IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v29y2020i8p3598-3610.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Mezger
  • Pablo Cabanelas
  • Mª. Jesús López‐Miguens
  • Francesca Cabiddu
  • Klaus Rüdiger

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Mezger & Pablo Cabanelas & Mª. Jesús López‐Miguens & Francesca Cabiddu & Klaus Rüdiger, 2020. "Sustainable development and consumption: The role of trust for switching towards green energy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3598-3610, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:8:p:3598-3610
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2599
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2599
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2599?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pascual Berrone & Andrea Fosfuri & Liliana Gelabert, 2017. "Does Greenwashing Pay Off? Understanding the Relationship Between Environmental Actions and Environmental Legitimacy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 363-379, August.
    2. Hardesty, David M. & Bearden, William O., 2004. "The use of expert judges in scale development: Implications for improving face validity of measures of unobservable constructs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 98-107, February.
    3. Ivan Diaz‐Rainey & John K. Ashton, 2011. "Profiling potential green electricity tariff adopters: green consumerism as an environmental policy tool?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(7), pages 456-470, November.
    4. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    5. Hartmann, Patrick & Apaolaza Ibanez, Vanessa, 2007. "Managing customer loyalty in liberalized residential energy markets: The impact of energy branding," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2661-2672, April.
    6. Vanessa Apaolaza Ibáñez & Patrick Hartmann & Pilar Zorrilla Calvo, 2006. "Antecedents of customer loyalty in residential energy markets: Service quality, satisfaction, trust and switching costs," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 633-650, September.
    7. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    8. Park, JungKun & Gunn, Frances & Han, Sang-Lin, 2012. "Multidimensional trust building in e-retailing: Cross-cultural differences in trust formation and implications for perceived risk," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 304-312.
    9. Sauthoff, Saramena & Danne, Michael & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2017. "To switch or not to switch? – Understanding German consumers’ willingness to pay for green electricity tariff attributes," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260771, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    10. Lisa Melander, 2018. "Customer and Supplier Collaboration in Green Product Innovation: External and Internal Capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 677-693, September.
    11. Nelson, Phillip, 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 311-329, March-Apr.
    12. Hansla, Andre & Gamble, Amelie & Juliusson, Asgeir & Garling, Tommy, 2008. "Psychological determinants of attitude towards and willingness to pay for green electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 768-774, February.
    13. Hentschel, Moritz & Ketter, Wolfgang & Collins, John, 2018. "Renewable energy cooperatives: Facilitating the energy transition at the Port of Rotterdam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 61-69.
    14. Hall, Stephen & Roelich, Katy, 2016. "Business model innovation in electricity supply markets: The role of complex value in the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 286-298.
    15. Torsten J. Gerpott & Ilaha Mahmudova, 2010. "Determinants of price mark‐up tolerance for green electricity – lessons for environmental marketing strategies from a study of residential electricity customers in Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 304-318, July.
    16. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2017. "Why Consumers Switch Energy Suppliers: The Role of Individual Attitudes," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 6).
    17. Salmela, Suvi & Varho, Vilja, 2006. "Consumers in the green electricity market in Finland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3669-3683, December.
    18. Xiaodong Xu & Saixing Zeng & Hongquan Chen, 2018. "Signaling good by doing good: How does environmental corporate social responsibility affect international expansion?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 946-959, November.
    19. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    20. Evangelia Sdrolia & Grigoris Zarotiadis, 2019. "A Comprehensive Review For Green Product Term: From Definition To Evaluation," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 150-178, February.
    21. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Moore, Michael R., 2007. "Private provision of environmental public goods: Household participation in green-electricity programs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-16, January.
    22. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Ying Lin & Chia-Sui Weng, 2015. "The Influence of Environmental Friendliness on Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Satisfaction and Green Perceived Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-18, July.
