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Article

Green but Unpopular? Analysis on Purchase Intention of Heat Pump Water Heaters in China

by
Shucai Bai
1,2,
Fangyi Li
1,2,* and
Wu Xie
1,2
1
School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
2
Key Laboratory of Process Optimization and Intelligent Decision-Making, Hefei University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230009, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Energies 2022, 15(7), 2464; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072464
Submission received: 14 February 2022 / Revised: 23 March 2022 / Accepted: 25 March 2022 / Published: 27 March 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumers' Behavioral Economics in Energy Transition)
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Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Consumers are always influenced by external information before making decisions to purchase energy-saving electric appliances. However, the effects of different information sources are overlooked by previous studies. As a kind of green and safe appliance, the Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) is expected to be popular in the Chinese market. This study, based on an investigation in eastern China, will reveal the attitudes of potential consumers to HPWHs and verify the effects of different information sources. The results show that official information (Information from enterprises and governments) can arouse consumers’ positive attitudes toward HPWHs, yet can significantly reduce perceived usefulness among consumers, while unofficial information (Information from relatives and friends) negatively affects their attitudes. Although HPWHs are billed as energy-saving and eco-friendly appliances, consumers can obtain different information from online or offline interpersonal communications to obtain user feedback (which might be negative) before purchase. Some suggestions are proposed to promote energy-saving appliances.

1. Introduction

In recent years, many countries have pledged to reduce carbon emissions and become carbon neutral to contribute to climate change mitigation. As the largest developing country in the world, China has pledged to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. However, energy consumption and its accompanying carbon emissions are still increasing in China [1]. As China is still experiencing rapid urbanization, by 2030, urbanization of people’s lifestyles will still create a large demand for energy equipment and energy. How to control carbon emissions and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality? Consumers’ energy-saving behavior has attracted wide attention from scholars. Many scholars have analyzed the factors affecting consumers’ energy-saving behavior from various angles, mainly involving factors such as demography (gender, age, income, etc.) [2,3,4], ethics [5,6,7], ecological labels [8,9], and the external environment (media, policy, etc.) [3,10,11]. Energy-saving behavior is generally divided into buying energy-saving behavior (such as buying low-energy bulbs) and customary energy-saving behavior (such as turning off the lights) [12]. Energy- saving appliances play an important role in energy conservation. Guiding consumers to buy energy-saving appliances is an important part of reducing carbon emissions.
Water heaters, which provide hot water for bathing, are essential energy-consuming devices in households, and the energy consumption and carbon emissions of these appliances account for a large proportion of the total energy consumption and emissions of households [13]. There are four main types of domestic water heaters in the Chinese market: electric water heaters, gas water heaters, solar energy water heaters and Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWHs). Several products coexist at the same time, however their energy efficiency levels vary. Electric water heaters have a market share of approximately 50%, yet the lowest primary energy efficiency. In the process of using electric water heaters, Heat energy is converted into electric energy in thermal power plants, and electric energy is converted into heat energy in consumers’ homes after long-distance transportation, which wastes a lot of resources. Therefore, from the point of view of energy saving, phasing out the extensive use of electric water heaters is an effective means of energy saving.
The Chinese government has issued a series of policies to vigorously promote energy-saving and low-carbon equipment, hoping to adjust the market share of various water heaters. For example, the Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology document Circular on Printing and Issuing the Implementation Rules for the Promotion of High Efficiency and Energy Saving Household Water Heaters for Energy Saving Products Benefiting the People pointed out that during the period from June 2012 to May 2013, consumers who bought air source HPWHs, gas water heaters or Solar water heater that accorded with national standards could obtain financial subsidies [14]. Winter Clean Heating Planning in Northern China (2017–2021) was jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, and ten other departments pointed out that clean heating in the northern region should promote the use of air source, water source and ground source heat pump heating according to local conditions in terms of temperature, water source and soil and should fully use low-temperature heat source heat to improve the efficiency of electric energy heating [15].
With the joint efforts of all parties, the sales volume of household energy-saving water heaters is increasing, however, it is not enough to change the situation that electric water heaters dominate. The China Air Energy (Air Source Heat Pump Heating) Industry Development Report (2020), compiled by the China Heat Pump Industry Alliance and other units, pointed out that in 2019, the market share of domestic water heaters in China (domestic market) was 47.5% for electric water heaters (the directly heated type), 37.1% for gas water heaters (natural gas boilers), 13.3% for solar water heaters and 2.1% for HPWHs [16]. HPWHs are the principal product of the heat pump market. The operation cost of the equipment is much lower than that of electric water heaters and gas water heaters [17]. HPWHs avoid power leakage (a risk associated with electric water heaters) and gas poisoning (a risk associated with gas water heaters). In addition, HPWHs do not have the limitations of solar energy water heaters, which cannot produce hot water on cloudy or rainy days or in the evening.
HPWHs have attracted the attention of scholars due to their advantages of low pollution, high energy efficiency and easy access to energy [18,19,20,21]. However, their market share is still the lowest in the water heater market. This study aims to identify the psychological factors and information factors, which affect consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs.
Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the research adds information source factors (official information and unofficial information) and perceived usefulness factors as the theoretical framework. A total of 445 valid samples were investigated in the Yangtze River Delta Region in eastern China to verify a series of hypotheses. The innovation of this study lies in taking the HPWH as an example to discuss the obstacles that may be encountered in the large-scale promotion of energy-saving appliances. On the basis of the TPB, the model of consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs is established by introducing information sources and consumers’ perceived usefulness, which introduces new factors and enriches the TPB.
Other parts of the paper are as follows: The literature review and hypotheses development are explained in Section 2. The methodology is shown in Section 3. Results are depicted in Section 4. Discussion of research results is included in Section 5. Section 6 offers valuable policy guidance. Section 7 concludes the study.

