User behaviour in sustainable technology: an exploration of endorsement strategy

Given the lethargic acceptance behaviour of sustainable technologies (STs) by the public, the most crucial factor to contemplate is the influential form of organization endorsement strategy that can effectively enhance user intentions and behaviour. Using the social identity theory (SIT) and source credibility theory (SCT), this research examines the moderating potential of an attractive celebrity (CET) and social media influencer (IET) on user intention and behaviour in low- and high-involvement sustainable technologies (LISPs and HISPs). Based on an SEM-ANN analysis of data from 605 Chinese respondents, our empirical findings show that in the LISPs context, IETs moderate the intention-behaviour relationship positively whereas CETs have the opposite impact. In contrast, the moderating effect of CETs on HISPs is positive, whereas the effect of IETs is negative. Furthermore, it was shown that HISP users’ income level significantly influenced their behaviour, while education level had no significant impact on either category. These outcomes have both theoretical and practical implications in developing resilient strategies to retain users and provide guidance on how to efficiently optimise, integrate, and evaluate the STs.