Nele Rietmann

Service research emphasizes the relevance of consumers’ participation in the cocreation of transformative outcomes like health and well-being. However, in complex services, consumers’ limited operant resources and lacking resource integration efficiency hinder transformative value cocreation. Service research on mechanisms that facilitate well-being through efficient resource integration is sparse, but several disciplines elaborate cognitive interventions with that target. These interventions have been validated in various contexts. Nevertheless, concerns persist that they can hurt, rather than help, individual consumers. Overcoming such limitations requires an interdisciplinary effort. The present article outlines the new research area “transformative consumer interventions” (TCI) by integrating interventions theory, consumer psychology, and transformative service research in a health context. TCI provide theory-driven principles for the selection and design of interventions that facilitate operant resource integration in complex services. Additionally, we conceptualize consumer boosting, the first TCI-based intervention construct. Consumer boosts are efficient, context-specific, and personalized interventions that enhance individuals’ operant resources. Consumer boosting provides a pathway to transformative cocreation and alleviates the risk of unintended consequences and value co-destruction. This research illustrates that the transformative service domain stands to benefit substantially from getting involved in the discussion on consumer interventions and offers a unique perspective for further conceptual elaboration.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been increasingly promoted through policy measures by governments across the world. This study investigates the effectiveness of these measures in 20 countries by measuring the influence of monetary incentives, traffic regulations favoring EVs as well as the charging infrastructure on the market share of EVs in these countries. Results from a covariance-based structural equation model show that all policy measures positively influence the percentage of EVs, specifically monetary measures in interaction with the charging infrastructure. Moreover, findings indicate that governmental measures promoting electric mobility reflect consumers' preferences in the respective countries and that countries with a high purchasing power also have a higher EV penetration. An analysis of the ratio between sold battery electric vehicles (BEVs) versus sold plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) further shows that consumers are purchasing more BEVs (vs. PHEVs) over time. A closer examination of Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil, where EVs have been adopted more or less successfully, further highlights additional factors influencing EV adoption. It also emphasizes the need for collaboration among stakeholders from the public and private sectors in order to promote EVs. Finally, a worldwide outlook predicts a growing acceptance of EVs over time.

In a 2015 study, policy measures to promote electric mobility were examined with regard to their acceptance by consumers in 20 countries on five continents. Results of a choice-based conjoint Analysis showed that people appreciate monetary incentives; however, the application of the Kano method to detect dissatisfaction with missing features revealed that charging networks are absolute must-haves. In the same 20 countries, the present article examines the actual effects of three kinds of policy measures: monetary incentives, traffic regulations in favour of electric vehicles (EVs), and Investments in charging infrastructure. The outcome variable was the percentage of new registered EVs in 2016. All policy measures had positive direct effects; however, the number of existing charging stations as a moderator increased the effect of monetary measures over proportionately. The widespread uptake of EVs has been challenged by the problem that people do not accept EVs as long as the number of charging stations is insufficient, and the low number of EVs has not stimulated sufficient demand for charging stations yet. The results demonstrate how this ‘chicken or the egg’ Dilemma will be resolved over time as soon as a sufficient number of charging stations are available. Because the effects of monetary measures and charging stations reinforce each other and the number of charging stations is accumulative, governments will be able to offer fewer and fewer monetary incentives to produce the same promoting effects.