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Literature Review

2.1.1. HPWHs

There are many types of HPWHs. According to the energy classification, the most common types are air source, geothermal and solar HPWHs. In the early days, people thought that the performance, reliability and initial cost hindered the HPWHs from entering the market [22]. Many scholars carry out research around these themes [23,24].
As a kind of green and energy-saving appliance, HPWH’s thermal or energy performance has been widely studied [25,26,27]. Some scholars have also discussed various anti-frost and defrosting methods of HPWHs [28,29]. Others conducted a series of technical and economic analysis on air source heat pump technologies [30,31,32,33,34]. In addition, some scholars have put forward how to distinguish the normal and fault transition state of HPWHs [35], and predict the energy consumption of HPWHs [36].
The above research has solved the obstacles of HPWHs entering the market from the perspective of technological development. However, there is little research on their market performances. Zhang et al. indicated that energy-saving appliances are usually more expensive than ordinary household appliances, thus hindering their widespread adoption [37]. However, there are few studies on what hinders consumers’ purchasing behavior. Most scholars discuss what factors promote the purchase of energy-saving electrical appliances. This paper discusses the purchase behavior of HPWHs from the perspective of consumers, and discusses in detail what hinders the development of HPWHs in China.

2.1.2. Theoretical Background

Consumers’ selective purchase of energy-consuming equipment, such as water heaters, is an example of consumer behavior, and the relevant theories of consumer behavior and related research provide a theoretical basis and frame reference for a cause analysis of consumer behavior. In consumer behavior theory, the TPB, which many scholars have proven, is widely accepted and recognized as a social psychological model for predicting and explaining individual behavior, especially pro-environmental behavior [38,39,40]. TPB was put forward by Ajzen on the basis of the theory of reasoned action [41]. Through various empirical studies, it is found that TPB can significantly improve the explanatory degree of behavior. In the TPB, human behavior is determined by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control and is the result of rational choice. Many studies have shown that the TPB is an open theoretical model. To improve its explanatory power, more predictive factors can be added [42,43,44]. Yadav and Pathak add environmental concern and environmental knowledge to the TPB to explore young consumers’ intention to buy green products [45]. Tan et al. applied the moral extension of the TPB to examine the determinants of consumers’ purchase intention for energy-efficient household appliances [5]. Therefore, the article will add other factors to the TPB to enrich the research.
In the information society, where the internet can be used to deeply explore all aspects of people’s lives, consumers can obtain information from various channels. The empirical research on the impact of information dissemination on sustainable behavior mainly focuses on transportation and water saving or energy saving [46,47,48]. Information intervention is an effective strategy to encourage consumers to implement energy-saving behavior [49]. The content and form of information dissemination affect the intervention effect [50]. Yang et al. found that information intervention factors have a direct influence on habitual energy saving behavior intention [51]. Through a group of controlled information experiments, Zhang et al. found that how information is processed can change homebuyers’ willingness to pay for green housing [52]. When Caffaro et al. studied the influencing factors of farmers’ intention to adopt technological innovations, the authors found that formal sources of information (consultants, training courses/seminars, etc.) increased the perceived usefulness of innovative technologies among farmers, while informal sources of information (neighbors/friends, relatives, etc.) decreased this perceived usefulness [53], proving that sources of information also affected people’s behavior. Ma et al. argued that information exchange is very important to promote the use of water heaters [54]. Therefore, this paper incorporates information from enterprises and the government (official information) and information from interpersonal communications (unofficial information) into the research to enrich the research on consumers’ energy-saving behavior.

