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Article

How Can the Government Effectively Promote Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior?—Based on the Diffusion Study of New Energy Vehicles in China

by
Zhihui Li
,
Ruyi Cui
and
Zhifeng Shen
*
School of Management, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
World Electr. Veh. J. 2024, 15(10), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/wevj15100437
Submission received: 11 August 2024 / Revised: 26 August 2024 / Accepted: 23 September 2024 / Published: 26 September 2024
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Abstract

:
This article aims to reveal the internal mechanism of the government’s leading role in influencing consumers’ green purchasing behavior. This study is based on the Stimulus Organism Response theory and innovation diffusion theory, uniquely combining individual and social levels to deeply explore the mechanism and internal mechanisms of government-led actions, providing a more comprehensive theoretical contribution to this field. This study adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, introducing perceived costs and perceived risks as individual level factors influencing consumers’ purchasing intentions through qualitative research, and introducing social confidence as a factor influencing consumers’ purchasing intentions through social level government subsidies. This study adds a new dimension to how government subsidies affect consumers’ green purchasing behavior. In addition, statistical analysis was used to explore the mediating effects of perceived cost, perceived risk, and social confidence, as well as the moderating effect of the level of supporting facilities. Survey data collected from consumers shows that government subsidies further affect consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy vehicles by influencing their perceived costs, perceived risks, and social confidence, with a particularly strong mediating effect of social confidence. The research results reveal the positive role of government leadership in sustainable development, which contributes to the diffusion of emerging green products and the achievement of sustainable development by the country.

1. Introduction

Sustainable development is an important social issue, and its realization requires the efforts of all parties. Consumers play a key role in the context of achieving the dual-carbon goal of “peak carbon and carbon neutrality” according to Borah, et al. [1], and their willingness to engage in green purchasing behaviors play a crucial role in a country’s green and sustainable development [2,3].
The emergence of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is important for combating climate change and the global energy crisis [4], and governments around the world have begun to provide support for NEVs. In 2021, China had the largest market for new energy vehicles globally, with sales of new energy vehicles reaching 3,544,000 and 3,521,000, respectively, thanks to the subsidy provided by the government [5]. China has leapt from a zero-based country to a leading country in new energy vehicles [6]. How does government behavior affect consumers’ green purchasing behavior? This paper selects the proliferation of new energy vehicles in China to provide data support, aiming to reveal the intrinsic mechanism of consumers’ green purchasing behavior.
Existing studies in the literature have found that government subsidy policies significantly promote the proliferation of new energy vehicles. Research shows that the government’s purchase subsidy policy and restricted travel policy can promote the diffusion rate of automobiles to 60%, and the short-term effect is remarkable. Subsidies are one of the common means used by the Chinese government to promote low-carbon popularization, especially in the early stages. This article considers the behavior of heterogeneous entities and discusses how to choose subsidy strategies for governments in low-carbon diffusion [7,8], and the relevant studies mainly focus on the macro level and micro level. Among them, the macro level investigates the impact of the implementation of government subsidies on the new energy industry [9], as well as the impact of enterprise R&D and innovation [10,11], and the micro level focuses on the role of government subsidies and explores the factors influencing the willingness of individuals to adopt, starting from the level of individual perceptions [12,13].
In summary, the previous literature has neglected the social perception of consumers’ green purchasing behavior at the micro level under the government-led role. Based on this, this paper adopts the diffusion of innovation theory to replace the degree of diffusion of new energy vehicles with consumers’ purchase willingness; meanwhile, this paper adopts the Stimulus Organism Response theory to explore the factors influencing the purchase willingness of consumers of new energy vehicles with government subsidies. Further, through empirical validation, it reveals the internal mechanism of how government subsidies promote consumers’ green purchasing behavior. The introduction of social confidence as an important social perception variable fills the gap in current research on how the government can effectively promote consumer green purchasing behavior by combining social and individual levels.

2. Literature Review

Regarding the study of government subsidies on the proliferation of new energy vehicles, scholars mainly focus on the macro level and micro level to explore the study.

2.1. Macro-Level Effects of Government Subsidies

Macro-level scholars have mainly explored the implementation of government subsidies in terms of the dimension of its impact on new energy vehicle enterprises and industries [14]. The effectiveness of government subsidies for electric vehicle (EV) companies and future improvements to subsidy policies to promote industry development have attracted widespread attention. Chinese government incentives affect the sales and proliferation of domestic new energy vehicles at the macro level through both economic and administrative aspects.
Economic-level policies take the form of purchase subsidies and tax exemptions, and incentives not only fill the cost gap between China’s still-nascent new energy vehicles and the relatively developed internal combustion engine vehicles but also significantly promote the development of the new energy vehicle industry [15]. Government subsidies have an incentive effect on the innovation of enterprises through strengthening cooperation between enterprises and R&D organizations [16,17], which helps enterprises to achieve industrial upgrading, optimize resource allocation, and regulate market failures [18]. Zhao, et al. [19] found that the mechanisms by which R&D and non-R&D subsidies affect corporate innovation are vastly different. Both R&D subsidies and non-R&D subsidies effectively alleviate the inhibitory effect of financing constraints. Research and development subsidies have significantly stimulated innovation in electric vehicle companies and promoted the diffusion of new energy vehicles.

