Too innovative to be recycled: The role of perceived innovativeness in recycled product advertisements

초록

Advanced recycling technologies have enabled companies to produce products with unique waste materials that would otherwise be dumped into landfills (e.g., coffee grounds). Companies explicitly reveal such unique recycled materials to highlight their engagement in recycling as a part of their societal responsibility. We investigated the role of perceived innovativeness in consumers’ responses toward a recycled product advertisement. Our findings suggest that consumers are less likely to purchase an innovative recycled product than a non-innovative one. We found that consumers perceive a recycled product as more innovative when its source material is atypical (vs. typical), influencing quality concern about the product. This increased quality concern about innovative recycled products drives the negative effect of innovative recycling on purchase intention. Two boundary conditions attenuating the negative effect of innovative recycling are discussed.