2.2. Hypotheses Development

2.2.1. Theory of Planned Behavior

In the TPB, purchase intention is a direct determinant of purchase behavior [41]. China’s HPWHs occupy a small market share, and many consumers decide whether to adopt one of these appliances. Therefore, in this research, it is more appropriate to measure purchase intention than purchase behavior. The TPB points out that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are closely related to behavioral intention. Attitude refers to the favorable or unfavorable idea of carrying out certain behaviors, subjective norms refer to noticing pressure from others to perform certain behaviors, and perceived behavioral control refers to the controllability of carrying out certain behaviors, behavioral intention is the individual’s desire and effort to try something, and it is the internal driving force of individual behavior [41].
Many studies have discussed the relationship between these variables [55]. For example, Chen and Hung found that consumers’ attitudes and perceived behavioral control are significantly positively associated with consumers’ willingness to use green products [56]. Tan et al. also believe that consumers’ attitude and perceived behavior control regarding energy-saving household appliances significantly affect consumers’ purchase intention [5]. Kaffashi and Shamsudin studied the influencing factors of citizens’ willingness to adopt low-carbon behaviors and found that subjective norms and attitudes positively affect respondents’ behavioral intention [57]. Asadi et al. also confirmed that attitude and subjective norms have a significantly positive affect on consumers’ purchase intention for electric vehicles [58]. In addition, Huang and Ge showed through empirical research that attitude and perceived behavioral control have a significantly positive affect on consumers’ electric vehicle purchase intention in Beijing [59]. Thus, this paper proposes the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1
(H1). Attitude positively affects purchase intention toward HPWHs.
Hypothesis 2
(H2). Subjective norms positively affect purchase intention toward HPWHs.
Hypothesis 3
(H3). Perceived behavioral control positively affects purchase intention toward HPWHs.

2.2.2. Effect of Perceived Usefulness

The air source heat pump technology can convert low-temperature heat source to high-temperature heat source through natural energy (air heat storage) with a high heat collection efficiency, which is usually used for space or water heating. Technology acceptance model (TAM) is a widely used model to study the acceptance of various technologies [60]. The air source HPWHs using this technology can bring the benefits of high efficiency, energy saving and safety to consumers. In this paper, perceived usefulness refers to consumers’ recognition of the benefits brought by using HPWHs. Its essence is equal to the perceived usefulness in the TAM.
People’s perception of usefulness may increase with persuasive social information. Subjective norms can influence perceived usefulness through internalization. Internalization refers to the process that people bring social influence into their perception of usefulness [61]. Huang et al. also found that subjective norms significantly influenced Chinese college students’ perceptions of the usefulness of internet-based technology with a learning focus [62]. Schepers and Wetzels compared the moderating effects of personal factors (type of interviewees), technical factors (type of technology) and situational factors (culture). The results showed that subjective norms significantly affected perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness significantly affected use attitude [63]. Other studies have also confirmed that perceived usefulness has a positive impact on users’ attitudes towards using actual technologies [64,65]. Rosenberg and Hovland proposed three components of attitude: cognition, emotion and behavior [66]. Thus, personal attitudes are affected by relevant factors in cognition, emotion and behavior. In the TAM, perceived usefulness is an important influencing factor of attitude [67]. In the TPB, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control are independent of each other and are related to each other [41]. What is the relationship between individual perceived usefulness and individual perceived behavioral control? The following hypotheses are therefore proposed:
Hypothesis 4
(H4). Subjective norms are significantly positively correlated with perceived usefulness.
Hypothesis 5
(H5). Perceived usefulness is significantly positively correlated with attitude.
Hypothesis 6
(H6). Perceived usefulness is significantly positively correlated with perceived behavioral control.

2.2.3. Effect of Information Sources

Information publicity significantly affects residents’ energy-saving behavior [68]. Information availability [69] and reliability [52] are also important reference factors for consumers to purchase products. Testa and others argue that consumers tend to obtain more information about environmental characteristics and are more likely to buy recyclable packaging [70]. Momsen and Ohndorf indicate that in a market environment, people selectively avoid information and give themselves moral room for maneuver [71]. This suggests the impact of information on people’s buying behavior.
In addition, Hori et al. found that social interaction was closely related to energy-saving behavior [72]. When Ek and Söderholm explored the influencing factors of household electricity-saving behavior, the authors also believed that increasing people’s social interaction in daily life discussions could stimulate families to further reduce electricity consumption [73]. Bedard and Tolmie believe millennials who regularly use social media for consumption-related activities and engage in online interpersonal dialogs related to these activities are more likely to buy green products [74]. In this paper, the information obtained by consumers is divided into two categories. One category is information from enterprises and the government (official information), and the other is information from interpersonal communications (unofficial information). Official information refers to the promotion information released by the government and enterprises on various platforms. Unofficial information refers to information obtained by consumers through relatives, friends, neighbors or online evaluation. After processing the information, consumers form their own cognitive system, thereby affecting the perceived usefulness of the product and purchase attitude. Therefore, this paper proposes the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 7
(H7). Official information is significantly positively correlated with attitude.
Hypothesis 8
(H8). Official information is significantly positively correlated with perceived usefulness.
Hypothesis 9
(H9). Unofficial information is significantly positively correlated with attitude.
Hypothesis 10
(H10). Unofficial information is significantly positively correlated with perceived usefulness.
The theoretical framework shows that there is a certain relationship between official information, unofficial information, perceived usefulness, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. These factors directly or indirectly affect consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs, as shown in Figure 1.

