Products consisting of materials based on renewable resources: Drivers of purchase intention, consumers` information needs and target groups
(Topic C.4)

– Who buys the products in the end and most importantly, why do they buy them? –

This thesis deals with consumers? acceptance of products which are made of renewable resources. The acceptance is investigated for the established material solid wood, but for innovative materials such as Wood-Polymer-Composites (WPC) as well. WPC represent a combination of two materials (wood and plastics), which consumers perceive as being very different. Hence, the acceptance of WPC in the Business-to-Consumer sector is controversial. During the analysis of the intention to buy WPC products, two consumer segments are focused: On the one hand, it is investigated whether WPC products are accepted by consumers who pay special consideration to environmental aspects in their purchase decisions and who thus might reject WPC products due to the synthetic component (environmentally aware consumer segment). On the other hand, it is examined whether the purchase of WPC products is intended by consumers who prefer to buy innovative products (neophile consumer segment).
The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) is the theoretical framework for the analysis. This theory will be extended by constructs that can map environmental awareness and neophilia as differential variables. In the course of the empirical investigation, consumer surveys are carried out using choice-based conjoint analyses amongst others.
The results will help to identify various factors influencing the purchase of products which are made of renewable resources. Additionally, differences related to the identified consumer segments will be explained. It will be shown how different product features can affect consumer acceptance and which strategies exist in order to increase consumers? willingness to pay. Finally, it will be determined which product information consumers assess as being important, therefore increasing the purchase probability.