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Article

The Effect of Awe on Willingness to Pay for Construction Waste Recycled Products: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

by
Zhikun Ding
1,2,3,
Tao Huang
2,3,
Qifan Yang
2,3 and
Lian Duan
4,*
1
Key Laboratory for Resilient Infrastructures of Coastal Cities, Shenzhen University, Ministry of Education, Shenzhen 518060, China
2
Sino-Australia Joint Research Center in BIM and Smart Construction, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
3
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Green, Efficient and Intelligent Construction of Underground Metro Station, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
4
School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(24), 10847; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410847
Submission received: 10 September 2024 / Revised: 30 November 2024 / Accepted: 9 December 2024 / Published: 11 December 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development)
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Abstract

:
The development of the construction industry has generated a large amount of construction waste, and resource utilization of construction waste is an effective means of recycling. However, such recycled construction waste products still lack market competitiveness and recognition. Consumers’ psychological activities are often influenced by emotions, and the sense of awe plays an important role in green consumption. This study aims to investigate how the sense of awe affects consumers’ willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. The study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with a willingness-to-pay task paradigm for experiments, which aims to reveal how different types of awe affect willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. The behavioral results showed that two conditions effectively induced awe and enhanced consumers’ willingness to pay, but the difference between nature awe and social awe was not significant. The neural activation results showed significant activation in the inferior prefrontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In particular, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity was significantly enhanced in the social awe condition. The functional connectivity results showed that, compared to the control condition experiment, the awe condition experiment triggered stronger functional connectivity. Therefore, exploring the effect of awe on the willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products can provide a basis reference for companies to develop marketing strategies and corporate pricing and promote the promotion and application of construction waste recycled products in the market.

1. Introduction

In today’s world, as urbanization accelerates and the construction industry flourishes, the generation of construction waste is increasing, posing serious challenges to environmental and social sustainability. Construction waste is produced at all stages of urban development, including construction, maintenance, and demolition. Currently, the primary method of disposing of construction waste is still landfilling. This simple but extensively used approach has overwhelmed the existing landfill sites and led to environmental issues such as resource consumption, soil salinization, and dust pollution [1]. Over the past decade, the total amount of construction waste has dramatically increased. Data indicates that approximately 1.3 billion tons of solid waste are generated globally each year and will reach 2.2 billion tons by 2025 [2]. The negative environmental impact of construction waste cannot be ignored.
It is worth noting that with the continuous advancement of technology, many kinds of construction wastes can be processed into raw materials and resources and further made into building materials. These recycled building materials meet the construction standards and are even stronger than conventional building materials [3]. The recycling and reutilization of construction waste has become the most important future way of realizing economic and sustainable development [4].
The consumption of recycled products is the final and most important stage of the recycling and reutilization of construction waste. In this stage, the consumer’s willingness to pay is a key influencing factor. Willingness to pay is a psychological index that reflects the consumers’ intention and attitude in the purchasing decision process. It not only reflects the consumers’ value perception of the product but also directly affects their purchasing behavior and, therefore, serves as a crucial bridge linking consumer demand with market supply [5]. Recently, researchers have noticed that willingness to pay is directly correlated with the market acceptance and environmental effectiveness of the recycled products [6,7].
In recent years, emotional factors have gained widespread attention in consumer behavior research. Compared with rational cognitive factors, emotional factors are more fast and direct and can enhance market acceptance more effectively [8]. A few studies have revealed that emotions may play a significant role in increasing the market acceptance of green and environmentally friendly products by promoting pro-environmental behaviors and increasing the willingness to pay [9,10].
However, few studies have focused on the relationship between emotions and the consumption of construction waste recycled products. In the present study, we investigated the effect of awe on the consumers’ willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. Awe is a widely studied complex emotion. It can evoke the sense of “small self” and “perceived grandeur” [11], and therefore affect individuals’ cognition and decision-making by prompting self-contemplation within a larger environment, enhancing the connection with nature and consequently influencing pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors [12]. Moreover, awe can also increase individuals’ compliance and conformity [13,14], making them more susceptible to persuasion. Awe is a profound emotional experience that motivates individuals to pay more attention to environmental protection. When people feel the magnificence and beauty of nature, they are more likely to be motivated to protect and cherish the environment. Recycling is beneficial to the sustainable development of humankind and is essential to the planet’s environment as a whole. As environmental problems continue to intensify, more consumers will rethink the relationship between human beings and the Earth and take recycling as a noble cause concerning the future of mankind. Thus, this emotional experience can increase recognition of and participation in environmental protection behaviors such as recycling, thus influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Research devices targeting the brain can be categorized into two main groups: invasive and non-invasive. While invasive methods obtain more precise neural signals, they carry surgical risks that cannot be ignored and may even cause irreversible damage. In view of this, non-invasive techniques have become the mainstream choice in neuroscience research due to their lower risk and suitability for large-scale studies. Other common non-invasive techniques include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or electroencephalography (EEG). fNIRS has a similar developmental history to EEG and fMRI, but its popularity is relatively low. However, as the need for motor nerve signal collection has gradually gained attention, fNIRS has demonstrated unique advantages with its excellent anti-interference ability. fNIRS does not generate noise during data acquisition, does not require a special laboratory environment, and can be adapted to more experimental conditions. fNIRS is also relatively inexpensive, and the equipment is easy to operate, which makes it important in neuroscience research and clinical applications and thus should not be overlooked. In this study, fNIRS was able to capture subjects’ brain responses in real time when they perceived awe and when they made willingness-to-pay decisions, which in turn provided important physiological data to support our analysis of the link between emotion and willingness to pay.