3. Methodology

3.1. Structural Equation Model

A Structural Equation Model (SEM) is used mainly to study the relationship between latent and manifest variables and the relationship between latent variables; thus, this model makes up for the deficiency in traditional statistical methods and is an important tool for multivariate data analysis. Consequently, SEM is widely used in market research, such as the analysis of consumers’ willingness and satisfaction [53] and an exploration of attitudes and behavioral motives [69,75]. SEM allows independent and dependent variables to contain measurement errors and can measure the goodness of fit of the whole model. In addition, SEM can simultaneously deal with multiple variables that affect consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs. It is beneficial to better understand the relationship between variables, and determine which factors hinder the development of HPWHs. Therefore, this research will use SEM to explore the path relationship between variables.

3.2. Questionnaire Design and Survey Mode

In this study, the Yangtze River Delta in East China (which includes Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui) was used as the research object through questionnaire data collection. The Yangtze River Delta, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, is one of the regions with the most active economic development, the highest degree of openness and the strongest innovation ability in China, thus providing a favorable environment for promoting HPWHs.
The questionnaire includes mainly the basic information of the respondents’ families, the introduction of HPWHs, and the topics used to measure the research variables (shown in Supplementary Materials). From 19 February 2021, to 8 March 2021, a total of 556 questionnaires were obtained from families in the study area through an online survey; only 80.04% (445) of the questionnaires could be used in this study. All variables were measured using a five-point Likert scale, which was verified in previous studies and adjusted in the context of HPWH purchase intention. Our conceptualization of perceived usefulness relies on the research of Choi and Totten [76] and Hua and Wang [77], and the variables of TPB are derived from the research of Han and Kim [78] and Chen and Tung [79]. The detailed measurement indicators of each construct and their sources are shown in Table S1 in Supplementary Materials.

3.3. Data Overview

Descriptive statistical analysis, normality and reliability tests were performed using SPSS 26.0. Amos 23.0 was used to obtain the standardized factor loading by confirmatory factor analysis. The detailed data are shown in Table 1. Consumers have a higher score on the perceived usefulness of HPWHs, however, the frequency of obtaining information related to HPWHs is low. Consumers tend to hear information, especially official information, occasionally. In addition, the absolute values of skewness and kurtosis of each topic are less than 3, thus indicating that the data are normally distributed [80]. The Cronbach’s alpha values of the six variables are all greater than 0.7, thus indicating that these variables have good reliability. The standardized factor loading is greater than 0.5, which accords with Hair’s recommendations [81].
Hair et al. point out that a composite reliability (CR) above 0.7 meets the fidelity requirement [81]. As shown in Table 2, the values of CR (ranging from 0.807~0.941) were more than 0.70, thus indicating good reliability. All values of average variance extracted (AVE) (ranging from 0.588 to 0.842) were greater than 0.50. According to Fornell and Larcker’s study, the convergent validity was acceptable [82]. In addition, all the A V E values exceeded the correlation coefficient between the variables, thus indicating that the variables in this study reached discriminant validity [83].
The Haman single factor test was used to evaluate whether there was common method bias. All the scale data were tested by the Haman single factor test, and the variance interpretation rate of the first principal component was 32.857%. Therefore, the analysis data showed no obvious evidence that there was common method bias [84]. In summary, these data passed the normality test with good reliability and validity, and there was no common method bias that could be further analyzed.

