The Impact of New Energy Vehicle Product Attributes on Consumer Purchase Intention in the Backdrop of Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

In the backdrop of the ‘dual carbon goal’, which aims to promote sustainable development of China, adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is an important measure to help improve the environment, so it is of great significance to investigate the purchase intention of NEVs. Previous studies have established that subsidies and various product attributes could affect consumers’ purchase intention toward NEVs. As government subsidies have been on the decline in recent years, product attributes of NEVs need to be given more attention. However, there have been limited studies that quantitatively analyze the impact of product attributes of NEVs on purchase intention. Therefore, to fill this gap and help further expand the NEV market, this study investigated consumers’ adoption of NEVs empirically from the perception of product attributes. A questionnaire survey and structural equation model (SEM) were used for data collection and analysis. The results indicate that (1) both the functional and symbolic attributes of NEVs had a significant positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention; (2) both the functional and symbolic attributes of NEVs had a significant positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention through consumers’ perceived value; and (3) citizens’ environmental awareness positively moderated the relationship between products attributes and purchase intention. According to the results, to meet consumers’ needs of daily driving and self-image expression, new energy vehicle enterprises need to focus on improving the products in both functional and symbolic aspects by using various marketing strategies.