Consumer perceived green brand innovativeness and green word-of-mouth intention: the moderating role of green knowledge

Abstract

Drawing on the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) model, this research explores how consumers’ perceptions of green brand innovativeness promote their green word-of-mouth (WOM) intention. Also, this study investigates the impact of two mediating variables (green competence enhancement and green trust) as well as a moderating variable (green knowledge) on the process above. We conducted a moderated mediation analysis on a sample of 826 participants from China to test our proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that consumers perceived innovativeness of green brands reinforces green WOM intention directly and indirectly through green competence enhancement and trust. The findings also suggest that the presence of green knowledge influences the direct and indirect association between green brand innovativeness and green WOM by means of enhancing green competence and fostering green trust. These findings address the process of eco-friendly innovation from the perspective of consumers and highlight the significance of identifying factors that moderate the mediated path between the perceived innovativeness of green brands and green WOM intentions. Hence, to enhance consumers’ intention to spread positive green WOM, organizations should devote resources to offering fresh and valuable solutions to meet their needs, boost their self-efficacy and trust in eco-friendly brands, and improve their knowledge.