4. Results

4.1. Respondents’ Usage and Purchase Intention for HPWHs

This study is based on an online survey conducted in eastern China, including Shanghai Municipality, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces. The local governments of the four provincial-level administrative regions have attached great importance to energy savings and emission reduction in all sectors, including the residential sector. The Shanghai Development and Reform Commission actively encouraged the promotion of solar water heaters and air and sewage source heat pumps in Key Work Arrangements for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction and Climate Change Response in Shanghai in 2017 [85]. The Jiangsu Development and Reform Commission pledged to promote energy-saving household appliances and the consumption of other energy-saving products [86]. In 2016, the Development and Reform Commission of Zhejiang Province stated in the Executive Office of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government’s Opinions on Promoting Green Building and Building Industrialization that construction enterprises can apply for project funding subsidies in accordance with relevant national and provincial regulations if these enterprises use solar energy, shallow geothermal energy and air energy in new buildings [87]. In addition, in Regulations on Promoting the Development and Utilization of Renewable Energy in Zhejiang Province (2021 Amendment), air energy remains a renewable energy source encouraged by the government [88]. The Energy Conservation Regulations of Anhui Province (Draft Amendment) issued by the Anhui Development and Reform Commission in 2019 pointed out that new energy-saving technologies and renewable resources, such as air energy, should be used in new, reconstructed and expanded construction projects [89]. Each province affirms the important role of air energy in energy conservation and emission reduction. However, in the case of most provinces, provincial documents on energy conservation include no specific preferential measures for HPWHs.
The household use of water-heating equipment is shown in Figure 2; 42.0% of respondents use electric water heaters, and only 4.9% of respondents use HPWHs. The data results are the same as the market share ranking of domestic water heaters in China (domestic sales) in 2019, and HPWHs do not occupy a place in the Chinese market.
According to the respondents’ basic family information statistics, respondents came mainly from Anhui Province, the main housing area was 90 m2 to 140 m2, and the highest income in the family belonged to government or institution personnel. The monthly household income, living environment and housing area showed a diversity distribution. When asked whether an HPWH will be selected if one needs to be replaced or newly purchased, 49% of people chose to possibly buy it, and 36.6% of people were uncertain. This finding shows that the possibility of successfully expanding the market of HPWHs in the survey area is high. In addition, the study explored the impact of family demographic information on respondents’ purchase intention for HPWHs and used an independent sample nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test to explore the relationship between variables. The specific results are shown in Table 3.
The above statistical analysis shows that the respondents’ housing area has a significant difference in the possibility of buying HPWHs. For heating and storing water, HPWHs need a large water tank, which occupies a large area. Generally, the home environments of respondents with larger housing areas are more suitable for installing HPWHs. In the subsequent analysis, respondents also said that installing an HPWH was difficult as a result of the large space occupied by the HPWH. Therefore, respondents with large housing areas are more likely than respondents with small housing areas to buy an HPWH.
There is no significant difference in the influence of different living environments on consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs. Whether consumers are urban, suburban or rural, their purchase intention is biased toward uncertainty, so promotions of HPWHs do not need to consider the differences in consumer living environments. Unsurprisingly, the results also show that family income level does not significantly affect consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs. As water heaters are a necessity of life, people do not change water heaters frequently, so family income does not affect people’s purchase intention for HPWHs. Studies, such as the study by Park and Ha, also show that there is no difference in household income between green product buyers and nonbuyers [90]. Akehurst and other scholars also believe that demographic variables (gender, age, education and income) are irrelevant in explaining ecologically conscious consumer behavior [91]. In summary, the results show that very few consumers were using HPWHs in the survey area, while the living space significantly affected the purchase intention for HPWHs.

4.2. Respondents’ Perceptions about HPWHs

The survey also investigated consumers’ perceptions about the main advantages and disadvantages of HPWHs. As shown in Figure 3, 67.9% of consumers believe that HPWHs can save energy and improve environmental quality, and 74.6% think that HPWHs positively affect national energy transformation. Many consumers are positive about HPWHs’ advantages, including security, performance and convenience. Consumers have a high perception of HPWHs’ advantages, especially the environmental benefits of using HPWHs.
As shown in Figure 4, when asked whether the price of HPWHs is too high and whether it is unnecessary to spend too much money in this respect, only 30.6% of the consumers agreed, and 53.5% of the consumers were uncertain. When asked how to view the space occupied by HPWHs, half of the consumers (50.5%) believed that HPWHs occupied a large area, thereby wasting space for family activities, and 37.1% expressed uncertainty. Consumers were concerned more about the large space occupied by HPWHs than about their high price.
Compared with the high price of HPWHs, large space occupation was a concern of most respondents. Respondents were asked what they would do with an HPWH if it had been installed on the balcony (covering approximately 1 m2) when they moved into a new house. Only 46.5% of the respondents chose to retain and use the HPWH, 22.9% chose to buy another type of water heater, and 10.8% wanted to remove and sell the HPWH as they did not like it.

4.3. Respondents’ Information Sources about HPWHs

Although HPWHs have been in the Chinese market for nearly 20 years, they are not popular among consumers. As shown in Figure 5, consumers obtain unofficial information more frequently than official information. However, the average score of official information or unofficial information is less than three, and the frequency of obtaining HPWH information is generally biased toward occasionally, thus indicating that consumers in East China have less information about HPWHs and that the information channel is not smooth. HPWHs are relatively unfamiliar to consumers.
Concerning the frequency of consumers’ access to information about HPWHs, 36.2% of the consumers said they had never received relevant government information promoting HPWHs, 31.2% said they had never received publicity information from enterprises, and 30.3% said they had never learned relevant information about HPWHs through mobile phone newspapers or other media. These results show that HPWHs were not known to the public and that the government had promoted HPWHs little in East China. In 2016, China launched the coal-to-clean energy policy in northern provinces, and the heat pump heating market began to grow rapidly. After that, potential consumers in China could obtain the information of HPWHs through government channels, website and friends.