2.2. Micro-Level Effects of Government Subsidies

The proliferation of new energy vehicles at the micro level actually depends on the consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy vehicles. Scholars mainly explore the influence of government subsidies on individual adoption willingness from the perception level. Peters, et al. [20] show that consumers’ purchase willingness is affected by the government’s implementation of preferential policies, and there is a positive correlation between the two; Hardman, et al. [21] found that government financial subsidies positively affect consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy cars. The more favorable the government subsidy policy is, the more the subsidy policy promotes consumers’ green purchasing behavior.
Due to the existence of government subsidies, consumers’ individual perceptions will change, with perceived value increasing and perceived risk decreasing [22], which further promotes consumers’ willingness to purchase. The stronger consumers’ perception of green willingness the stronger their willingness to purchase new energy vehicles. Government subsidies, as a powerful external influencing factor, greatly promote consumers’ green perception, thereby stimulating their purchasing demand [23].
In summary, although the existing literature has explored the subsidy policy of new energy vehicles in some detail, it has neglected to explore how government subsidies affect the psychological perception of consumers’ purchase intention from the social and cultural levels [24]. Based on this, this paper explores the influence factors between government subsidies and the diffusion of new energy vehicles from the perspectives of the individual level and the social level.

3. Theoretical Foundations

3.1. Innovation Diffusion Theory

Innovation Diffusion Theory (Innovation Diffusion Theory) was proposed by E.M. Rogers in his book Diffusion of Innovation, one of the classic theories of communication effect research; it is a theory that persuades people to accept new ideas, things, and products through the media, focusing on the adoption of innovation [25]. Diffusion of innovation theory contains macro and micro levels: macro-level diffusion of innovation focuses more on the overall diffusion trend and influencing factors of society while micro-level diffusion of innovation focuses on specific adoption behaviors within individuals or organizations [26].
At present, the application of innovation diffusion theory in new energy vehicles mainly focuses on the micro-level individual adoption willingness and the diffusion of new energy vehicles at the macro level: the stronger the consumer’s willingness to adopt, the higher the degree of diffusion of new energy vehicles. In 2010, the issuance of pilot notifications for new energy vehicle subsidies triggered an unprecedented boom in market, significantly stimulating consumer purchasing power [23]. Consumers’ decision to adopt new energy vehicles are influenced by multiple factors, with brand image, service level, product quality, purchase and energy costs, psychological behavior, consumer attitudes, government policies, charging infrastructure, and other influencing factors being more relevant [27].
Therefore, based on the theory of diffusion of innovations, this paper takes consumers’ purchase intention as a reflection of the degree of diffusion of new energy vehicles and explores the intrinsic mechanism of government subsidies on consumers’ green purchasing behavior.

3.2. Stimulus Organism Response Theory

The Stimulus Organism Response theory (SOR theory) is a theory which suggests that external stimuli can influence a subject’s subjective initiative and internal consciousness, leading to corresponding behaviors in the subject [28]. As shown in Figure 1, this theory suggests that when a person receives an external stimulus, it causes a change in his or her awareness and emotions, which in turn affects the individual’s response.
This theory not only reflects individual behavior but also reveals the intrinsic causes of individual behavior and has been widely used in consumer shopping behavior, customer relationship management, and other studies [29]. In the study of green behavior, Xie, et al. [30] found that moral sense and individual differences affect consumers’ green behavior; Khalid, et al. [31] showed that employees’ green attitudes, green subjective norms, and green perceived behavioral control indirectly affect employees’ green behavioral requirements and voluntary green behavior through employees’ green behavioral intentions. Therefore, this paper introduces the Stimulus Organism Response theory into the study of the government’s influence on consumers’ green purchasing behavior.
By applying the Stimulus Organism Response theory to the research hypothesis, this paper explores the internal mechanism of the influence of government subsidies on consumers’ green purchasing behavior. The government subsidies are used as stimuli to study the psychological and physiological impacts on individuals.

4. Methods and Materials

4.1. Data Collection

The data for this study come from unstructured interviews, and open-ended questionnaires are used to collect primary data on consumers with new energy vehicles and consumers who have not purchased new energy vehicles. When new categories and concepts no longer appear in the interviews, theoretical saturation is reached and sampling is stopped. Finally, 16 interviewees were selected, including 11 new energy vehicle users and 5 users who did not purchase new energy vehicles, and the interviews lasted 30–40 min. During the interview, with the permission of the interviewees, the interview was recorded, and the recordings were transcribed and summarized at the end of the interview. Then, coding analysis was conducted; 11 interviewees were randomly sampled and coded as A01–A11, including 8 who owned a new energy vehicle and 3 who did not own a new energy vehicle.

