Exploring the relationships between Islam, some personal values, environmental concern, and electric vehicle purchase intention: the case of Saudi Arabia

Purpose Today, the global market for “clean” vehicles is generating double-digit growth annually. However, in most emerging or Islamic countries, sales of such cars remain at a very low level and green consumption patterns are poorly explored. This paper aims to expand the understanding of factors influencing attitudes and behaviors toward electric vehicle in an emerging Islamic country, namely, Saudi Arabia. It investigates whether the willingness of Saudis to purchase electric vehicles depends on religious and ethical considerations. The effects of environmental concern, Islamic and some personal values (self-transcendence and conservation) on green vehicle purchase intention were considered. Design/methodology/approach The literature review is predominantly of studies on emerging or Islamic countries. A convenience sampling method was used, and a total of 354 valid questionnaires were collected. An exploratory factor analysis under the principal component analysis was used to reveal the factor structure underlying the items in the questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis on Lisrel helped to assess the validity of the measurement models. The causal relationships of the research framework were measured using simultaneous equation modeling. Findings The results suggest that Islamic Values (IsV) and Conservation (Cv) values do not influence environmental concern (EC) or Electric Vehicle Purchase Intention (EVPI). On the contrary, self-transcendence values (ST) exerted a significant influence on EVPI and the mediation of EC in this relationship was supported. Research limitations/implications The theoretical framework provides a better understanding of how customers evaluate electric vehicles and the factors underlying their attitudes and behaviors toward such products in an Islamic and emerging market. The results suggest that consumers’ intentions to purchase electric vehicles are not driven by Islam or conservation values (conformity, tradition and security). Nevertheless, subjects for whom self-transcendence is an important value that guides their lives showed a higher willingness to purchase electric vehicles. This research also confirmed that EC is predictive of EVPI. Practical implications Marketers should focus on values of self-transcendence, which are benevolence and universalism, to influence electric vehicle purchase intention in Saudi Arabia. Neither Islamic nor conservation values are useful in this regard. However, managers and authorities are advised to establish a link between Islam and environmental awareness and behavior. Marketing communication and religious preachers should point out the commandments of Islam which stand for the preservation of nature. The authors concluded that much more should be done on the part of scholars to obtain a satisfactory understanding of green behavior in the Islamic world. Although green vehicles are rarely used there, these markets hold great sales potential for such products. Originality/value Little is known about consumer attitudes and behavior toward green products in Islamic countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study to investigate whether Islamic and some personal values are related to environmental concern and electric vehicle purchase intention. The results showed that EC and EVPI depend on ST. The causal model indices for IsV and Cv were not significant.