream retailers under a private label. Since organic products are credence goods, consumers cannot directly verify whether these products comply with official standards. Organic labels are the primary source of consumer trust in organics, but these labels must be noticed and understood before consumers will actively seek them out. In that some consumers may not prioritize product labels when they shop, it is sometimes up to retailers to strengthen consumer trust. Within the antecedents of this trust, we isolated the contribution of the corporate social responsibility associations held by consumers about retailers. We surveyed Italian customers interested in organics and found that they are more likely to trust the private‐label organic products sold by a retailer when it is considered socially responsible. Our results also show that consumer trust translates into brand loyalty and a willingness to pay a premium price for organic products. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Konsumentenanimosität: State of the Art und Entwicklung eines kontextsensitiven Erklärungsansatzes

Research on consumer animosity indicates that consumers reject products because they hold hostile attitudes towards the products’ country of origin. As companies operating in foreign markets are facing serious challenges, marketing research has focused on the mechanisms by which animosity influences consumer perception and behavior. The present article reviews 44 relevant empirical studies to illustrate antecedents, moderators, and behavioral consequences of the animosity effect. The analysis reveals a lack of a sound theoretical foundation and it shows that prior studies disregard social influences. To overcome this gap, the present article develops a theory-driven model which suggests that the social animosity context interacts with feelings of animosity at an individual level. Based on this new approach, directions for future research and managerial implication are discussed.     

Optimal pricing for new and remanufactured products

This work investigates the optimal pricing of new and remanufactured products using a model of consumer preferences based on extensive experimentation. The experimental investigation reveals two distinct segments of consumers. One segment is relatively indifferent between new and remanufactured products and displays high sensitivity to price discounts. The second segment shows strong preferences for new products—with an accompanying aversion to remanufactured products—and realtively low sensitivity to price discounts. The pricing analysis examines several scenarios involving a new product manufacturer, ranging from a simple monopolist scenario to a more complex scenario involving competition with third-party remanufacturers. In contrast to the usual finding that new product prices should decrease when competitive remanufactured products enter the market, the introduction of market segments reveals a robust finding across all scenarios: when remanufactured products enter the market, the optimal price of the new product should increase. Through appropriate pricing of new products, the OEM can mitigate the effects of cannibalization and increase profitability.     

Does the configuration of macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments affect the effectiveness of green supply chain integration?

Despite the importance of the general environment in affecting the effectiveness of green supply chain integration (GSCI), our understanding of the roles of different configurations of macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments remains limited. Based on institutional theory and resource mobilization theory, this study examined the moderating effects of the configurations of macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments on the GSCI performance link employing both a configuration and a contingency perspective. Our findings from a longitudinal survey of 206 Chinese manufacturing firms provide empirical evidence for the coexistence and nature of macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments and their moderating effect on the GSCI performance link. Specifically, the results revealed that Chinese manufacturers can be clustered into three groups with different macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments (i.e., cognizant, sensible, and conscious manufacturers). Furthermore, the configuration of macro‐ and micro‐institutional environments moderates the effect of green supplier integration on social performance, as well as the effects of green customer integration on financial, environmental, and social performance. This study contributes to both the GSCI literature and practices.     

Circular Business Model Innovation: Inherent Uncertainties

Circular business models based on remanufacturing and reuse promise significant cost savings as well as radical reductions in environmental impact. Variants of such business models have been suggested for decades, and there are notable success stories such as the Xerox product–service offering based on photocopiers that are remanufactured. Still, we are not seeing widespread adoption in industry. This paper examines causes for reluctance. Drawing on a hypothesis‐testing framework of business model innovation, we show that circular business models imply significant challenges to proactive uncertainty reduction for the entrepreneur. Moreover, we show that many product–service system variants that facilitate return flow control in circular business models further aggravate the potential negative effects of failed uncertainty reduction because of increased capital commitments. Through a longitudinal action research study we also provide a counterexample to many of the challenges identified in previous studies, which could be overcome in the studied case. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware! environmental labelling and the limitations of ‘green’ consumerism

In recent years, the idea of ‘green’ or ‘political’ consumers expressing their political beliefs in everyday life has been widely embraced. Eager to satisfy the needs of this new market segment, firms have allocated substantial resources to environmental management, social accountability, corporate citizenship, occupational health and safety etc. During the 1990s, the industrialized world also witnessed a growing number of environmental labels, expected to guide the political consumers in their shopping decisions. Evaluations of these environmental labelling (eco‐labelling) programmes indicate that some labels and product groups receive a great deal of attention while others remain in obscurity. To understand these differences, the paper will discuss some of the factors that determine the market impact of environmental labelling. It is concluded that the concept of the ‘green’ consumer is over‐simplified and fails to capture the actual complexity of consumer values, attitudes and behaviour. The results are based on existing literature and our own empirical findings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sustainable consumption in China: New trends and research interests

China is currently the largest CO₂ emitter in the world and demonstrates one of the highest levels of energy consumption. The sustainable consumption behavior has increased in China, especially in urban cities. Some clear evidence of this includes food purchasing behavior. Recent studies have also suggested that considering full product information transparency, consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products. With this in mind, sustainable consumption must still be facilitated by related policies, regulations, and tools. This study focuses on sustainable consumption behavior in China and collects and analyzes the literature from the last decade (2007–2017) on the topic. In so doing, it highlights new trends and research topics against the background of circular economy development. The method of systematic review is applied. The review is categorized into several main groups: national policies and regulations, the green awareness of consumers, the definition of related concepts, the barriers between sustainable consumption and the circular economy, and the indicators for circular economy assessment in China. Future research directions are discussed. Furthermore, future challenges are addressed from three perspectives: sustainable consumption facilitating the circular economy, “cradle‐to‐cradle” practices, and the link between the European Union and China. This is a fundamental study in the research domain of sustainable consumption behavior. It provides added value that benefits both academic researchers and decision makers. It also sheds light on the further study of sustainable consumption behavior in China from a macroeconomic perspective.     