4.2. Open Coding

In the process of open coding, always focusing on the theme of “the impact of government subsidies on the proliferation of new energy vehicles” and based on no personal subjective will and existing experience, the collected statements were read repeatedly and relevant concepts were extracted and summarized to form the initial category. Finally, 8 concepts were extracted to form 6 initial categories, which were numbered using “AA + serial number”, as shown in Table 1.

4.3. Principal Axis Coding

The initial categories formed by open coding are independent of each other and do not have a clear relationship with each other; however, spindle coding is used to explore the logical relationship between the initial categories and then form a macro-level master category by aggregating the categories. The 7 initial concepts were further analyzed and clustered, among which purchase cost and usage cost are closely related to perceived cost, so these 2 initial categories were assigned to the category of perceived cost; product risk and safety risk belong to the category of perceived risk; confidence and individual psychological factors belong to the category of social confidence; and the completeness of facilities belongs to the category of the degree of completeness of facilities. These categories are expressed by using “a + serial number”, as shown in Table 2.

4.4. Selective Coding

Government subsidies are used as an incentive implemented by the government to influence consumers’ perceptions and thus their decision-making behavior. Perceived cost [32] and perceived risk [33] have been identified in technology adoption studies as influencing individuals’ behavioral intentions. Therefore, from the individual perception level, under the role of government subsidies, consumers’ perceived costs and perceived risks for new energy vehicles are significantly reduced, effectively increasing consumers’ purchase intentions. From the social perception level, the state strongly supports and develops new energy vehicles, and new energy vehicles will gradually become the leading automobile industry in the future. Based on this, government subsidies can effectively stimulate consumers’ social confidence and increase their willingness to buy. The lack of popularity of charging facilities, such as charging piles and charging stations, is a major obstacle to consumers’ user service and user experience [34]. The implementation of government subsidies and the improvement of supporting facilities related to new energy vehicles can effectively promote consumers’ willingness to purchase and advance the development of the new energy vehicle industry [35]. Thus, the improvement of supporting facilities is used as a moderating variable to regulate the relationship between government subsidies and factors affecting consumers’ willingness to purchase.
Therefore, the government subsidy is taken as “S”, stimulus factor; perceived cost, perceived risk, and social confidence are taken as “O”, organism identification factor. The perceived cost refers to the expenses required when consumers purchase new energy vehicles (NEVs), including the costs associated with energy consumption and maintenance during use; perceived risk involves the assessment of risks related to the performance of NEVs in areas such as power output, driving range, braking, stability, and safety; social confidence represents the level of confidence that consumers have in the future trend of NEVs becoming widely adopted; willingness to buy is taken as “R”, consumer behavioral response, which is the behavioral response of consumers. The degree of improvement of supporting facilities is an important moderating variable as shown in Figure 2.

5. Research Hypotheses

5.1. The Influence of Government Subsidies on Consumers’ Willingness to Buy

Government subsidies are being widely used as an effective way to reduce the price of green products purchased by consumers and enhance consumers’ purchase intention, which has a crucial role in the process of green product diffusion. Currently, there are two main types of government subsidies: fixed amount subsidies and price discount subsidies [36]. Consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy vehicles is related to perceived costs, perceived risks, and perceived benefits [37]. Jeanjean [38] found that when subsidies are removed, consumers’ willingness to purchase decreases significantly.
Ma and Fan [39] has found that prices and fuel costs are negatively correlated with sales revenue. Government policies, such as relevant subsidies, can effectively incentivize consumers to purchase energy-saving durable goods and promote their willingness to purchase. Abas and Tan [40] has found that the Chinese government has introduced multiple preferential policies to promote the popularization of new energy vehicles (NEVs). Among them, two economic policies (car purchase subsidies and tax exemptions) and two unique Chinese administrative policies (restricting the purchase of internal combustion engine vehicles and lifting transportation restrictions) significantly affect consumers’ choices, indirectly promoting the sales of NEVs and driving consumer demand. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H1. 
Government subsidies significantly affect consumers’ willingness to buy.

