In spite of the purported positive environmental consequences of electrifying the light duty vehicle fleet, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in use is still insignificant. One reason for the modest adoption figures is that the mass acceptance of EVs to a large extent is reliant on consumers’ perception of EVs. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the drivers for and barriers against consumer adoption of plug-in EVs, as well as an overview of the theoretical perspectives that have been utilized for understanding consumer intentions and adoption behavior towards EVs. In addition, we identify gaps and limitations in existing research and suggest areas in which future research would be able to contribute

Anticipated emotions and moral norms have previously been found to influence consumer adoption of pro-environmental products in different ways. However norms and emotions have seldom been combined in order to understand their relations in motivating consumers to adopt sustainable products. Despite the environmental benefits of sustainable products, consumer adoption is slow to take off. Utilizing data from an online survey (N = 576), this study finds that anticipated emotions directly influence consumer adoption and the effect of moral norms is mediated by the anticipated emotions. This study extends the norm activation model and implies communicating positive emotions for promoting sustainable products.

Prior research conceptually assumes that sponsorships might have a stronger impact on brand attitude than do celebrity endorsements primarily due to the more indirect and less commercial intent to persuade. However, empirical evidence is lacking on why and under what conditions this assumed effect of sponsorships actually occurs. This paper empirically analyses potential mediating and moderating drivers of the effect of sponsorships compared with that of celebrity endorsements. The results reveal that higher level of perceived brand authenticity mediates the effect of sponsorships versus celebrity endorsement on brand attitude. Furthermore, the effect of sponsorships on brand authenticity is superior when (a) relative corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending in the industry is low and (b) the corporate reputation of the firm is good.

Purpose: – Although perceived as a wrong act, insurance fraud is a prevalent phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to understand the psychological factors that lead to reporting an exaggerated/false insurance claim would enable insurance companies and policy makers to devise better preventive policies. Design/methodology/approach: – Utilizing data-driven clustering techniques on psychological and demographic measures from 985 insurance customers in Europe, this study outlines profiles of segments of customers as it relates to dishonesty in dealing with insurance companies. The segmentation criteria include attitude toward insurance fraud, perceived probability of punishment, basic human values and morals, religiosity, life satisfaction and demographic characteristics. Findings: – Results reveal the existence of four market segments. The segments include non-conservatives (sensitive to both perception of wrong behavior and the monetary payoff for a fraudulent claim), self-protectionists (sensitive to the probability of being caught), hedonists (sensitive to the personal pleasure and monetary payoffs for insurance fraud) and socially focused individuals (sensitive to social norms regarding admitting to having committed insurance fraud). Among the demographic variables, only education and among psychological variables, universalism, hedonism, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, moral philosophy, religiosity, perceived probability of punishment and attitude toward insurance fraud were significantly different among the four identified segments. Practical implications: – Specific policies are proposed in order to prevent insurance fraud, tailored to the specific profile of each segment. Originality/value: – Using a psychological perspective and a data-driven methodology, this study identifies four heterogeneous segments of unethical insurance customers with dissimilar values, attitudes toward fraud and perception of punishment probability.