Research On The Influence Mechanism Of Goal Framework On Consumer Product Disposal Intention

With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization,the existing way of life of human beings is constantly causing damage to the natural ecosystem,and the contradiction between consumption behavior and environmental protection is becoming increasingly prominent.The excessive consumption of ecological resources poses a great threat to sustainable development,which leads to a series of environmental problems,such as climate change,air pollution,energy crisis and biodiversity loss.Therefore,in order to solve the above problems,a large number of studies focus on how to achieve the circular economy model,so as to make the human society more sustainable.Product disposal is one of the hot research issues.At present,the research on product disposal mainly focuses on the design and manufacturing practice on the supply side,while ignoring the full research on the consumer product disposal on the demand side.At the same time,in the research of consumer behavior,the exploration of disposal link is relatively insufficient.Consumer behavior involves the purchase,use and post use of products and services,as well as the decision-making process of these behaviors.Among them,the behavior in the post use stage is mainly reflected in the disposal of products.The specific disposal methods of products include recycling,donation,discarding and resale.The intention of these behaviors is an important factor in promoting positive environmental impacts,and the success of strategies to address climate change and environmental issues largely depends on the efforts of each consumer.It is also very important for consumers to dispose of products in an appropriate way to reduce resource waste,improve resource utilization,extend product life cycle and make product replacement decisions.In order to develop and implement effective environmental and commercial solutions,we need to have a better understanding of consumer product disposal on the demand side.The progress of Internet technology has led to the change of business model and the diversification of product disposal.Under this influence,the bilateral attribute of consumers has been strengthened unprecedentedly,and consumers can more easily transform from product receiver to product disposer.Consumers can dispose of products through resale,discarding,donation or recycling,but the follow-up effects of these disposal methods are different.Direct disposal is generally considered as the least environmentally friendly option,while recycling,donation and resale are generally considered as more sustainable disposal methods.Proper disposal of products is very important for reducing resource waste,improving resource utilization,prolonging product life cycle and product replacement decision.The ultimate goal of consumer product disposal research is to understand how to motivate,influence and control consumer product disposal in the process of pursuing commercial interests and public policies.Although empirical studies on this topic are emerging,most of them use qualitative research methods or are limited to a specific type of disposal intention,and lack quantitative research methods on multiple types of product disposal.Consumers often have to weigh sustainability against other outcomes,as well as willingness to dispose of products.In this case,the consumer's goal is related to the choice of product disposal.Existing studies generally use cognitive perspective to understand consumer behavior,that is,behavior is based on information seeking,and this process is usually guided by specific goals.Specific goals can be triggered by potential or random stimuli in the situation,which makes the corresponding information easier to understand and strengthen.This means that we can improve the significance and attractiveness of the goal through strategic manipulation of situational stimuli,so as to guide consumers to dispose of products in a responsible way.The goal framework theory focuses on three specific focus goals:normative goal,hedonic goal and acquisitive goal.According to the goal framework theory,the relative strength of focus goals will affect people's choice and processing of information,which information they pay attention to,which choices they perceive,and then their behavior will be affected.Therefore,the three focus goals focused by the goal framework theory are closely related to consumers' willingness to dispose products.Different from most previous studies which only discussed single disposal option,this study analyzed four types of consumer product disposal,namely recycling,donation,discarding and resale.At the same time,from a more comprehensive perspective,this paper analyzes the mechanism of three different goals in the goal framework theory,and realizes the manipulation and activation of goals.This paper explores how different focus goals affect consumers' product disposal intention,that is,the trade-off between different disposal methods and its internal mechanism.Through reviewing and sorting out a large number of existing studies,this paper puts forward a research framework.This study suggests that people are particularly sensitive to the information and consequences related to the focus target.Therefore,goals affect their evaluation and perception of alternatives.In other words,people are"framed" by goals.Consumers are more likely to recycle or donate products under the normative goal,to discard products directly under the hedonic goal,and to resell products under the acquisition goal.Moreover,normative goal and acquisitive goal trigger different internal mechanisms,which affect product disposition preference.The hedonic goal is the most transcendental and instinctive of human goals,rather than the experience of later socialization,so this study tends to think that its impact is direct.Moreover,this study introduces moral obligation and money desire as mediating variables,and environmental knowledge as moderating variables to explain its internal mechanism.The research framework was validated by six experiments.The empirical test shows that the goal framework affects consumers' trade-off of product disposal.The mechanism lies in the differences of consumers' willingness to dispose of products under different focus goals.Consumers are more inclined to recycle or donate products under normative goals,to discard products directly under hedonic goals,and to resell products under acquisition goals.Under the normative goal,consumers'personal perception of moral obligation is stronger,which improves their willingness to donate or recycle products.Under the goal of acquisitiveness,consumers are more likely to pursue money that represents personal power status and economic interests,which stimulates consumers' desire for money and reduces their willingness to give back to the society for free.Therefore,consumers are more inclined to resell products.In addition,the relationship between goal framework and consumers' product disposal intention will have different results under different environmental knowledge.This study proposes the moderating effect of environmental knowledge,that is,compared with consumers with lower level of environmental knowledge,consumers with higher level of environmental knowledge have stronger sense of moral obligation under normative goals,higher willingness of product recycling and product donation,and lower willingness of product discarding under hedonic goals,Under the goal of acquisitiveness,the desire for money is lower and the willingness to resell products is lower.Finally,this paper discusses the theoretical contribution and management implications of the research conclusions,and puts forward the limitations of this study and future research prospects.In theory,this study enriches the research on the post use stage of consumer behavior research,extends the perspective of product disposal research from the supply side to the demand side,comprehensively considers the impact of a variety of goals on a variety of product disposal intention,and constructs a comprehensive theoretical framework on consumer product disposal.At the same time,because product disposal is closely related to product replacement and enterprise strategy adjustment,this study provides managers with insights on how to delay or curb waste and pollution,which is of great significance to the increase of social welfare and the protection of the natural environment.