5.2. Impact of Government Subsidies on Perceived Costs, Perceived Risks and Social Confidence

Perceived cost is the price that consumers spend on transactions, which is the first prerequisite for consumers to take purchase decisions into consideration, and therefore has a certain impact on consumers’ willingness to buy and purchase behavior. Studies have shown that consumers tend to have higher satisfaction at the same cost or get higher-quality products at the same price [41], so reducing the perceived cost of new energy vehicles can effectively stimulate consumers’ willingness to buy.
Consumer subsidies can effectively reduce the cost of ownership of new energy vehicles in the short term. Huang, et al. [42] showed that incentive programs such as government subsidies are more effective in promoting the sale of electric vehicles and consumers are more inclined to purchase new energy vehicles when consumers have greater bargaining power. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H2. 
Government subsidies have a significant positive effect on consumers’ perceived costs.
Perceived risk is “consumers’ subjective judgment and expectation of the severity of uncertainty and possible consequences in the product or purchase process”, which has a certain influence on consumers’ decision-making behavior [43]. Compared with the over-100-year development history of fuel vehicles, as an innovative product, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry is still in its early stages of development. In the process of promotion, the uncertainty and volatility of renewable energy have brought many challenges to the stable operation of the market; therefore, with new energy vehicles as innovative products, consumers may feel uneasy about technological change and related uncertainty and thus hesitate to accept the innovation [44,45]. de Haan, et al. [46] found that risk factors such as power performance, range, braking performance, stability, and safety of new energy vehicles can affect consumers’ acceptance and purchasing decisions, leading to strong anxiety about new energy vehicles. The emergence of incentive policies will greatly alleviate and enhance consumer trust and stimulate consumers’ willingness to purchase. Under government incentives, consumers’ perceived risk is subject to significant reduction, which in turn affects consumers’ willingness to purchase new energy vehicles [47]. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H3. 
Government subsidies have a significant positive effect on consumers’ perceived risk.
The promotion of new energy vehicles cannot be separated from the support of government policies, and under the government’s implementation of supportive policies, the new energy vehicle industry welcomes favorable development [48]. The key to realizing the high-quality development of the new energy automobile industry and rapid development depends on the demand, and the demand comes from confidence, injecting confidence into the whole market to promote the development of the industry [49]. Social confidence refers to the positive belief or trust held by consumers towards the trend of new energy vehicles becoming mainstream transportation in the future. This confidence is not only reflected in the recognition of the technological maturity and performance of new energy vehicles themselves but also in the overall trust in the support for relevant policies, the completeness of infrastructure construction, and the quality of after-sales service. High social confidence indicates that consumers believe in the bright development prospects of the new energy vehicle industry and are willing to accept and support the promotion and use of new energy vehicles [50]. The improvement of the national subsidy policy, as well as the implementation of the new energy automobile industry to achieve popularization and development, greatly promotes the determination of consumers to buy new energy vehicles. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H4. 
Government subsidies have a significant positive impact on consumer social confidence.

5.3. Mediating Role of Perceived Cost, Perceived Risk and Social Confidence

Existing research suggests that without incentives such as government subsidies, electric vehicles are currently more expensive than internal combustion engine vehicles, so consumers need to pay more [51]. Therefore, especially in the initial stage of the development of the new energy vehicle market, incentives such as government subsidies are considered effective and necessary [52], and the perceived cost of consumers will be significantly reduced under the stimulation of government subsidies. The lower the perceived cost, the stronger the consumers’ willingness to buy. Therefore, based on the Stimulus Organism Response theory, government subsidies act as a stimulus to promote consumers’ purchase intention by reducing consumers’ perceived cost, which is an individual behavioral response. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H5. 
Perceived cost mediates the government subsidy and purchase intention.
Consumers generally perceive electric vehicles to have lower levels of performance, such as shorter range, lower top speed, weaker acceleration, and inconvenient charging requirements, compared to conventional gasoline vehicles. They are more likely to perceive these lower levels of performance as potentially leading to accidental damage [53]. At the current level of technology, consumers may waste time during the use of an electric vehicle, such as taking a long time to charge the battery [54] or the battery needing to be replaced, inspected, and repaired in a timely manner. The weaker the perceived risk, the stronger the consumers’ willingness to buy. Therefore, based on the Stimulus Organism Response theory, the government subsidy is used as a stimulus to promote consumers’ purchase intention by reducing their perceived risk, which is an individual behavioral response. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H6. 
Perceived risk plays a mediating role in government subsidies and purchase intention.
Under the support of national policies, the new energy automobile industry has become the trend of society, and buses have begun to switch from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles. Relevant state departments have set up a stage for enterprises to promote new energy vehicles to the countryside activities via online and offline combination, connecting consumers and enterprises to promote the development of new energy vehicles. Activities introducing new energy vehicles to the countryside can effectively boost consumer confidence [55], and consumer social confidence effectively stimulates consumers’ purchase intention. Therefore, based on the Stimulus Organism Response theory, the government subsidy is used as a stimulus to promote consumers’ purchase intention by increasing consumers’ social confidence, which is an individual behavioral response, and then promote consumers’ purchase intention. Therefore, social confidence originally has a mediating role in government subsidies and consumers’ purchase intention. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis:
H7. 
Social confidence mediates in government subsidies and purchase intention.

