Consumer Responses to Sustainability Effort: The Role of Transformation Level in Recycled Product Evaluation

초록

An increasing number of recycled product advertisements have revealed the product’s source materials to highlight the company’s commitment to sustainability. Extending the literature on the positive effects of recycling information, we investigate whether product transformation―the extent to which recycled materials are transformed into new products―influences consumer responses to recycled products. Through two scenario-based experimental studies, we find that consumers not only more (vs. less) favorably evaluate the recycled product but are also more (vs. less) likely to purchase it when the transformation level is high (vs. low). Importantly, we find that when consumers perceive a substantial difference between the source materials and recycled products, they tend to feel more grateful for a company’s sustainable efforts, which, in turn, leads to favorable responses toward the recycled products.

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