Proactive social learning and green product consumption: Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China

Zhe Jiang; Ning Liu; Xiaobing Zhang; Yanlai Chu; Lin Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124232

Proactive social learning and green product consumption: Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China

Zhe Jiang, Ning Liu^*, Xiaobing Zhang, Yanlai Chu, Lin Zhang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

24 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Growing literature on social norms points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions to spur prosocial purchase behaviors. This article studies the effects of proactive social learning, a dynamic social norm formation process measured by the public's online normative information acquisition regarding climate change, on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. Drawing on model–month sales data, we provide robust evidence that citizens' broad searches for information about climate change or global warming boost local NEV sales. By distinguishing between search topics, we find that impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. City-level analysis further reveals that local social norms formed through economic openness, public literacy, and strategic government interventions enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding proactive social learning embedded in localized social norms in promoting prosocial consumer decisions. © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Original language	English
Article number	124232
Journal	Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Volume	219
Online published	6 Jun 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124232
Publication status	Published - Oct 2025

Funding

We acknowledge funding supports from Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (N_CityU146/ 23, CityU11503223), and the Science and Technology Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (JCYJ20240813153136047).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 Climate Action

Research Keywords

Proactive social learning
Search trend
New energy vehicle
Climate change
Green consumption

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124232

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title = "Proactive social learning and green product consumption: Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China",

abstract = "Growing literature on social norms points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions to spur prosocial purchase behaviors. This article studies the effects of proactive social learning, a dynamic social norm formation process measured by the public's online normative information acquisition regarding climate change, on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. Drawing on model–month sales data, we provide robust evidence that citizens' broad searches for information about climate change or global warming boost local NEV sales. By distinguishing between search topics, we find that impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. City-level analysis further reveals that local social norms formed through economic openness, public literacy, and strategic government interventions enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding proactive social learning embedded in localized social norms in promoting prosocial consumer decisions. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.",

keywords = "Proactive social learning, Search trend, New energy vehicle, Climate change, Green consumption",

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T1 - Proactive social learning and green product consumption

T2 - Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China

AU - Jiang, Zhe

AU - Liu, Ning

AU - Zhang, Xiaobing

AU - Chu, Yanlai

AU - Zhang, Lin

PY - 2025/10

Y1 - 2025/10

N2 - Growing literature on social norms points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions to spur prosocial purchase behaviors. This article studies the effects of proactive social learning, a dynamic social norm formation process measured by the public's online normative information acquisition regarding climate change, on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. Drawing on model–month sales data, we provide robust evidence that citizens' broad searches for information about climate change or global warming boost local NEV sales. By distinguishing between search topics, we find that impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. City-level analysis further reveals that local social norms formed through economic openness, public literacy, and strategic government interventions enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding proactive social learning embedded in localized social norms in promoting prosocial consumer decisions. © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

AB - Growing literature on social norms points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions to spur prosocial purchase behaviors. This article studies the effects of proactive social learning, a dynamic social norm formation process measured by the public's online normative information acquisition regarding climate change, on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. Drawing on model–month sales data, we provide robust evidence that citizens' broad searches for information about climate change or global warming boost local NEV sales. By distinguishing between search topics, we find that impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. City-level analysis further reveals that local social norms formed through economic openness, public literacy, and strategic government interventions enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding proactive social learning embedded in localized social norms in promoting prosocial consumer decisions. © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

KW - Proactive social learning

KW - Search trend

KW - New energy vehicle

KW - Climate change

KW - Green consumption

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DO - 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124232

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SN - 0040-1625

VL - 219

JO - Technological Forecasting and Social Change

JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change

M1 - 124232

ER -

Proactive social learning and green product consumption: Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

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