4.4. Factors Affecting Respondents’ Purchase Intention for HPWHs

As introduced in Section 2, the influencing factors of consumers’ purchase intention toward HPWHs are explored by SEM. AMOS 23 path analysis is used to estimate the path coefficients of the relationship between the constructs in the model. As shown in Table 4, χ 2 / d f = 2.889, GFI = 0.911, CFI = 0.952, TLI = 0.941, NFI = 0.929, IFI = 0.952, RMSEA = 0.065, and the data accord well with the hypothetical structural model [81,92].
Figure 6 is the path diagram of the standardized coefficient, and Table 5 is the hypothesis test results. The results of the structural equation model show that in Hypotheses H1–H10 proposed in this study, Hypothesis H10 is not statistically significant; that is, unofficial information does not significantly affect perceived usefulness among consumers. Unofficial information affects the perceived usefulness cognition of consumers, albeit not significantly. Unofficial information is not only related to the usefulness of the product, but also contains appearance, quality, price and other information on the product.
Hypothesis H9 is that the path between unofficial information and consumers’ attitudes is contrary to expectations (βH9 = −0.11 ρ   < 0.05). This may be due to the fact that in today’s interpersonal social networks, people’s discussion points on products are more inclined to focus on the negative impact of products. For example, consumers who think that the products they buy do not meet their expectations or are even far below their psychological expectations tend to vent to friends around them or post bad reviews on social networking platforms, thereby influencing others’ attitudes toward buying HPWHs. Hypothesis H8 is that the effect of official information on perceived usefulness among consumers is contrary to expectations (βH8 = −0.26   ρ < 0.001). The possible reasons are as follows. First, the score of this variable is generally low, thus indicating that people rarely understand the information they receive on HPWHs through publicity by enterprises or governments. Therefore, the reference significance of the results remains to be verified. Second, this little official information failed to achieve the expected publicity effect of enterprises or governments and even caused consumers to misunderstand the usefulness of HPWHs due to improper information dissemination methods or contents. Hypothesis H7 (βH7 = 0.28 ρ < 0.001) and Hypothesis H5 (βH5 = 0.72 ρ < 0.001) are confirmed; that is, official propaganda information and the perceived usefulness of HPWHs among consumers positively affect consumers’ purchase attitudes toward HPWHs. Hypothesis H4 (βH4 = 0.65 ρ < 0.001) and Hypothesis H6 (βH6 = 0.71 ρ < 0.001) are confirmed; that is, subjective norms positively affect perceived usefulness among consumers, and perceived usefulness among consumers positively affect their perceived behavioral control. In addition, the three decision variables of the TPB, namely, Hypotheses H1 (βH1 = 0.13 ρ < 0.05), H2 (βH2 = 0.23 ρ < 0.001), and H3 (βH3 = 0.29 ρ < 0.001), are all statistically significant, and thus, are in accordance with the expected direction. This shows that consumers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control with respect to HPWHs positively affect consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs. In summary, most hypotheses have been verified. However, a few hypothesized paths contradict the research, thereby showing that information about HPWHs does not develop completely in the direction preset by marketers.
In order to make the results more convincing, the model was validated again by changing the sample size. The previous analysis shows that there are significant differences in consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs in their housing areas. Excluding the largest housing area, we choose a sub-sample with a housing area less than 280 m2 for verification. The fitting indexes of the model are:   χ 2 / d f = 2.865, GFI = 0.909, CFI = 0.952, TLI =0.941, NFI = 0.928, IFI = 0.952, RMSEA = 0.066. Path analysis results are: Hypotheses H1 (βH1 = 0.15 ρ < 0.05), Hypotheses H2 (βH2 = 0.24 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H3 (βH3 = 0.27 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H4 (βH4 = 0.63 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H5 (βH5 = 0.71 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H6 (βH6 = 0.72 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H7 (βH7 = 0.28 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H8 (βH8 = −0.25 ρ < 0.001), Hypotheses H9 (βH9 = −0.11 ρ < 0.05), Hypotheses H10 (βH10 = 0.10 ρ > 0.05). The verification result of each hypothesis of the sub-sample is the same as that of the sample, and the proof result is robust.

5. Discussion

The study shows that the higher purchase intentions of consumers can be attributed to a positive attitude toward purchasing HPWHs, pressures of the surrounding environment, and perceived behavior control to implement the purchase of HPWHs. This finding confirms the TPB and is thus consistent with previous studies [56,77]. Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control positively affect consumers’ energy-saving behavior.
This paper also discusses the relationship between perceived usefulness and attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms. We find that subjective norms affect perceived usefulness among consumers and that perceived usefulness affects consumers’ attitudes and perceived behavioral control. The findings accord with the findings of Huang et al. [62] and Schepers and Wetzels [63]. In addition, if the advantages of HPWHs are sufficiently attractive to consumers, to meet their urgent needs for such advantages, consumers will spontaneously ignore their objective conditions and subjectively reduce the perceived obstacles, such as the time and cost spent, that may be encountered in purchasing HPWHs. The conclusion is close to that of previous studies that there is a positive relationship between mobile usability and perceived behavioral control [93]. According to the validated model, people will update their perception of HPWHs due to the recommendation from other consumers; in some cases, the perceived usefulness of the product will be increased. Consumers will be active in purchasing HPWHs when they fully realize that compared to other types of water heaters, HPWHs have more advantages, especially in terms of safety and energy savings.
The results show that unofficial information significantly negatively affects consumers’ attitudes toward buying HPWHs, thus indicating that there is more negative information about HPWHs in Chinese consumer social networks. Consumer comments are extremely important in consumer decision-making and affect product sales [94]. In addition, official information positively affects consumers’ attitudes toward buying HPWHs, yet the impact on perceived usefulness is contrary to expectations possibly due to enterprise and government information related to HPWHs being mostly propaganda to promote the product. Therefore, the information obtained through this channel is mostly positive and can improve consumers’ attitudes toward purchasing HPWHs.
However, the propaganda might overlook some problems. Information campaigns to promote sustainable behavior are common, however, little is known about to what extent they work as intended [95]. Information quality and source credibility affect perceived usefulness [96]. For example, the method or content of information dissemination may be unexpected by consumers, and the marketing of HPWHs may not meet the needs of consumers and may even cause a misunderstanding of HPWHs. These factors reduce the perceived usefulness of HPWHs among consumers. Goto et al. pointed out that the marketing work of energy companies needs to describe the cost balance between traditional water heaters and eco-efficient water heaters [97]. Kumar and Yadav believe that the clearer the information is, the more it helps consumers decide to buy green clothing [69]. Chen and Chang argued that consumers do not buy green products only for the environment; consumers also need to obtain functional benefits from green products [98]. Research shows that in order to make the information campaigns successful, they need to convey clear information, find a suitable audience, provided by reliable sources [95,99]. The improper method and content of information dissemination are important factors affecting consumers’ impression and subjective judgment. In the case of HPWHs, the difference between the expected effect of enterprise or government publicity and the actual information received by consumers will possibly hinder the promotion of HPWH adoption indirectly and reconditely.

