مقاله انگلیسی پایداری محیطی محصولات مبتنی بر هوش مصنوعی
Abstract
Graphical abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Conceptual background
Development of hypotheses
Method
Results
Discussion
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Declaration of competing interest
Acknowledgments
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References
abstract
Firms are developing AI-enhanced products (e.g., robots) that can tackle environmental problems through autonomous interactions with their surroundings (e.g., removing waste/pollutants, tracking invasive species) and autonomous learning, which results in improved environmental performance characteristics. Such autonomous environmental benefits of products differ from conventional, static environmental benefits, which derive from pre-purchase processes and design decisions. However, the literature still lacks knowledge of how to use such autonomous environmental benefits to attract new customers. Therefore, drawing on signaling theory, this study examines the effect of these environmental benefits on a consumer’s purchase intent and its variation across types of consumers, locations, and products. Based on hierarchical linear modeling of 1635 consumer evaluations of AI-enhanced products, this study finds that both static and autonomous perceived environmental benefits influence purchase intent positively. The effect of autonomous environmental benefits is stronger for women than for men and for products targeted at adults rather than children. The effect of static environmental benefits is stronger for men than women, for products targeted at children rather than adults, for consumers with a higher need for cognition, and in locations with a higher perceived environmental well-being. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
Introduction
An environmentally sustainable product contributes less to environmental problems than a regular product. This difference results from environmentally friendly characteristics of its materials, manufacturing processes, distribution processes, disposal/ recycling processes, or product functionality (e.g., low energy consumption) (Ottman, 2011). Numerous studies report a positive effect of the perceived environmental sustainability of a product on a consumer’s intent to purchase the product (Choi and Ng, 2011; Koller et al., 2011; Nyilasy et al., 2014). Owing to this effect, environmental sustainability tends to increase the profitability of a firm, despite frequently entailing higher costs (Fraj-Andres et al., 2009 ). Therefore, many firms nowadays strive to enhance the environmental sustainability of their products in order to reap marketing benefits and increase their profitability (Herbas Torrico et al., 2018).