2. Background and Research Questions

2.1. The Emotion of Awe and Its Neural Mechanism

Keltner and Haidt defined awe as a natural response to extraordinary things, capable of inducing profound psychological changes and lasting impressions, and described two core components: perceived vastness and need for accommodation [12]. When faced with something vast or incomprehensible, people experience a sense of compliance, which leads to the restructuring of their cognitive frameworks; the awe emotion arises from this process. Many previous studies identified awe as a positive emotion. Researchers have found that awe can promote pro-environmental and pro-social behaviors and enhance morals and a sense of responsibility [15]. It is believed that awe is a transcendent emotion that can increase attention to society and others, promoting cooperative behavior [16].
With the fast development of cognitive neuroscience, researchers have begun to use brain imaging technology to non-invasively investigate the neural mechanisms of awe from both structural and functional aspects. For example, Guan et al. [17] used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to discover that the dispositional awe score was negatively associated with the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle/posterior cingulate cortex (MCC/PCC), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). These results suggest that individual differences in dispositional awe involve multiple brain regions related to attention, conscious self-regulation, cognitive control, and social emotion. Moreover, subsequent investigations further explored differences between different valences of awe, revealing that positive awe is positively correlated with GMV in the prefrontal cortex region and negatively correlated with GMV in the right caudate and left putamen regions, while negative awe is negatively correlated with GMV in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula regions [18]. In addition, Van Elk et al. [19] further investigated the differences between the brain activation evoked by awe videos and two other types of videos. The results showed that compared to positive and neutral videos, awe videos evoked weaker activation levels in the core regions of the default mode network (DMN), including the frontopolar cortex (FP), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and angular gyrus (AG), suggesting inhibition of self-referential processing [20].

2.2. Awe and Purchase Decision-Making

The psychological prototype of awe pointing to “perceived vastness” and “small self” can shift individuals’ attention away from themselves and on to others, thereby engaging in more actions beneficial to society and collective well-being. In recent years, the relationship between awe and purchase decision-making, especially green consumption, has attracted increased research interest. Studies have shown that awe can enhance consumer preferences for environmentally friendly products and stimulate their interest in sustainable lifestyles [21,22]. It can promote green purchasing behavior by enhancing consumers’ sense of environmental responsibility and connection to nature [23]. Moreover, other researchers have found that awe can improve the persuasive effect of advertising messages [24]. For instance, Septianto et al. [25] explored the role of awe emotion in advertising and found that awe can stimulate consumers’ abstract thinking, thereby enhancing the persuasiveness of advertisements. In addition, awe can influence consumers’ information processing styles by inducing feelings of uncertainty and making consumers evaluate information more carefully, leading to higher levels of caution in their purchasing decisions [26].

2.3. Willingness to Pay

Before making a purchase, consumers typically compare and evaluate the products from various aspects, such as quality, price, popularity, and reviews, which ultimately inform their willingness to pay. Willingness to pay is often used to measure consumer demand for a particular product or service or to establish the optimal market price [27]. Willingness to pay plays a central role in purchasing decisions due to the fact that it is a direct reflection of the consumer’s perception of the value of a good or service and their ability to pay. Research has shown that consumers calculate the maximum amount they are willing to pay in an economic transaction, and this process is encoded in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain [28]. In addition, the assumed value of willingness to pay is usually higher than the actual value paid, suggesting that consumers are more cautious in their actual purchase decisions [29]. Willingness to pay also has an important impact on marketing and advertising strategies, and Shah and Yang’s study [30] showed that the level of message framing and constructs can significantly influence consumers’ willingness to pay for sustainable products. This suggests that appropriate marketing messages and strategies can significantly increase consumers’ willingness to pay, thereby promoting sales. Overall, willingness to pay not only influences consumers’ purchase decisions but also helps companies optimize their pricing strategies. Willingness to pay plays a key role in purchasing decisions because it not only reflects consumers’ value perceptions but also directly affects purchasing behaviors, marketing strategies, and so on.
It has been well established that both the product properties and the consumer characteristics can influence the willingness to pay. For example, high-value items tend to elicit a higher willingness to pay from consumers, while low-value items may result in a lower willingness to pay [31]. Individuals with higher incomes may be more willing to pay higher prices for higher-quality products or services, whereas those with lower incomes may prioritize price factors [32]. When purchasing gifts, consumers may be more willing to pay higher prices [33], while in promotional activities, consumers may be attracted by discounted or special offer items, thus increasing their willingness to pay [34]. The level of consumer favorability towards a brand or product also affects the price level they are willing to pay [35].
Emotion also plays a significant role in purchasing decisions by influencing the willingness to pay. For example, when consumers particularly like the appearance of a product or when marketing techniques are effective, they may experience a state of pleasure, leading them to be willing to pay a higher price to satisfy their emotional needs. Conversely, when consumers are in a state of anxiety or fear, they may lean towards conservative spending, become more price-sensitive, reduce their willingness to pay, or even refuse to make a purchase [36,37].

