Understanding the role of emotions in consumer adoption of electric vehicles: the mediating effect of perceived value

Abstract

Emotions are generally considered to be important elements of consumer behavior, but little research has investigated the link between emotions and consumers’ adoption behavior relating to electric vehicles (EVs). To address this gap, this study examines the roles of emotions in EV adoption intention by focusing on pride and guilt and explores the impact of perceived value on these causal processes. We proposed a research model and empirically tested it using 405 survey responses collected from China. The structural equation modeling analysis results indicate that both pride and guilt significantly affect EV adoption intention, and the effect of pride is stronger than that of guilt. Perceived value mediates the relationships between emotions and EV adoption behavior. We also found differences between men and women. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the role of emotions in consumers’ EV adoption behavior, and provide recommendations for the promotion of EVs.

Keywords:

• electric vehicle
• adoption behavior
• e motions
• perceived value

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Research Bases of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Colleges of Hubei Universities (No. DSS20180204).