6. Policy Implications

Currently, HPWHs have not been accepted widely by Chinese consumers although these appliances have proven to be energy saving and safe. In addition to the limitation of living conditions, other cognitive factors and information from different sources may also be crucial reasons for the low adoption rate of HPWHs. With these findings, this study may have some implications for their promotion.
First, as the survey shows that people are concerned about the space occupied by HPWHs, manufacturing enterprises should improve the installation design or persuade real estate developers to provide a better method of HPWH installation to shrink space occupation. To solve the problems arising from HPWHs’ high price, advertising the low usage cost of HPWHs may be effective. In addition, government subsidies for energy-saving appliances are a significant measure that also helps to highlight the green features of HPWHs. Green incentives, such as awards for energy-saving consumers and individual carbon trading systems, might be powerful measures to improve price competitiveness.
Second, the results show that official information reduces the perceived usefulness of HPWHs among consumers, while unofficial information negatively affects consumers’ attitudes, thereby going against indirectly enhancing purchase intention. To change the psychological factors of consumers, it is necessary to correct the discrepancy between the actual information on the appliance and the information received by consumers. Specifically, enterprises and governments should further publicize the advantages of HPWHs to potential consumers in the target market and formulate different marketing strategies used for other types of water heaters; such strategies include green slogans and trade new goods for old. Moreover, manufacturing and marketing enterprises can devote energy to discussing HPWHs in online shops and social networks to guide discussion topics in a positive direction and improve consumers’ attitudes about HPWHs and the perceived usefulness of these appliances among consumers.

7. Conclusions

In this study, an extended TPB model is proposed, in which information sources are taken as antecedents and consumers’ perceived usefulness factors for HPWHs are added. Through SEM, the influence mechanism of these factors on the purchase intention of HPWHs is explored. The research results are as follows:
  • In the Yangtze River Delta region of eastern China, HPWHs are not more popular than water heaters directly heated by electricity and natural gas;
  • A high proportion of respondents recognize the environmental benefits and efficiency advantages of HPWHs. However, the large volume (HPWH occupies too much space) and high price of HPWHs dissatisfy consumers;
  • Most consumers pay more attention to the large volume than to the high price of HPWHs;
  • Consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs does not differ significantly by income level or living environment, yet positively correlates with housing area. Compared to residents living in smaller houses, residents living in larger houses show higher purchase intention.
In the path analysis of HPWH purchase intention, perceived behavioral control, attitude and subjective norms positively affect purchase intention; subjective norms enhance perceived usefulness among consumers; and perceived usefulness affects the attitude and perceived behavioral control of consumers. This paper probes into the influence of different information sources on consumers’ purchase intention, as consumers can obtain all kinds of information through different channels. More official information can arouse consumers’ positive attitude toward HPWHs, yet can significantly reduce the perceived usefulness of HPWHs among consumers, thereby indirectly affecting purchase intention. However, more unofficial information negatively affects consumers’ attitudes, thereby undermining purchase intention indirectly.
The information transmission path may influence consumers’ attitudes and perceived usefulness in different ways due to the path’s diversity, which should be considered by HPWH producers and merchants. Industry producers of green products have to respond to user feedback and attempt to increase public praise for their products.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/en15072464/s1, Table S1: Constructs, indicators and sources.

