Sustainable development and consumption: The role of trust for switching towards green energy

Abstract

This paper develops a model that helps to explain the switching behaviour of private consumers towards green electricity suppliers. It is built upon neo-institutional and neo-behavioural theories, including a series of antecedents of trust as reputation, perceived environmental impact, the propensity to trust and perceived risk. This model is applied through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to a sample of 787 German electricity consumers. Results demonstrate that trust has a direct influence on switching behaviour towards a green electricity supplier. Furthermore, reputation, perceived environmental impact, propensity to trust and perceived risk influence the switching behaviour of electricity suppliers through trust as mediating variable. It draws a co-habitation of neo-institutional and neo-behavioural theories in the construction of trust and the necessity to work on reducing consumers uncertainties.

A study on the influence of product environmental information transparency on online consumers’ purchasing behavior of green agricultural products

“…According to the analysis of the model results in Figure 2 , it is clear that soil information transparency has a significant positive effect on competence trust ( β = 0.230, p < 0.05), and H1a is supported. This result is consistent with previous studies such as Chen (2007) , Laureti and Benedetti (2018) , and Mezger et al (2020) , in which consumers pay attention to the environmental and sustainability of the production process of agricultural products in terms of their impact on human health when making green produce purchases ( Galati et al, 2022 ), the active disclosure of soil information transparency of green agricultural products by online sellers promotes consumers’ perception of the competence of that online seller’s operational skills and expertise. However, the effect of soil information transparency on benevolence trust is negatively insignificant ( β = −0.138, p > 0.05), which is not consistent with the initial H1b .…”

“…According to the analysis of the model results in Figure 2, it is clear that soil information transparency has a significant positive effect on competence trust (β = 0.230, p < 0.05), and H1a is supported. This result is consistent with previous studies such as Chen (2007), Laureti andBenedetti (2018), andMezger et al (2020), in which consumers pay attention to the environmental and sustainability of the production process of agricultural…”

“…According to signaling theory, product information can be considered as a signal sent by online sellers to consumers, which influences consumers’ perceived trust and purchase behavior ( Fu et al, 2022 ). In green product sales, Mezger et al (2020) argued that there is an information asymmetry in online shopping, such as users cannot find out product characteristics and consumers are uncertain whether the actual quality of green products is reliable. The high level of uncertainty reduces online consumers’ trust in the seller.…”

Determinants with Impact on Romanian Consumers’ Energy-Saving Habits

“…Trust in science is a factor often regarded and highlighted in research as necessary for stimulating an energy-saving behavior and promoting successfully renewable energy projects [17]. A study carried out by Mezger et al [18] developed a model that helped explain the switching behavior of private consumers toward green electricity suppliers and strengthen an energy-saving behavior. The respective model was focused on factors such as trust in scientific information and perceived environmental impact.…”

Consumers' choice behavior: An interactive effect of expected eudaimonic well‐being and green altruism

“…In Asia and Europe, numerous consumers consider the mass production of non‐green products as a substantial cause of environmental pollution and hazards (Sanchez‐Sabate & Sabaté, 2019). Although waste reduction and environmental protection are two of the main concerns for green consumers (Patel et al, 2017; Wu et al, 2018), for which they mostly opt to buy green products (Mezger et al, 2020). However, the literature suggests that green electronics acceptability is slow (Ali et al, 2020; Jones, 2019; Zammit‐Lucia, 2013).…”