Toward Sustainable Livelihoods: Investigating the Drivers of Purchase Behavior for Green Products

Green consumption involves comprehensive concerns that address the broad scope of sustainability, ecosystem balance, profit‐generation and people. Identifying the factors that influence consumers' purchase behavior enables manufacturers to understand consumers' decision‐making processes and can help them develop more environmentally beneficial products. However, scholars have recently found that a gap exists between environmental concern and consumers' actual purchase behavior. The purpose of this paper is to use cognitive behavior theory to investigate the drivers of green consumption behavior and the missing link in the concern–behavior gap. After collecting 375 valid questionnaires, this study validated the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling. The revised model indicates that environmental involvement, informational utility, green advertising skepticism and green trust are antecedent variables of consumer attitudes toward green products. Additionally, this study also provides a possible explanation of and remedies for the concern–behavior gap. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

When do corporate social responsibility initiatives impact on customer-facing employees? Evidence from India and the Netherlands

The vast majority of the extant literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has focused on the macro (firm) level of analysis by examining the linkage between CSR and firm-level outcomes. As such, very few studies have focused on the micro (individual) level of analysis. Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on the individual level of analysis thereby contributing to the emerging psychology of CSR literature, which considers employees' perceptions of their employing organizations' social actions as more important than organizations' objective CSR performance (Rupp, Shao, Thornton and Skarlicki (2013), ‘Applicants’ and Employees’ Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of First-Party Justice Perceptions and Moral Identity,’ Personnel Psychology, 66, 895–933). Moreover, the study is one of the first examining the role of context in employee attitudes toward CSR. In particular, it builds on the psychology of CSR (e.g. Rupp et al. 2013) literature to propose a research framework that delineates the moderating effects of satisfaction with payment, satisfaction with the job itself and individualism in the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) perceptions and customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes. Data are collected from customer-facing employees in two major organizations in the Netherlands and India. Results suggest a complex interplay between CSP perceptions and the two facets of job satisfaction, and that national context is likely to moderate the contingent effects of CSP perceptions on customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes.     

Green segmentation and environmental certification: insights from forest products

Firms engage in environmental marketing in order to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. Within the context of the forest product industry, this research uses data from two studies to empirically test whether a relationship exists between demographic/psychographic characteristics and reported environmentally conscious intentions. In both studies, the results indicate that the environmental marketing of certified/ecolabeled forest products appeals to a segment of environmentally conscious consumers. This appeal occurs for both a value‐added product (furniture) and a non‐value‐added product (plywood). Thus, there is support for the argument that environmental marketing to environmentally conscious consumers can result in ‘green segmentation’. Key findings from this study suggest that those consumers reporting the strongest preferences for environmentally certified forest products were more willing to pay a premium for certified products, more likely to display environmentally conscious behavior and more likely to perceive that green consumer purchases effectively benefit the environment. These characteristics were most common among females and those familiar with the concept of environmental certification. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and EPR Environment.     

企业微博信息的双面性对消费者购买意愿的影响

本文研究微博信息的双面性对消费者购买意愿的影响,以及信息来源与受众特征对这种影响的调节作用。基于耶鲁学派及ELM等说服理论,本文建立了概念模型并提出了研究假设。本文采用情景模拟实验法对假设进行检验。研究发现,微博信息的双面性对消费者购买意愿具有显著影响：相比双面信息,当企业微博提供单面信息时,消费者购买意愿更强。微博信息来源和受众性别的调节作用均显著：相比转发性微博,原创性微博信息的双面性对消费者购买意愿的影响更大;相比男性消费者,微博信息的双面性对消费者购买意愿的影响在女性消费者中更强。     

Influence of cultural divergence on consumers' perception towards reconstructed products: A qualitative enquiry

The purpose of this study is to understand whether consumers from different cultures have varied perception towards reconstructed products. Cultural divergence concept provides the theoretical support for the study. Data are collected from consumers of two culturally diverse societies (India and the United States). We use grounded theory for interview and data analysis. From the data, 23 open codes and 8 axial codes for Indian consumers and 28 open codes and 8 axial codes for the American consumers are generated. The key finding of our study suggests that culture plays a decisive role in shaping consumers' perception towards reconstructed products. The other findings of our study indicate that consumers of both societies are influenced by other factors that include product‐ or process‐related factors, brand‐ or store‐related factors, and individual factors. We discuss policy level, firm level, and nonprofit or charity level implications. Finally, limitation and scope for future research are outlined.     

Adopting sustainable innovation: what makes consumers sign up to green electricity?

This paper investigates what encourages consumers to adopt a green electricity tariff. When people decide to adopt an innovation, such as green electricity, they consider not only functionality, usability, costs and intended outcomes, but also what the innovation means to them, for example, the way it reflects their identity, image, memberships, values and norms. The study reviews the theoretical frameworks of innovation adoption and consumption, and cognitive and normative behaviour, relevant to consumer adoption of pro‐environmental innovations, and develops a research framework. Through focus group discussions, a questionnaire survey with 103 respondents and an interview with 10 people, the study finds that consumers sympathetic to environmental issues do not necessarily adopt green electricity. This is due to lack of strong social norms and personal relevance, inconvenience of switching, uncertainty about the quality of green electricity and lack of accurate information. The implications of these findings for strategy, policy and future research are explored. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.