Boosting green consumption

: the influence of quantitative online consumer reviews on consumer’s perceptions willingness to pay and purchase intention of environmentally friendly products

Abstract

Climate change is one of the hottest topics nowadays, and it is necessary to modify consumption behaviours in order to reduce consumers’ damage on the environment caused by their purchase decisions.Literature reveals that sustainable consumption is hindered by economic constraints, perceived risk, products’ quality and technical attributes importance and by brand image. An online questionnaire was conducted to study the ability of quantitative online consumer reviews to change customers’ perceptions about green products, namely, perceived trust and perceived quality and performance, as well as to increase the willingness to pay for these products and rise its purchase intention.Findings reveal that quantitative OCRS positively change the perceptions that consumers have about sustainable products regarding trust, quality and performance. It is also proved the positive impact that perceived trust towards the product has on willingness to pay and purchase intention of sustainable products. Consumers’ perceived quality and performance also have a positive impact both on willingness to pay for green products and on its purchase intention.Moreover, in the presence of OCRs, consumers’ willingness to pay for green products is not higher than without its presence, although they have a significant direct impact on consumers’ willingness to pay. Additionally, OCRs do not have a direct impact on green purchase intention, nor the latest is higher when in their presence. However, OCRs are proved to have an indirect effect both on willingness to pay and purchase intention, being mediated by perceived trust and perceived quality and performance.

Date of Award	4 Feb 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Daniela Langaro (Supervisor)