The Influence of Infectious Disease Cues on Purchase Intention for Environmentally Friendly Products

Xingyuan Wang, Yaming Wang and Yi Wang
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Xingyuan Wang: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Yaming Wang: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Yi Wang: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: Consumers often come across cues of infectious disease in daily life, such as diners coughing in restaurants, commuters sneezing on the bus, or recent news reports about the spread of infectious diseases. In this study, four experiments were conducted to explore the role of infectious disease cues on consumers’ purchase intention for environmentally friendly products (eco-friendly products), as well as the moderating effects of consumers’ sense of power and anti-disease intervention. According to the results, infectious disease cues enhance consumers’ intent to purchase eco-friendly products, and perceived uncertainty and need to belong played a chain-mediated role in the relationship between infectious disease cues and this purchase intention. Consumers’ sense of power moderated the relationship between infectious disease cues and purchase intention. The purchase intention of consumers with a low sense of power (vs. high sense of power) was significantly enhanced when the infectious disease cues were highlighted. Anti-disease interventions also have a moderating effect on the relationship between infectious disease cues and purchase intention. When anti-disease intervention (such as wearing an anti-bacterial mask against airborne diseases) was adopted, consumers’ willingness to purchase eco-friendly products decreased.

Keywords: infectious disease cues; environmentally friendly products; perceived uncertainty; need to belong (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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