2.4. Research Questions and Research Hypotheses

The present study aims to investigate how awe emotion influences consumers’ willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. Most of the traditional research methods rely on subjective questionnaires and interviews. To more objectively investigate the relationship between awe emotion and individuals’ purchasing behavior, the present study conducted a purchase decision-making experiment. During the experiment, we measured the participants’ willingness to pay and employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the brain activity of the participants. We examined the impact on willingness to pay of two types of awe, i.e., nature awe and social awe. The objective was to reveal how different types of awe influence the willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. We proposed the following hypothesis:
H1. 
Awe videos can evoke awe emotions in consumers, thereby influencing their willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products.
As an emotion encourages individuals to contribute more towards environmental protection and assisting others, awe can prompt a greater incidence of social and charitable behaviors. Graziosi and Yaden [38] discovered that awe elicited by natural sources is defined through beauty, whereas social awe is characterized by virtue or exceptional ability, indicating that the two types of awe differ, with social awe generally being less intense than nature awe. There is a lot of research that shows that emotions have an effect on behavior [39,40,41]. Neuroscience research has revealed how awe influences our cognitive and decision-making processes. Awe significantly reduces an individual’s self-awareness and shifts focus from monetary value to the product itself, potentially decreasing sensitivity to price [42]. During this process, activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in emotional regulation, particularly in regulating social emotions. When consumers evaluate payment options, they must weigh the cost against the value received. This decision-making process activates the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which helps consumers determine the appropriate amount to pay [15]. The activity in these brain structures not only influences how we perceive and evaluate emotional information in social interactions but also plays a significant role in our economic decisions. Based on these findings, we further proposed the following five sub-hypotheses:
H1-1. 
Awe can increase the willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products.
H1-2. 
The impact of nature awe on the willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products is more significant than that of social awe.
H1-3. 
Under the influence of awe, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is more actively involved in the regulation process, showing stronger activation.
H1-4. 
Compared to nature awe, social awe triggers more significant activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
H1-5. 
Under the influence of awe, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex will show stronger activation.

3. Experiment

3.1. Participants and Experimental Platform

Thirty participants joined the experiment, including 15 males and 15 females aged between 18 and 27 years, with an average age of 22.37 years and a standard deviation of 1.25 years. All the participants were right-handed, had normal uncorrected or corrected vision, had not taken any neuroactive drugs before the experiment, and had no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders. Before starting the experiment, all participants signed an informed consent form. After the experiment, each participant was paid CNY 70–90 to thank them for their participation. The experiment was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Medical Department of Shenzhen University.
The functional NIR spectroscopy equipment used in this study is a Brite 24 model manufactured by Artinis, Netherlands, with a sampling frequency of 10 Hz and wireless data transmission via Bluetooth technology. The device was configured with two sets of optical probes totaling 18 optodes, with each set consisting of five NIR light sources and four detection optodes. These optodes appeared in pairs as transmitter and receiver, with a fixed spacing of 3 cm between each pair. Placed in the prefrontal region of the brain, they form a measurement system containing 18 independent channels. Given the limited coverage of the NIR spectroscopy equipment, the spatial layout of the photopoles in the experiments did not strictly follow the international 10–20 system standard; therefore, the positions of the photopoles were determined by probing the relative positional relationship between the head and the photopoles with the 3D localizer Polhemus Patriot.
The experiment was conducted in a separate laboratory with curtains on both sides of the screen in the experimental area in order to minimize external interference. Only the subjects participating in the experiment were allowed to remain in the experimental area for the duration of the experiment, while the experimenter was located on the side covered by the curtains to monitor the data collection process and to be ready to respond to any emergencies that might arise.

3.2. Stimulation Materials

3.2.1. Experimental Background Materials and Emotional Elicitation Materials

This study aimed to explore the impact of awe on the willingness to pay. To evoke the feeling of awe, we opted for more controlled stimuli based on existing literature. Nature awe can be elicited through vast landscapes, towering mountains, or intense phenomena like tornadoes. In this study, following Gordon’s research [43], a video segment depicting a tornado was chosen, excerpted from the documentary “Earth Storm”. The selection of the social awe video required individuals to exemplify noble virtues, such as the promotional video featuring the “Six Brothers of Desert Control” in Gansu Province, China. A control condition was presented with a video depicting a train journey, with all videos lasting approximately 3 min.