5.4. The Regulating Effect of the Degree of Perfection of Facilities

The development of emerging industries cannot be separated from the relevant supporting facilities, which are of great concern to consumers and to a certain extent affect their willingness to buy. As an emerging industry, new energy vehicles have been perfecting the relevant system, and the supporting facilities have also been constructed and improved. Previous studies have investigated consumers’ willingness to adopt EVs and conducted extensive research in the technical field, concluding that limited range, insufficient charging infrastructure, long charging time, uncertain performance, battery capacity, and vehicle safety issues are the main barriers to the popularization of EVs [56]. Due to the rapid development of new energy vehicles, there will inevitably be a huge demand for charging. Research has found that there is a mismatch between the supply of charging facilities and the demand for charging, the construction standards for social public piles are not applicable to all models, the management of charging stations is inadequate, and there are frequent issues such as space occupation, pile occupation, and electricity occupation by oil vehicles [57].
Due to insufficient charging infrastructure, consumers may need to spend a lot of time looking for charging stations and charging piles, so supporting facilities are an important factor affecting the development of new energy vehicles [58]. In order to stimulate the development of charging piles and stations and meet the normal charging needs of new energy vehicles, the Chinese central government has begun to introduce many policies aimed at promoting the development of charging facilities, and the attention and support for charging facilities continue to increase. The effectiveness and rationality of charging facilities will directly affect the convenience and economy of users. Therefore, with the continuous improvement of supporting facilities, consumers’ perceived costs and risks are significantly reduced, effectively promoting their purchasing needs [59]. Under the influence of government subsidies, there have been significant improvements in the battery swapping and charging modes of new energy vehicles, inevitably affecting consumer purchasing behavior [60].
Stimulated by government subsidies, the supporting facilities for new energy vehicles are constantly improving, and the public’s understanding and trust are also increasing, further influencing consumers’ social perception and enhancing social confidence in sustainable development and the development of the new energy vehicle industry [61]. Under the influence of supporting facilities related to new energy vehicles, government subsidies have a stronger individual and social impact on consumers, positively regulating the relationship between government subsidies and perceived costs, perceived risks, and social confidence and increasing consumers’ willingness to purchase. Based on this, this article proposes the following hypotheses:
H8. 
Under the moderating effect of supporting facilities, the influence of government subsidies on consumers’ perceived costs is enhanced.
H9. 
Under the moderating effect of supporting facilities, the influence of government subsidies on consumers’ perceived risks is enhanced.
H10. 
The impact of government subsidies on consumers’ social confidence is enhanced under the moderating effect of ancillary facilities.

6. Research Design

6.1. Research Methodology

This study adopts the questionnaire survey method for quantitative analysis. In order to ensure the quality of the relevant survey results, this paper, on the basis of reference to the relevant mature scale, invites relevant experts, teachers, and students of the subject group to focus on the discussion, integrating their own research objectives and content to adjust and develop the relevant measurement items. Before distributing the formal questionnaire, according to the content and analysis results involved in the interviews, the final scale was formed after continuous optimization of individual relevant items in the questionnaire, and examples of the questions are shown in Table 3. The questionnaire adopts a Likert 7-point scale to set up the questions, and the corresponding scores are “1–7”, with higher scores indicating more agreement with the option, as shown in Table 3.

