Receptivity to Environmental Marketing Communications, Environmental Concern and Awareness of Environmental Issues as Determinants of Attitudes towards Electric Vehicles

A pilot study of possible relationships between consumers’ levels of receptivity to environmental marketing communications, environmental concern, awareness of environmental marketing messages, and attitudes and purchase... [ view full abstract ]

A pilot study of possible relationships between consumers’ levels of receptivity to environmental marketing communications, environmental concern, awareness of environmental marketing messages, and attitudes and purchase intentions concerning electric vehicles has been completed as a precursor to a wider international study of potential differences in these relationships across North European countries. A model was constructed wherein environmental values influenced both receptivity to environmental marketing communications and environmental concern, and hence affected consumers’ attitudes towards electric cars. Certain demographic variables were posited to help determine environmental concern. Receptivity to environmental marketing communications was assumed to depend in part on consumers’ degrees of general receptivity to marketing communications. The pilot study involved 105 drivers in Central London, all without experience of electric vehicles. Participants completed a questionnaire covering the abovementioned variables and constructs. Responses for each construct were averaged and employed to estimate a structural equation model using the bootstrap facility of the AMOS 20 package. Outcomes to the estimation indicated the presence of significant connections among the constructs and variables, except for the non-significance of (i) demographic variables such as age and income and (ii) political orientation, as influences on environmental concern.