3.2.2. Emotion Scale

Accurate measurement of emotion is essential for assessing the validity of emotion elicitation. In this study, a multidimensional emotion assessment (7-point Likert format) was used. Specifically, participants were asked to rate, on a 7-point scale (1 for no experience, 7 for very strong), the seven basic emotions experienced during video viewing: anger, disgust, awe, surprise, joy, fear, and sadness.

3.2.3. Nature and Social Awe Emotions Differential Scale

Due to the complex content of the videos, this study designed a scale to assess the differences in awe elicitation by natural scenes and human figures. The scale includes two questions: “The natural scenes in the video are more emotionally stimulating to me”, and “The characters in the video are more emotionally stimulating to me”. It uses a 7-point Likert scale (1 representing strongly disagree, 7 representing strongly agree), with higher scores indicating a more significant effect of the corresponding type of stimulus on eliciting awe emotions.

3.2.4. Product Images

In order to ensure the diversity and representativeness of product selection, a total of 120 images of different products (natural vs. recycled) were collected through on-site surveys and online resources (Figure 1). These images were standardized and adjusted to uniform color saturation and image size. The brand logos were removed from the images to eliminate the interference of brand effects on the experiment. After a small-scale product preference scoring, the top and bottom 15 products were eliminated, and the remaining 90 products were ranked according to scores and divided equally into three conditions. From these three conditions, products were randomly selected in proportion to form three new conditions with minimized and non-significant inter-condition differences in preference evaluation and then randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and one control condition. Ultimately, each condition contained 30 product images. Since it is difficult to distinguish between natural and recycled products only through images, in order to accurately measure the participants’ willingness to pay for different product types without being biased by specific product images, each image appeared once as a natural product and once as a recycled product, with the presentation order randomized. Furthermore, the actual selling prices of relevant products on major online stores were obtained, and price adjustments were made by increasing or decreasing the prices by 10% successively (less than CNY 1 was rounded up to CNY 1), resulting in a continuous range of seven product prices (three lower prices, three higher prices, and one market price).

3.3. Experimental Procedure

Before the experiment began, participants were required to sit quietly for 1 to 3 min to stabilize their emotions and prepare for the experiment.
The experiment was based on a willingness to pay task paradigm and was within-subjects designed. It consisted of a control condition and two experimental conditions (natural awe and social awe). All the participants first underwent the control session and then the experimental sessions. The two experimental sessions were counter-balanced. In the control session, first, the participants watched a 3 min video to establish a baseline state; then, they completed the emotion scale and the natural and social awe emotions differential scale. Finally, they performed the willingness to pay task. The two experimental conditions and the control conditions had consistent sessions (Figure 2), except for differences in the content of the presented video screens (refer to Section 3.1 for details). Before the formal experiment, the participants were instructed about the purpose of the experiment, the experimental procedure, and some guidelines. A demo session was conducted for the participants to practice. The materials presented in the practice session did not appear in the formal experiment.
During the willingness-to-pay measurement stage, a fixation point (“+”) was first displayed at the center of the screen for 800–1200 ms. This was followed by displaying a product image for 2000 ms, with the product label text displayed above the image (e.g., flower pot, recycled chair, etc.). Subsequently, seven different optional prices were displayed on the screen, and the participants responded by pressing keys “1–7” to indicate the highest price they were willing to pay for the product. Afterward, a blank screen was presented for 1000 ms to allow participants to prepare for the next trial (Figure 3). Each condition contained 30 product images, totaling 90 trials. Each product image appeared once as a natural product and once as a recycled product (distinguished by the label text).

3.4. Data Analysis

To verify the validity of the emotion elicitation, a one-way ANOVA was conducted for each emotion score and the two awe emotions elicited. Since there was also a significant difference between the awe emotions, awe was used as a covariate in the analysis of covariance for the willingness-to-pay scores.
The fNIRS data underwent preprocessing before statistical analysis. Initially, Oxysoft 3.2.70 ×64 software was used to convert raw changes in light intensity into changes in hemoglobin concentrations. Subsequently, these hemoglobin concentration changes were converted to the format required by the NIRS_SPM plugin in Matlab R2013b. To eliminate noise and data drift caused by physiological activities (such as breathing, heartbeat, and head movement), the Wavelet–MDL algorithm was applied for data denoising. Additionally, the hemodynamic response function (HRF) was used to filter out high-frequency electromagnetic interference and physiological noise [44]. Data segments corresponding to the timing and duration of each video were extracted for analysis based on the time points at which the videos appeared. Finally, a general linear model (GLM) was employed to estimate the parameters of changes in active brain regions, and the obtained β-values reflected the weights of the design matrix columns under different conditions. After the above processing, the β-values of the 18 channels for each subject under different task conditions were obtained; the larger the β-value, the more significant the activation. In addition, in order to avoid a high false-positive rate due to multiple testing, the significance was corrected using the False Discovery Rate (FDR) after calculating the significance of each channel.
Functional connectivity in the brain refers to the connectivity between different brain regions based on the temporal correlation of spontaneous fluctuation signals under the same state condition [45]. By performing further calculations on the activated brain regions, Pearson’s correlation coefficients between the channels were obtained. These coefficients reflect the strength of functional connectivity between channels; a higher correlation coefficient indicates stronger functional connectivity. In this study, an 18 × 18 diagonal matrix was established to calculate the correlation coefficients of brain functional connectivity under both awe and control conditions.

