Letting the Material Tell a Story

In an era characterized by environmental challenges and intensifying market competition, it is imperative for firms to prioritize the development of sustainable innovations that align with consumer preferences to retain and expand their customer base (Katsikeas et al., 2016; Paparoidamis et al., 2019). Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the ways that product appearance influences consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials is crucial for effective achieving market performance. In this context, three experimental studies were conducted to investigate the effect of observability of the recycled content on consumer purchase intentions for products made from recycled materials (RQ1), and to explain the underlying mechanism and boundary condition of this effect (RQ2).

Study 1 indicated that consumers have higher purchase intentions for observable products made from recycled materials compared to non-observable products. Observability of the recycled content thus seems to be a meaningful trigger for the subsequent consumer responses; when the recycled nature of a product is implicitly communicated via observable patterns or textures in its appearance, the salience of product sustainability seems to increase for this product, leading to higher purchase intentions. Study 1 examined and confirmed that the effect of observability of the recycled content on purchase intentions is strictly associated, through semantic interpretation (Crilly et al., 2004), with the recycled nature of the products. Hence, we eliminated the alternative explanations that the effect of observability on purchase intentions can also hold for products made from virgin materials or that it was caused by the specific pattern.

To explore the underlying mechanism of the effect of observability of the recycled content on purchase intentions, Study 2 investigated and validated the mediating role of identity signaling. Observability of the recycled content seemed to trigger identity signaling by reflecting a positive image to others (Berger and Heath, 2007; Griskevicius et al., 2010), thereby leading to augmented purchase intentions. Furthermore, we eliminated the alternative explanation that novelty ((Mukherjee and Hoyer, 2001); Mugge & Dhal, 2013) of the recycled appearance explains the underlying mechanism. (Polyportis et al., 2024)

I found this study to be very interesting because it directly relates to our problem space in the Local Loops group. The research in the article suggested that when the product has visible recycled materials, there were higher amounts of purchase for it.b This adds to the idea that the way a design communicates the recycled origin can increase the consumer demand. One thing that this article did was challenge some of the preconceived notions that I had going into the research. I thought that having a uniform appearance was preferred. This article challenges this idea and implies that people are more receptive to seeing the recycled characteristics of the material. This has significant implications for how Local Loops can treat the material. We can lean into the visible variation that the material has, rather than trying to make it more uniform. The article has opened me up to testing how people respond to seeing the different types of material.

References:

Polyportis, A., Mugge, R., & Magnier, L. (2024). To see or not to see: The effect of observability of the recycled content on consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 205, 107610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107610