    23. Arkesteijn, Karlijn & Oerlemans, Leon, 2005. "The early adoption of green power by Dutch households: An empirical exploration of factors influencing the early adoption of green electricity for domestic purposes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 183-196, January.
    24. Ek, Kristina & Söderholm, Patrik, 2008. "Norms and economic motivation in the Swedish green electricity market," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 169-182, December.
    25. Shin, Kong Joo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2017. "Liberalization of a retail electricity market: Consumer satisfaction and household switching behavior in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 675-685.
    26. Magali Delmas & Michael V. Russo & Maria J. Montes‐Sancho, 2007. "Deregulation and environmental differentiation in the electric utility industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 189-209, February.
    27. Williamson, Oliver E, 1993. "Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 453-486, April.
    28. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    29. Sheppard, Blair H & Hartwick, Jon & Warshaw, Paul R, 1988. "The Theory of Reasoned Action: A Meta-analysis of Past Research with Recommendations for Modifications and Future Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(3), pages 325-343, December.
    30. Aysun Kahraman & İpek Kazançoğlu, 2019. "Understanding consumers' purchase intentions toward natural‐claimed products: A qualitative research in personal care products," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1218-1233, September.
    31. Yu-Shan Chen & Chang-Liang Lin & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2014. "The influence of greenwash on green word-of-mouth (green WOM): the mediation effects of green perceived quality and green satisfaction," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2411-2425, September.
    32. Yongxin Cai & Iraj Deilami & Kenneth Train, 1998. "Customer Retention in a Competitive Power Market: Analysis of a 'Double-Bounded Plus Follow-Ups' Questionnaire," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 191-215.
    33. Benjamin T. Hazen & Diane A. Mollenkopf & Yacan Wang, 2017. "Remanufacturing for the Circular Economy: An Examination of Consumer Switching Behavior," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 451-464, May.
    34. Ritsuko Ozaki, 2011. "Adopting sustainable innovation: what makes consumers sign up to green electricity?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, January.
    35. D. Harrison McKnight & Vivek Choudhury & Charles Kacmar, 2002. "Developing and Validating Trust Measures for e-Commerce: An Integrative Typology," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 334-359, September.
    36. Shmueli, Galit & Ray, Soumya & Velasquez Estrada, Juan Manuel & Chatla, Suneel Babu, 2016. "The elephant in the room: Predictive performance of PLS models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4552-4564.
    37. Kaenzig, Josef & Heinzle, Stefanie Lena & Wüstenhagen, Rolf, 2013. "Whatever the customer wants, the customer gets? Exploring the gap between consumer preferences and default electricity products in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 311-322.
    38. Naresh K. Malhotra & Sung S. Kim & James Agarwal, 2004. "Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 336-355, December.
    39. Hsiu‐Yi Lin & Meng‐Hsiang Hsu, 2015. "Using Social Cognitive Theory to Investigate Green Consumer Behavior," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 326-343, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mahnaz Mansoor & Justin Paul, 2022. "Consumers' choice behavior: An interactive effect of expected eudaimonic well‐being and green altruism," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 94-109, January.
    2. Hussain, Shahid & Seet, Pi-Shen & Ryan, Maria & Iranmanesh, Mohammad & Cripps, Helen & Salam, Abdul, 2022. "Determinants of switching intention in the electricity markets - An integrated structural model approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Raja Mazhar Hameed & Abdul Rafae Mazhar Raja, 2023. "The Impact of Green Awareness on Green Purchase Intentions with Mediating Effect of Green Trust: A Consumer Perspective," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 9(2), pages 60-67.
    4. Violeta Mihaela Dincă & Mihail Busu & Zoltan Nagy-Bege, 2022. "Determinants with Impact on Romanian Consumers’ Energy-Saving Habits," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Li, Zhaotong & Wu, Min & Teo, Chee-Chong & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2024. "An investigation of consumer switching intention on the use of automated courier station from a signaling perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tabi, Andrea & Hille, Stefanie Lena & Wüstenhagen, Rolf, 2014. "What makes people seal the green power deal? — Customer segmentation based on choice experiment in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 206-215.