4. Results

4.1. Behavioral Results

4.1.1. Emotional Manipulation Check

Statistical analysis was conducted on the seven emotions across the three experimental conditions. Descriptive statistics for each condition are presented in Table 1, along with the one-way ANOVA performed on each emotion score. The results revealed significant differences among the three conditions in awe emotion (F(2, 87) = 141.131, p < 0.001). Post-hoc analysis showed that both the nature awe condition (M ± SD = 6.167 ± 0.834) and the social awe condition (M ± SD = 6.567 ± 0.774) were significantly higher than the control condition (M ± SD = 2.833 ± 1.177, p < 0.001). However, the difference between the nature awe condition and the social awe condition was not significant (p = 0.105). Furthermore, there were significant differences in scores of surprise emotion among the three conditions of participants (F(2, 87) = 21.654, p < 0.001), with both the nature awe condition (M ± SD = 5.767 ± 1.223) and the social awe condition (M ± SD = 5.233 ± 1.924) significantly higher than the control condition (M ± SD = 3.300 ± 1.343, p < 0.001). Therefore, it is necessary to control for this in subsequent statistical analyses.

4.1.2. Differential Test of Natural and Social Awe Emotion Induction

First, examining the induction of “natural landscapes” across the three conditions, one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference (F(2, 87) = 9.343, p < 0.001), as shown in Table 2. Post-hoc analysis indicated that the nature awe condition (M ± SD = 5.933 ± 1.258) scored significantly higher than the social awe condition (M ± SD = 4.933 ± 1.660, p = 0.019) and the control condition (M ± SD = 5.875 ± 1.157, p < 0.001), indicating that natural landscapes were more effective in eliciting awe emotions in participants in the nature awe condition. Regarding “characters”, one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference among the three conditions (F(2, 87) = 20.016, p < 0.001). Post-hoc analysis showed that the social awe condition (M ± SD = 5.900 ± 1.125) scored significantly higher than the nature awe condition (M ± SD = 4.733 ± 1.680, p = 0.002) and the control condition (M ± SD = 3.633 ± 1.299, p < 0.001), indicating that figures (individuals with noble virtues) were more effective in eliciting awe emotions in participants in the social awe condition.

4.1.3. Test of Willingness to Pay

Since significant differences were found earlier between the three conditions of participants on the emotion of surprise in addition to significant differences on the emotion of awe, surprise was used as a covariate in the analysis of covariance for the willingness to pay scores (Figure 4), and the results are shown in Table 3. The results showed a significant main effect of emotion of awe (F(2, 87) = 8.982, p < 0.000) and a significant interaction effect of emotion of awe and product type (F(2, 87) = 6.138, p = 0.002); however, the main effect of product type was not significant. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that the willingness to pay scores were significantly higher in the nature awe condition and social awe condition than in the control condition (p < 0.000), but the difference between awe conditions was not significant (p = 0.919).

4.2. fNIRS Results

4.2.1. Activation Analysis

In this study, the NIR data within 1000 ms of the willingness to pay selection phase were intercepted for preprocessing, and the subjects’ β-values and resting states under different conditions were subjected to a paired-sample t-test to examine the activation of brain regions under the task conditions, as shown in Table 4.
In order to explore the interaction effect of awe type and product type, the β-values of the different conditions were analyzed using ANOVA. The results showed a significant main effect of awe in channel 4 (Inferior prefrontal gyrus, F(2, 87) = 5.184, p = 0.007), channel 13 (Inferior prefrontal gyrus, F(2, 87) = 3.801, p = 0.024), and channel 15 (Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, F(2, 87) = 4.380, p = 0.014), and a non-significant main effect of product type in channel 4 (Inferior prefrontal gyrus, F(2, 87) = 3.707, p = 0.022) had a significant interaction effect of product type and awe. Post-hoc comparisons revealed significant differences between the social awe condition and the control condition in the activation of the Inferior prefrontal gyrus (channel 4, p = 0.005 and channel 13, p = 0.026), with the social awe condition having a significantly higher level of activation in the Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (channel 15, p = 0.004) than the nature awe condition (Figure 5).