6.2. Empirical Analysis and Discussion of Results

(1)
Reliability analysis
The reliability analysis of this survey uses SPSS 26.0 statistical analysis software, and the data in Table 4 illustrate the reliability of each scale and the questionnaire as a whole, in which the Cronbach’s α coefficient value of the model is 0.803, indicating that the questionnaire’s reliability is better, and the standardized α value, based on the standardization of each scale, exceeds the standard requirement of 0.7, thus showing that the variables have a high reliability. Therefore, the data of this survey can better reflect the model problems and meet the requirements of model construction, so all the data should be retained.
(2)
Analysis of independent variables on purchase intention
Taking government subsidies as the independent variable, willingness to buy as the dependent variable, and the degree of facility improvement as the moderating variable, the impact of government subsidies on willingness to buy was examined. The mean value is 5.617, which is greater than the mean value of willingness to buy without perfect supporting facilities of 4.604, and a significance of p < 0.05, suggesting that supporting facilities have a positive impact on willingness to buy, and under the moderating effect of the degree of perfection of facilities, a significance of p < 0.05.
Under the condition of government subsidy, the mean value of willingness to buy with perfect facilities is 5.9268 > 5.5245; under the condition of no government subsidy, the mean value of willingness to buy with perfect facilities is 4.9859 > 3.8814, so the degree of facility improvement has a moderating effect on the effect of government subsidy on consumers’ willingness to buy. Therefore, the degree of facility improvement has a moderating effect on the effect of government subsidies on consumers’ willingness to buy, as shown in Table 5.
From the table, we can see that the interaction between government subsidies and the degree of facility improvement has a significant effect on consumers’ willingness to buy, so hypotheses 8, 9, and 10 are valid. The degree of improvement of facilities will have a moderating effect on consumers’ willingness to buy. Government subsidies can significantly reduce consumers’ perceived costs and perceived risks and enhance consumers’ social confidence. Based on this foundation, after adding the moderating effect of the degree of facility improvement, the results are more significant.
(3)
Analysis of independent variables on mediating variables
The independent variable government subsidy has a significant effect on the mediating variable in all cases with a significance <0.05, as shown in Table 6.
The moderating variables facility improvement were all significant on the mediator variables with a significance <0.05, as shown in Table 7.
From the table, we can see that government subsidies have a significant effect on consumers’ perceived cost, perceived risk, and social confidence, and hypotheses 2, 3, and 4 hold. Government subsidies can reduce consumers’ perceived cost and the perceived risk of green energy vehicles, promote consumers’ confidence, and then promote consumers’ willingness to buy, incentivizing consumers to buy green energy vehicles.
(4)
Mediating effect test
The model’s R2 > 0.4, indicating that the model has a good degree of fit; adding the mediator variable perceived cost, the significance of the independent variable is <0.05, indicating that the perceived cost is part of the mediating role, as shown in Table 8. As such, hypothesis 5 is established, suggesting that the perceived cost of the willingness to purchase will have a significant negative impact, so reducing the perceived cost can stimulate the willingness to buy of consumers.
The degree of fit of the model is >0.4, indicating that the model has a good degree of fit; when adding the mediator variable perceived risk, the significance of the independent variable is <0.05, indicating that it is a partial mediator, as shown in Table 9. Hypothesis 6 holds, suggesting that perceived risk has a significant negative effect on consumer purchase intention and, therefore, reducing perceived risk can promote consumer purchase behavior.
The degree of fit of the model is >0.4, indicating that the model has a good degree of fit; when adding the mediator variable social confidence, the significance of the independent variable is <0.05, indicating that it is a partial mediator, as shown in Table 10. Hypothesis 7 is valid, suggesting that social confidence will stimulate consumers’ willingness and behavior to buy green energy vehicles, so improving social confidence promotes green energy vehicles.

6.3. Research Conclusions

(1) Government subsidies affect consumers’ purchase intention through two paths, one of which is the direct path and the other of which is the indirect path. The direct path is the purchase decision made by consumers without comprehensive thinking under the stimulation of government subsidies, which belongs to the category of limited rational behaviors; meanwhile, the indirect path is under the effect of government subsidies via influencing consumers’ perceived costs, perceived risks, and social confidence, and then affecting consumers’ purchase intention, which belongs to category of rational decision-making behaviors.
(2) The indirect effect of government subsidies is greater than the direct effect, in which the mediating effect of social confidence is significantly greater than the mediating effect of perceived cost and perceived risk. Under the stimulating effect of government subsidies, consumers’ rational decision-making for new energy vehicles is greater than limited rational decision-making, and rational decision-making dominates the purchase intention. The government needs to continue to promote the green development of new energy in order to consolidate and strengthen people’s confidence in this direction. The stronger the government’s support, the stronger the consumers’ perceived social confidence and the stronger their willingness to buy.
(3) As an important scenario and basic framework for the diffusion of new energy vehicles, the degree of new energy vehicle supporting facilities positively moderates the relationship between government subsidies and perceived costs, perceived risks, and social confidence. The findings suggest that the interaction of government subsidies and supporting facilities will further stimulate consumers’ purchase intention and promote the diffusion of new energy vehicles. Combined with the TAM (technology acceptance model), perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use jointly affect the degree of individual adoption of technology and willingness to adopt [66].

7. Conclusions and Discussion

7.1. Theoretical Implications

(1) This study reveals the intrinsic mechanism of the effect of government subsidies on consumers’ green purchasing behavior through the individual level and the social level under the leading role of the government, which bridges the research gap on the influence of the government on consumers’ social confidence at the social level. It helps to enrich the academic community’s knowledge of the government’s leading role and to more comprehensively understand the mechanism of the government’s role in consumers’ green purchasing behavior.
(2) This paper expands the innovation diffusion theory in depth. The traditional innovation diffusion theory usually locates the adopters of new products in the early stage, which is the high-end market, gradually spreading to the middle- and low-end markets [67]. However, in the context of new energy vehicles, the initial audience group is more skewed towards low-end consumers. The study finds that the government plays a key role in the diffusion process of new energy vehicles, and its mechanism of action is what explains this phenomenon. The government plays a guiding role in this process, which stimulates the interest and purchase willingness of low-end and middle-end consumers. Therefore, the innovation diffusion path of new energy vehicles is redefined by the government, which emphasizes the active role of the government in guiding the direction of product diffusion and makes the innovation diffusion theory richer.
(3) Macroscopically, it further enriches the connotation of national governance. The sustainable development industry of new energy vehicles has a significant promoting effect on consumer green purchasing behavior under the leadership of the government. Therefore, the government’s leading role has innovatively constructed a national governance system. The development of emerging industries requires the full play of the government’s role, fully stimulating consumer purchasing behavior, promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and enriching the connotation of national governance.

