Print Email Facebook Twitter To see or not to see Title To see or not to see: The effect of observability of the recycled content on consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials Author Polyportis, Athanasios (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam) Mugge, R. (TU Delft Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior; Universiteit van Amsterdam) Magnier, L.B.M. (TU Delft Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior) Date 2024 Abstract Despite their environmental benefits, products made from recycled materials are not readily adopted. Prior studies focused on improving consumer adoption via product attributes and marketing elements, but the impact of product appearance remains a gap in the literature. This research contributes by investigating how observability of the recycled content, as a product appearance intervention, influences consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials. Building on the integrated conceptual framework for consumer response to the visual domain in product design, the findings from three experiments (n1=162, n2=219, n3=320) demonstrate that observability of the recycled content leads to higher purchase intentions (Studies 1, 2 and 3). The underlying process for this effect is that these observable appearance cues trigger identity signaling (Studies 2 and 3). This effect is stronger when the consumption context is public (Study 3). These findings enable practitioners to enhance adoption of these products through altering their appearance. Subject Products made from recycled materialsRecyclingSustainabilityIdentity signalingSemantic interpretationConsumer adoption To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:67864d2c-a5a5-4a4f-9c26-e00f067d4305 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107610 ISSN 0921-3449 Source Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 205 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 Athanasios Polyportis, R. Mugge, L.B.M. Magnier Files PDF 1-s2.0-S0921344924002040-main.pdf 5.11 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:67864d2c-a5a5-4a4f-9c26-e00f067d4305/datastream/OBJ/view