4.2.2. Functional Connectivity Analysis

A correlation coefficient greater than 0.6 generally indicates a strong correlation [46]. Table 5 displays the channels that exhibit strong functional connectivity in the brain.
Under the control condition, when choosing natural products, significant correlations were found between Channel 4 and Channel 16, and between Channel 13 and Channel 15. Under the nature awe condition, when selecting natural products, there was a significant correlation between Channel 8 and Channel 12. In the case of recycled products, significant correlations existed between Channel 1 and Channel 2, and between Channel 2 and Channel 6. Under the social awe condition, when selecting recycled products, significant correlations were observed between Channel 1 and Channel 6, Channel 1 and Channel 15, and Channel 6 and Channel 15. At the 1% significance level, no other conditions showed correlation coefficients greater than 0.6, indicating no relevant brain functional connectivity. The results are displayed in Figure 6.

5. Discussion

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between the awe emotion and the consumers’ willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. The results showed that both the nature awe condition and the social awe condition effectively induced the emotion of awe.
The willingness to pay experiment further revealed the positive effect of awe emotion on increasing willingness to pay, reaffirming the influence of emotional factors in consumer purchasing decisions. According to the definition of awe, it can make individuals perceive grandiosity and feel insignificance [12], thereby extending to the promotion of pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors and its impact on green consumption [47]. The findings of this study suggested that awe emotion can enhance the willingness to pay for recycled products made from construction waste. This may be attributed to the influence of awe emotion on consumer social emotions [48], thereby making them more inclined to make payment decisions. Moreover, we found an interaction effect between awe emotion and product type. Under the condition of awe, the willingness to pay for regenerative products is significantly higher than for natural products, supporting hypothesis H1-1. This finding is consistent with previous research [49]. However, the difference in the impact between nature awe and social awe is not significant, which dismisses the notion that social awe has a weaker influence on willingness to pay compared to nature awe, thus rejecting hypothesis H1-2.
The present study also explored the neural correlates of the awe emotion in enhancing the willingness to pay for recycled products made from construction waste. The fNIRS neuroimaging results revealed significant activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supporting hypothesis H1-5. Specifically, the analysis showed that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Channel 15) in the social awe condition exhibited more pronounced activation. The prefrontal cortex, located at the frontal end of the brain, is a region associated with higher-order cognitive functions such as attention and decision-making [50]. The prefrontal cortex can be further subdivided into dorsal and ventral parts. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is believed to be involved in subjective value assessment and decision processing, playing a critical role in value computation [51]. Research has found that the activity level of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is positively correlated with willingness to pay [52]. The more pronounced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the social awe condition in this study may influence consumers’ perception of prices, thus leading to a higher willingness to pay. Camus [53] used transcranial magnetic stimulation to target the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and found that it reduced participants’ final bids, demonstrating the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in value computation.
During the examination of awe emotion elicitation, it was found that different types of video content could evoke awe emotions, and there was no significant neural difference observed in the awe emotions evoked by these two sources. This result suggested that willingness to pay is not only associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex but also influenced by other factors. During cognitive regulation processes, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are functionally connected, jointly mediating decision-making circuitry changes arising from cognitive regulation and participating in the regulatory process [54]. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is the brain region most commonly activated in response to emotional stimuli [55], indicating that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, associated with emotional regulation, may also influence the willingness to pay.
Meanwhile, significant activation was observed in the inferior frontal gyrus (Channels 4 and 13) of the control condition, supporting hypothesis H1-3. Some studies have proposed that the inferior frontal gyrus is involved in the initial detection of emotional arousal [56]. Subsequent research has found that the inferior frontal gyrus is not directly involved in emotional regulation but rather achieves emotional regulation through modulating interactions between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex [57]. This suggested that the process of emotional regulation is not solely executed by a single brain region independently but requires the coordinated action of multiple brain regions. As part of the neural circuitry regulating social emotions, the inferior frontal gyrus is activated under social pressure [58], reflecting social emotional processing [59]. The inferior frontal gyrus is involved in regulating social emotions during the willingness-to-pay selection process [58], where purchasing green products may induce feelings of social pressure and expectations, and the inferior frontal gyrus participates in regulating this social pressure. Awe emotions are believed to reduce the importance of personal interests and mitigate conflicts between social and personal interests [19]. Therefore, when facing recycled products derived from construction waste, under conditions of social awe, the inferior frontal gyrus (Channel 4) exhibits weaker activation levels. This may indicate that social awe emotions have a better effect on reducing personal interests, significantly alleviating inner conflicts, thus supporting hypothesis H1-4.
The fNIRS functional connectivity analysis further revealed the brain regions simultaneously involved in the willingness-to-pay experiment. For the purchase decision-making process, consumers often need to consider multiple aspects, such as quality, appearance, and sensory characteristics. This multi-dimensional evaluation process may require more cognitive resources and involve more complex decision-making, leading to greater activation and stronger functional connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. During the value assessment of recycled products, functional connectivity was observed between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the frontal pole. When the decision-making process incorporates personal historical information for a comprehensive judgment, activation occurs in the frontal pole [60]. This implies that participants in the decision-making process consider not only the direct information about the product but also integrate personal historical experiences and values. The involvement of the frontal pole may help participants link the environmental and sustainability attributes of recycled products with their past experiences, aiding in more in-depth decision-making. This process underscores the cognitive complexity involved in evaluating products that are marketed based on their sustainability features, reflecting a layered integration of product qualities with individual values and experiences.
Finally, this study still has some limitations. First, nature awe is more inclined to trigger inner shock and reflection through the endless charm of nature, while social awe inspires admiration and motivation through social norms and historical achievements, both of which can inspire strong feelings of awe. The experiments in this study used a within-subjects design, and subsequent analysis of the experimental results revealed that both types of awe videos were able to elicit feelings of awe in participants. In order to minimize the impact of the first type of awe on the second type of awe, we randomly disrupted the order in which the two types of awe videos appeared in our experimental design and allowed participants to take a break of 3–5 min between the two experimental conditions. Subsequent studies will consider presenting one awe video to each participant, thus reducing the interaction between the two. Second, ecological validity is an important consideration for any experimental study, especially when there may be differences between a simulated experimental task and a real-life decision-making situation. In this study, we used an abstract willingness-to-pay task to explore the effect of awe on consumer behavior. This is a new paradigm approach, and while this experimental design has advantages in terms of controlling variables in a laboratory setting, we are aware that there may be a gap between it and consumer behavior in real-life contexts, and therefore, caution needs to be taken in generalizing the findings and conclusions of this study. Future research could be conducted by introducing more practical situations, such as simulating purchase decisions in real markets, to verify the realistic applicability of our findings. In addition, we chose young people as our sample because they are usually more concerned with environmental protection and sustainability issues, because they are an important part of the future consumer market, and to ensure consistency in the sample. In the future, we will try to select participants from other age groups for our study. Finally, the focus of this study was on construction waste recycled products, which is a new area where the complexity of the treatment process leads to higher price costs and market perception issues that may be different from items made from recycled materials in general. Further research is needed to verify whether the results of this study can be generalized to products made from other recycled materials.