Author Contributions

S.B.: Data curation, Methodology, Writing—Original draft preparation, Visualization, Software. F.L.: Funding acquisition; Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology, Validation, Writing—Reviewing and Editing. W.X.: Supervision, Methodology, Validation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (JZ2021HGTB0069).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

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

Data Availability Statement

The datasets analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to respect for respondents’ privacy but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Proposed theoretical framework.
Figure 1. Proposed theoretical framework.
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Figure 2. Water-burning equipment for families of respondents.
Figure 2. Water-burning equipment for families of respondents.
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Figure 3. Consumers’ perceptions about the advantages of HPWHs.
Figure 3. Consumers’ perceptions about the advantages of HPWHs.
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Figure 4. Consumers’ perception about the disadvantages of HPWHs.
Figure 4. Consumers’ perception about the disadvantages of HPWHs.
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Figure 5. Information frequency scores of HPWHs obtained by consumers.
Figure 5. Information frequency scores of HPWHs obtained by consumers.
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Figure 6. Analysis results of consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs.
Figure 6. Analysis results of consumers’ purchase intention for HPWHs.
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Table
Table 1. Description statistics and normality test.
Table 1. Description statistics and normality test.
VariablesItemMeanSkewnessKurtosisStandardized Factor LoadingCronbach’s Alpha
ATAT13.37−0.2720.3860.6660.836
AT23.44−0.3420.4840.883
AT33.59−0.4610.7580.854
SNSN12.78−0.0890.1480.7540.782
SN23.26−0.4700.2330.904
SN33.54−0.7781.1030.615
PBPB13.61−0.9341.4200.7530.846
PB23.69−0.7831.3810.824
PB33.69−0.6571.2220.840
PUPU13.71−0.7771.7930.8600.886
PU23.72−0.7131.6770.866
PU33.82−0.8692.0220.823
OIOI12.220.277−1.1570.9070.941
OI22.300.187−1.0260.919
OI32.370.090−1.1740.927
UIUI12.50−0.016−0.9580.8810.891
UI22.500.063−1.0380.845
UI32.48−0.007−1.0400.842
Note: Attitude (AT), subjective norm (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC), official information (OI), unofficial information (UI), and perceived usefulness (PU).
Table
Table 2. Reliability and validity analysis.
Table 2. Reliability and validity analysis.
VariablesUIOIPUPBSNAT
Correlation coefficientUI1
OI0.6051
PU0.066−0.0231
PB0.1100.0790.6911
SN0.1940.2750.5740.5521
AT0.1110.2010.6870.5930.5491
Test indicesCR0.8920.9410.8860.8480.8070.847
AVE0.7330.8420.7220.6510.5880.651
A V E 0.8560.9180.8500.8070.7670.807
Table
Table 3. Influence of demographic information of respondents on purchase intention for HPWHs.
Table 3. Influence of demographic information of respondents on purchase intention for HPWHs.
VariablesNumberPercentage (%)Purchase
Intention 		Significance Level
Living space<60 m2 317.03.260.001
60–90 m2 9922.23.25
90–140 m224154.23.48
140–280 m25813.03.59
>280 m2163.63.94
Living environmentcity district23953.73.440.895
suburban area10323.13.43
rural area10323.13.48
Household income per month0–270 Yuan40.903.500.581
270–1100 Yuan112.473.45
1100–2050 Yuan276.073.63
2050–4500 Yuan10724.043.44
4500–9800 Yuan17940.223.47
9800–22,500 Yuan11024.723.38
22,500–41,000 Yuan71.573.00
Note: Purchase intention is average for each group; one to five means definitely not buying to definitely buying. When significant level < 0.05, each group in the HPWH purchase intention has a significant difference.
Table
Table 4. Structural model fitting data.
Table 4. Structural model fitting data.
Fit Indices χ 2 / d f CFIGFITLINFIIFIRNSEA
Threshold value<3.00>0.90>0.90>0.90>0.90>0.90<0.08
Structural model2.8890.9520.9110.9410.9290.9520.065
Table
Table 5. Hypothesis test results.
Table 5. Hypothesis test results.
PathUnstandardized Path CoefficientC.R.p ValueHypothesesDecision
AT→INT0.2082.2200.027H1Supported
SN→INT0.2964.052***H2Supported
PB→INT0.4074.793***H3Supported
SN→PU0.65911.297***H4Supported
PU→AT0.56011.629***H5Supported
PU→PB0.63612.659***H6Supported
OI→AT0.1405.155***H7Supported
OI→PU−0.160−4.283***H8Not Supported
UI→AT−0.065−2.0560.040H9Not Supported
UI→PU0.0761.7650.078H10Not Supported
Note: p value (***) < 0.001.
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Bai, S.; Li, F.; Xie, W. Green but Unpopular? Analysis on Purchase Intention of Heat Pump Water Heaters in China. Energies 2022, 15, 2464. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072464

AMA Style

Bai S, Li F, Xie W. Green but Unpopular? Analysis on Purchase Intention of Heat Pump Water Heaters in China. Energies. 2022; 15(7):2464. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072464

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Bai, Shucai, Fangyi Li, and Wu Xie. 2022. "Green but Unpopular? Analysis on Purchase Intention of Heat Pump Water Heaters in China" Energies 15, no. 7: 2464. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072464

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