    2. Herbes, Carsten & Ramme, Iris, 2014. "Online marketing of green electricity in Germany—A content analysis of providers’ websites," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 257-266.
    3. Oerlemans, Leon A.G. & Chan, Kai-Ying & Volschenk, Jako, 2016. "Willingness to pay for green electricity: A review of the contingent valuation literature and its sources of error," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 875-885.
    4. Torsten J. Gerpott & Ilaha Mahmudova, 2010. "Determinants of price mark‐up tolerance for green electricity – lessons for environmental marketing strategies from a study of residential electricity customers in Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 304-318, July.
    5. Ndebele, Tom, 2020. "Assessing the potential for consumer-driven renewable energy development in deregulated electricity markets dominated by renewables," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    6. Lehmann, Nico & Sloot, Daniel & Schüle, Christopher & Ardone, Armin & Fichtner, Wolf, 2023. "The motivational drivers behind consumer preferences for regional electricity – Results of a choice experiment in Southern Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Bashiri, Ali & Alizadeh, Sasan H., 2018. "The analysis of demographics, environmental and knowledge factors affecting prospective residential PV system adoption: A study in Tehran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 3131-3139.
    8. Lehmann, Nico & Sloot, Daniel & Ardone, Armin & Fichtner, Wolf, 2021. "The limited potential of regional electricity marketing – Results from two discrete choice experiments in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. Dagher, Leila & Bird, Lori & Heeter, Jenny, 2017. "Residential green power demand in the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 1062-1068.
    10. Kiran Krishnamurthy, Chandra & Kriström, Bengt, 2013. "Determinants of the price-premium for Green Energy: Evidence from an OECD cross-section," CERE Working Papers 2013:7, CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics, revised 30 Jun 2014.
    11. Chandra Kiran B. Krishnamurthy & Bengt Kriström, 2016. "Determinants of the Price-Premium for Green Energy: Evidence from an OECD Cross-Section," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(2), pages 173-204, June.
    12. Broberg, Thomas & Kazukauskas, Andrius, 2014. "Inefficiencies in residential use of energy - A critical overview of literature and energy efficiency policies in EU and Sweden," CERE Working Papers 2014:7, CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics.
    13. Gadenne, David & Sharma, Bishnu & Kerr, Don & Smith, Tim, 2011. "The influence of consumers' environmental beliefs and attitudes on energy saving behaviours," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7684-7694.
    14. Lehmann, Nico & Sloot, Daniel & Ardone, Armin & Fichtner, Wolf, 2022. "Willingness to pay for regional electricity generation – A question of green values and regional product beliefs?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    15. Will, Christian & Lehmann, Nico & Baumgartner, Nora & Feurer, Sven & Jochem, Patrick & Fichtner, Wolf, 2022. "Consumer understanding and evaluation of carbon-neutral electric vehicle charging services," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    16. Motz, Alessandra, 2021. "Consumer acceptance of the energy transition in Switzerland: The role of attitudes explained through a hybrid discrete choice model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    17. Prudence Dato, 2018. "Investment in Energy Efficiency, Adoption of Renewable Energy and Household Behavior: Evidence from OECD Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    18. Emily Schulte & Fabian Scheller & Wilmer Pasut & Thomas Bruckner, 2021. "Product traits, decision-makers, and household low-carbon technology adoptions: moving beyond single empirical studies," Papers 2112.11867, arXiv.org.
    19. Chan, Kai-Ying & Oerlemans, Leon A.G. & Volschenk, Jako, 2015. "On the construct validity of measures of willingness to pay for green electricity: Evidence from a South African case," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 321-328.
    20. Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska, 2019. "Do Consumers Want to Pay for Green Electricity? A Case Study from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:8:p:3598-3610. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.