7.2. Practical Implications

(1) Relevant national departments need to take appropriate measures to boost the development of emerging sustainable industries. The government and relevant enterprises can integrate various communication channels to actively promote green and energy-saving products, emphasizing their innovative, technologically advanced, and environmentally friendly features and enhancing consumers’ sense of identity. The state should strongly support and promote enterprise innovation to realize the sustainable development of emerging products.
(2) Improvement of supporting facilities related to sustainable products should not be delayed. Through the study, it was found that when consumers buy new energy vehicles, the degree of improvement of the supporting facilities is also an important regulating factor. Supporting facilities are an important foundation and guarantee for the sustainable development of new energy vehicles. Therefore, in the promotion of emerging sustainable products, there is a need to strengthen the perfection of their supporting facilities.

7.3. Limitations and Prospects

However, other regulating variables should be explored. This study introduces the regulating variable of the degree of perfection of supporting facilities for new energy vehicles and empirically demonstrates the regulating effect of the degree of perfection of supporting facilities on government subsidies and perceived costs, perceived risks, and social confidence. There may be other moderating variables other than supporting facilities. For example, income level and traffic restriction policies can also be used as moderating variables to improve the model of consumers’ green purchasing behavior.

Author Contributions

Methodology, R.C. and Z.S.; Investigation, Z.L.; Data curation, Z.L.; Writing—original draft, R.C. and Z.S.; Writing—review & editing, Z.L. and R.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Research Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (21YJCZH130); General Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Research in Henan Province’s Universities (2024-ZDJH-031); Planning Projects of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Henan (2023BZH010); Ministry of Education Employment Internship Base Program (Intelligent Construction School-Enterprise Joint Internship Base) (20220102983); General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (72172065).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Wevj 15 00437 g001
Figure 1. Stimulus Organism Response theory.
Figure 1. Stimulus Organism Response theory.
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Wevj 15 00437 g002
Figure 2. Conceptual modeling.
Figure 2. Conceptual modeling.
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Table 1. Open codes.
Table 1. Open codes.
Serial NumberInitial ScopeConcept ExtractionCommentary Statements
AA1Product RiskDurability IssuesA01: Green energy vehicles, as emerging products, are still in the development stage, and whether they can withstand prolonged use is still a mystery.
RangeA04: Green energy vehicles don’t have as far a range as fuel cars.
AA2Security RisksIntelligent Driving Safety SystemA01: Green energy vehicles are often equipped with intelligent assisted driving systems, and miscalculations or malfunctions in these systems can lead to accidents.
Charging SafetyA07: It’s more of a concern if the battery will explode if you charge it for a long period of time.
AA3Completeness of Supporting FacilitiesNumber of Charging PilesA11: The infrastructure for green energy vehicles is not well developed and charging is a real hassle.
Charging Pile ConstructionA04: First, there’s the issue of charging posts, which are difficult to charge since we don’t have any in our neighborhood.
AA4Purchase CostPriceA05: It was for 116,800 + 1000 licensing + 5555 insurance with a $4000 coupon, for a total of just under $120,000.
AA5Cost of UseCharging CostA09: It is very convenient to go back and forth from home on vacation, and the fuel cost is greatly reduced, much better than riding an electric car.
AA6TrendGovernment AttentionA03: I think that with government subsidies, green energy vehicles will become the future trend and trend; green energy vehicles will be more and more liked and valued by everyone.
AA7PopularizationConvenienceA07: It feels like green energy vehicles are the way of the future, and they do save money, and it’s really a lot easier to go out.
A10: There were a lot of teachers who bought trams, and in the end, considering that trams were expected to become the mainstream in the future, they chose trams.
Table 2. Spindle coding.
Table 2. Spindle coding.
Serial NumberInitial ScopeConcept ExtractionScope Implications
a1Perceived CostPurchase CostsThe cost of purchasing a green energy vehicle and the cost of energy consumption and repair and maintenance during the use of the green energy.
Cost of Use
a2Perceived RiskProduct RisksConsumers have certain risk assessments of green energy vehicles in terms of power, range, braking, balance, safety and other performance.
Safety Risks
a3Social ConfidenceTrendsConsumers have certain risk assessments of green energy vehicles in terms of power, range, braking, balance, safety and other performance.
Popularity