6. Conclusions

In the context of the low resource utilization rate of construction waste and the challenges facing the market sales of recycled products in China, this study investigated the impact of awe on the willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. The study used task experiments and neuroscience techniques to analyze the psychological and neural aspects of willingness to pay under awe-induced conditions. The main conclusions of the study are as follows:
(1)
Induction and Impact of Awe Emotion. The experimental results show that both nature and social awe effectively induced feelings of awe. The induction of awe significantly affected the willingness to pay, enhancing consumers’ willingness to pay for construction waste recycled products. However, there was no significant difference between natural and social awe, highlighting the potential of awe emotion in enhancing consumer environmental behaviors.
(2)
Neuroimaging Results Related to Willingness to Pay. During the willingness to pay selection phase, neuroimaging results showed significant activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Notably, in the social awe condition, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was significantly enhanced, emphasizing its crucial role in economic decision-making. Additionally, functional connectivity between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex indicates that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex influences willingness to pay through emotional regulation.
(3)
Functional Connectivity Analysis Results. In the control condition experiment, functional connectivity was observed between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and Broca’s area, as well as between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This suggests that participants, when first exposed to the experimental tasks, performed comprehensive evaluations of linguistic and emotional information, enhancing brain functional connectivity. The awe condition experiment triggered greater activation and stronger functional connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, during the value assessment of recycled products, functional connectivity was observed between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the frontal pole, indicating that participants often consider past experiences during evaluations to assist in more in-depth decision-making.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Z.D.; methodology, Z.D. and L.D.; software, T.H. and Q.Y.; validation, Z.D. and L.D.; formal analysis, T.H.; investigation, T.H.; resources, Z.D.; data curation, Q.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, T.H. and Q.Y.; writing—review and editing, Z.D. and L.D.; visualization, L.D.; supervision, L.D.; project administration, Z.D.; funding acquisition, Z.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was conducted with the support of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71974132), Shenzhen Natural Science Fund (the Stable Support Plan Program No. 20220810160221001) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20210324093208021).

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by Medical Ethics Committee, Department of medicine, Shenzhen University (protocol code PN-202300054 and 8 April 2023).

