Consumers' processing of mindful commercial car sharing

Commercial car sharing offers a form of market-mediated, access-based consumption with a markedly lower impact on the natural environment than that of car ownership. Consumers adopting such alternative transportation modes are manifesting a marketplace behavior that can be said to be mindful because of the innovative and sustainable nature of car sharing. This study employs behavioral reasoning theory to examine how consumers' value orientations, as well as reasons for and against car sharing, might be used in consumers' processing of mindful commercial car-sharing adoption. Findings suggest that subjective norms (thoughts of important others for consumers, such as co-workers) serve an important mediating role for both consumers' value orientations and reasons for car sharing in their relationship with car-sharing behavior. These results provide marketing researchers important knowledge about green consumption and suggest that practitioners would do well to emphasize the social dimension when marketing environmentally oriented services, such as car sharing.