Over the last decade, the growth in demand for green innovations has become apparent. This can be linked to increased consumer awareness of the environmental problems that the world is facing. This review presents the determinants of consumer green innovation adoption across domains identified in marketing literature. This review's contribution lies in its focus on green innovations or novel products that are promoted as green alternatives to traditional products. Unlike previous studies that aim to determine the motivations of consumers to act green, including recycling, adopting green electricity, choosing public transport over cars, etc., this review outlines the motivations of consumers to adopt green innovations across domains, including organic products, electric powered vehicles, and sustainable household technologies.
We included and synthesized 47 articles published between 2010 and July 2021 in top marketing journals. After identifying the determinants, we grouped them into four categories: (1) Social, (2) Personal, (3) Innovation, and (4) Contextual and external level determinants, or what we refer to as the SPICe determinants. This categorization is based on the source of the motivation, which is social, individual, innovation-related, or contextual.
We found a lack of focus on the consumer aspects in green innovation adoption studies, highlighting the need for more research regarding what motivates consumers to adopt these new environmental products. Furthermore, we showed that no sole determinant could predict green innovation adoption alone. Consequently, we outlined several agendas and questions that future studies could tackle and explore.