Informed Consent Statement

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

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Some examples of the experimental materials.
Figure 1. Some examples of the experimental materials.
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Figure 2. The experimental procedure.
Figure 2. The experimental procedure.
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Figure 3. An example trial of the willingness-to-pay measurement stage.
Figure 3. An example trial of the willingness-to-pay measurement stage.
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Figure 4. Willingness to pay under different conditions.
Figure 4. Willingness to pay under different conditions.
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Figure 5. Brain activation under different conditions. The color bar on the right side of the figure represents the activation level (t-map) of each channel; red indicates a higher activation level, while blue indicates a higher deactivation level.
Figure 5. Brain activation under different conditions. The color bar on the right side of the figure represents the activation level (t-map) of each channel; red indicates a higher activation level, while blue indicates a higher deactivation level.
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Figure 6. Functional connectivity under different conditions. The green circles indicate the position of the channel and the red lines indicate a strong correlation between the two channels.
Figure 6. Functional connectivity under different conditions. The green circles indicate the position of the channel and the red lines indicate a strong correlation between the two channels.
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Table 1. Descriptive statistics and tests for differences in mood scores.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and tests for differences in mood scores.
Control Condition
M ± SD		Nature Condition
M ± SD		Social Condition
M ± SD		Fp
Awe2.833 ± 1.1776.167 ± 0.8346.567 ± 0.774141.1310.000
Surprise3.300 ± 1.3435.767 ± 1.2235.233 ± 1.92421.6540.000
Joy2.333 ± 1.0282.233 ± 1.0732.800 ± 0.9612.6290.078
Disgust1.667 ± 0.7111.967 ± 0.8091.688 ± 0.7802.0390.136
Fear2.400 ± 1.0372.733 ± 1.5962.200 ± 1.1261.3360.268
Sadness2.000 ± 0.7432.200 ± 1.4241.867 ± 0.9370.7330.484
Anger1.567 ± 0.7741.733 ± 0.9801.767 ± 0.8980.4370.647
Table 2. Differential tests of emotions between nature and social awe.
Table 2. Differential tests of emotions between nature and social awe.
Control Condition
M ± SD		Nature Condition
M ± SD		Social Condition
M ± SD		Fp
The natural scenes in the video are more emotionally stimulating to me4.133 ± 1.8715.933 ± 1.2584.933 ± 1.6609.3430.000
The characters in the video are more emotionally stimulating to me3.633 ± 1.2994.733 ± 1.6805.900 ± 1.12520.0160.000
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of willingness to pay.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of willingness to pay.
Natural Products
M ± SD		Recycled Products
M ± SD
Control Condition3.523 ± 1.4743.334 ± 1.565
Nature Awe Condition3.582 ± 1.4003.705 ± 1.596
Social Awe Condition3.544 ± 1.4553.742 ± 1.633
Table 4. Channels significantly activated by willingness-to-pay experiments.
Table 4. Channels significantly activated by willingness-to-pay experiments.
Condition TypeChannelBrodmann Areast-Valuep (Uncorrected)
Control Video, Natural Products9BA46: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex2.9530.006
12BA46: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex3.3170.004
13BA47: Inferior prefrontal gyrus3.7280.001
15BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex2.3170.028
16BA45: Pars triangularis Broca’s area2.7410.010
Control Video, Recycled Products4BA47: Inferior prefrontal gyrus2.6640.012
Nature Awe Video, Natural Products13BA47: Inferior prefrontal gyrus2.4470.021
15BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex2.3170.028
Nature Awe Video, Recycled Products1BA10: Frontal pole2.7010.011
2BA10: Frontal pole2.4890.019
6BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex3.5810.001
15BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex2.9700.006
Social Awe Video, Natural Products6BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex2.0780.047
Social Awe Video, Recycled Products1BA10: Frontal pole2.6680.012
15BA9: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex4.3200.000
Table 5. Channels with high brain functional connectivity values.
Table 5. Channels with high brain functional connectivity values.
Type of ConditionsConnecting ChannelsCorrelation Coefficient
Control Video, Natural ProductsChannel 4–Channel 160.85
Channel 13–Channel 150.63
Nature Awe Video, Natural ProductsChannel 8–Channel 120.77
Nature Awe Video, Recycled ProductsChannel 1–Channel 20.62
Channel 2–Channel 60.61
Social Awe Video, Recycled ProductsChannel 1–Channel 60.87
Channel 1–Channel 150.65
Channel 6–Channel 150.66
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Ding, Z.; Huang, T.; Yang, Q.; Duan, L. The Effect of Awe on Willingness to Pay for Construction Waste Recycled Products: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. Sustainability 2024, 16, 10847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410847

AMA Style

Ding Z, Huang T, Yang Q, Duan L. The Effect of Awe on Willingness to Pay for Construction Waste Recycled Products: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. Sustainability. 2024; 16(24):10847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410847

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ding, Zhikun, Tao Huang, Qifan Yang, and Lian Duan. 2024. "The Effect of Awe on Willingness to Pay for Construction Waste Recycled Products: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study" Sustainability 16, no. 24: 10847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410847

APA Style

Ding, Z., Huang, T., Yang, Q., & Duan, L. (2024). The Effect of Awe on Willingness to Pay for Construction Waste Recycled Products: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. Sustainability, 16(24), 10847. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410847

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