Abstract
This research aims to analyze the impact of environmental concerns on Turkish consumers' attitudes toward and intention to purchase EVs. It is also aimed to investigate the role of demographical characteristics—gender, age, income, and education—on those impacts. Given the purpose, a descriptive study was conducted through an online survey with a sample of 334 consumers. The research findings indicate that environmental concern plays a significantly influential role in the attitude toward and intention to purchase EVs. The study also confirms that environmental concern impacts on the attitude and intention toward EVs differs in terms of gender, age, and income. Only women show a positive influence of environmental concern on the attitude toward EVs. There is no difference in the direct or indirect link between EV purchase intention and environmental concern for age groups. Environmental concern's indirect influence on the intention to buy EVs is the highest and significantly different for the consumers with 7500-9999 TL income.
TopTheoretical Background And Hypotheses Development
Environmental concern (EC) refers to one’s perception and knowledge about environmental issues, to what extent a person concerns for and is worried about threats to the environment, and supports efforts to solve them (Lin & Niu, 2018, Moyo, 2018). Environmentally concerned consumers are highly motivated and interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products (Moyo, 2018, Verma et al, 2019).
Previous studies have posited that EC has a direct positive effect on the attitude toward and intention of green consumption (Mainieri et al., 1997, Bamberg, 2003, Mcdonald et al., 2016, Mohd, 2016). McDonald et al. (2016) stated that people who are more concerned about the environment are more likely to respond to environmental issues and take actions in environmental protection. Also, some of the studies have shown that EC is a significant personal antecedent of consumers’ preference for green consumption. For instance, it is confirmed that EC positively influences the attitude toward (Kirmani, 2016) and willingness to purchase (Mohd, 2006) green products.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Electric Vehicles: Electric vehicles are vehicles that are either partially or fully powered on electric power. They have an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine.
Environmental Concern: Environmental concern is an individual evaluation of environmental consequences of one’s own behavior.