General / findings Flashcards
What is the primary research question of your thesis and why is it significant in the context of sustainable consumer behavior?
The primary research question is to determine the key product attributes that influence consumer decisions to purchase sustainable home appliances. This is significant as it addresses the gap between the positive attitudes towards sustainability and the actual buying behavior, which is crucial for improving market strategies and environmental policies.
How does consumer psychology play into the findings of your thesis, particularly concerning the attitude-behavior gap in sustainable purchasing?
Consumer psychology, especially the attitude-behavior gap, was central to our findings. Despite positive attitudes towards sustainability, actual purchasing behavior often lagged due to factors like perceived cost and product quality. Our study highlights the importance of understanding psychological barriers that prevent sustainable purchasing, even when intentions are positive.
What impact do eco-labels have on consumer purchasing decisions according to your findings?
Eco-labels significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions by providing a quick reference on energy savings. Our findings suggest that labels that clearly communicate superior energy efficiency can motivate purchases, while those indicating poor performance deter them. This emphasizes the need for transparent and informative eco-labeling to guide consumers. However, it is still unclear what drives this motivation – is it because they want to be more sustainable, or save money on the electricity bill?
What impact do brands have on consumer purchasing decisions according to our findings?
Brands significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions. A strong positive brand image enhances consumer confidence and willingness to purchase sustainable home appliances. Our research findings indicate that consumers are more likely to buy from brands they recognize and trust. Well-known brands are perceived as more reliable and are often associated with better quality and customer service, which strongly appeals to consumers, making brand image a crucial factor in the purchasing process.
What impact do price have on consumer purchasing decisions according to your findings?
Price sensitivity is a major barrier to purchasing sustainable home appliances. Although consumers exhibit a willingness to engage in environmentally friendly purchasing behaviors, the higher price points of sustainable products can deter them. The findings suggest that consumers are generally price-sensitive and tend to favor products within a certain price range. This threshold for price sensitivity indicates that while consumers may value the long-term benefits and lower environmental impacts of sustainable products, the initial higher costs can be a significant deterrent.
What impact do product quality have on consumer purchasing decisions according to your findings?
Consumers favor high-quality products and are particularly influenced by products verified by quality seals. This indicates that consumers are unwilling to compromise on quality in favor of sustainability alone. Quality assurance, often represented by certifications or seals, boosts consumer confidence in the product’s durability and performance, which is essential when considering sustainable home appliances. Quality, therefore, bridges the gap between pro-environmental attitudes and actual purchasing behavior.
Can you discuss the dual role of ingroup and outgroup social influences on consumer behavior as found in your research?
Social influence was found to play a dual role in consumer behavior. Influence from ingroup members (customers like you) was more persuasive than that from broader societal norms. This indicates that marketing strategies should focus on leveraging personal testimonials and peer reviews to influence consumer choices toward sustainability. This could be affected by the fact that major home appliances are not a product you use to gain any social status, but more for your own convenience, therefore it is not so important what the ingroup think. Also the ingroup might have limited knowledge about home appliances, so it feel more save to go with the general choice.
Why did you choose energy label as an attribute when you are looking into sustainable appliances? Should they not alway have a high energy rating?
First of all sustainability can come in many forms, such as re-cycled materials, good work conditions, etc. While we are aware that sustainable home appliances typically have a high energy label indiicating that they are energy efficient, we though it was relevant to include to investigate tow things:
1) how does consumers actually percieve these lables, do they have enough knowledge about them to have an effect.
2) are there anything special to notice for attribute that directly are connected to sustanability, in contrast to for instance price or brand. Here we found an interesting result, in terms of the moderating effect of PCE.
How are social influence from in-group members reflected in the attribute level ‘recommended by customers like you’?
It is decided based on the assumptions that in-group members typically are very similar to one-self.
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