a4Amenity ImprovementImprovement of Supporting FacilitiesBased on the “dual-carbon” goal, green energy vehicles have become the trend of the future, and green products are supported by the state and the people.
Table 3. Conceptual modeling.
Table 3. Conceptual modeling.
FactorMeasure TermMeasurement Item ContentLiterature
Perceived CostC1I usually think that green energy vehicles have a higher acquisition costWu [62]
C2I usually think that the usage cost of green energy vehicles is higher.
C3I usually think that the depreciation of green energy vehicles is higher.
Perceived RiskR1I usually think that green energy vehicles have higher product risks than traditional fuel vehicles.Dan [63]
R2I usually think that the safety risks of green energy vehicles are higher than those of traditional fuel vehicles.
R3I usually think that the overall risk of green energy vehicles is high.
Social ConfidenceQ1I feel unbalanced without government subsidies.Yan Zhang [64]
Q2I am more confident that green energy vehicles are environmentally friendly.
Q3I have more confidence in the continuous innovation of green energy vehicles.
Q4I am more confident in the government’s ability to promote the development of green energy vehicles.
Q5I have a high level of trust in the government.
Purchase IntentionS1I would consider purchasing a green energy vehicle if necessary.Dodds [65]
S2I plan to buy a green energy vehicle in the near future.
S3I am likely to buy a green energy vehicle.
Table 4. Confidence analysis.
Table 4. Confidence analysis.
VariablesTopic ItemsStandardized Alpha Based
Perceived Cost30.707
Perceived Risk30.809
Social Confidence50.728
Willingness to Buy30.872
Overall Reliability of the Questionnaire140.803
Table 5. Interaction effects of government subsidies and facility improvement levels.
Table 5. Interaction effects of government subsidies and facility improvement levels.
Between-Subject Effect Test
Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention
Independent VariableDegree of FreedomMean SquareFSignificance
Government Subsidies179.434189.7320.000
Degree of Facility Improvement127.00164.4920.000
Government Subsidies * Degree of Facility Improvement (interaction)15.89414.0780.000
R-square = 0.587 (adjusted R-square = 0.581)
Table 6. Tests for the mediating effect of government subsidies.
Table 6. Tests for the mediating effect of government subsidies.
Tests for Between-Subject Effects
VariableDependent VariableDegree of Freedom Mean Square FSignificance
Government SubsidiesPerceived Costs121.74224.050
Perceived Risk174.845112.150
Social Confidence123.6826.3740
Table 7. Tests of the mediating effect of facility sophistication.
Table 7. Tests of the mediating effect of facility sophistication.
Tests for Between-Subject Effects
VariableDependent VariableDegree of Freedom Mean Square FSignificance
Degree of Sophistication of FacilitiesPerceived Costs166.16893.6620
Perceived Risk131.40336.3860
Social Confidence15.3235.4290.021
Table 8. Perceived cost mediation effect test.
Table 8. Perceived cost mediation effect test.
ModelStandardized Coefficient BetatSignificanceR2Adjusted R2
1(Constant) 010.4440.442
Degree of Government Subsidies and Supporting Facilities0.66713.3250
2(Constant) 0.0230.9820.4560.451
Degree of Government Subsidies and Supporting Facilities0.63112.080
Perceived cost−0.115−2.1930.029
Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention
Table 9. Perceived risk mediation effect tests.
Table 9. Perceived risk mediation effect tests.
ModelStandardized Coefficient BetatSignificanceR2Adjusted R2
1(Constant) 010.5610.557
Degree of Sophistication of Facilities0.357.6420
Government Subsidies 0.58912.8780
2(Constant) 010.5730.567
Degree of Sophistication of Facilities0.2795.2650
Government Subsidies 0.5129.3750
Perceived Risk−0.161−2.5330.012
Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention
Table 10. Tests for the mediating effect of social confidence.
Table 10. Tests for the mediating effect of social confidence.
ModelStandardized Coefficient BetatSignificanceR2Adjusted R2
1(Constant) 010.5610.557
Degree of Sophistication of Facilities0.357.6420
Government Subsidies 0.58912.8780
2(Constant) 010.6190.614
Degree of Sophistication of Facilities0.3277.6420
Government Subsidies 0.5111.3940
Perceived Risk0.2585.8380
Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention
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Li, Z.; Cui, R.; Shen, Z. How Can the Government Effectively Promote Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior?—Based on the Diffusion Study of New Energy Vehicles in China. World Electr. Veh. J. 2024, 15, 437. https://doi.org/10.3390/wevj15100437

AMA Style

Li Z, Cui R, Shen Z. How Can the Government Effectively Promote Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior?—Based on the Diffusion Study of New Energy Vehicles in China. World Electric Vehicle Journal. 2024; 15(10):437. https://doi.org/10.3390/wevj15100437

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Zhihui, Ruyi Cui, and Zhifeng Shen. 2024. "How Can the Government Effectively Promote Consumers’ Green Purchasing Behavior?—Based on the Diffusion Study of New Energy Vehicles in China" World Electric Vehicle Journal 15, no. 10: 437. https://doi.org/10.3390/wevj15100437

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