How to catch the generation Y: Identifying consumers of ecological innovations among youngsters

•We develop a new integrated model to predict eco-innovativeness.•We test the model in the context of young consumers.•Joyful consumption is an important antecedent of domain-specific eco-innovativeness.•Biospheric value orientation leads to higher eco-innovativeness.•Altruistic values reduce eco-innovativeness.

The economic damage of environmental pollution is remarkable, thus protecting the environment has become a pressing issue during the last decades. Consequently, for companies there is an obvious need to consider environmental issues in product development and to understand why consumers adopt ecological innovations. The success of eco-innovations, however, depends on the individual adoption decision of the consumer. Hence, the question arises, why do consumers adopt ecological innovations? By integrating two areas of consumer characteristics, namely environmental consciousness and consumer innovativeness with a special focus of young consumers as the next generation of eco-innovators, the present study provides an answer to this question. Furthermore, we focus on the promising market segment of young consumers as they are potential agents of change. In total 446 young consumers were surveyed. The results provide insights on what drives eco-innovativeness and thus, how to market new ecological products. Structural equation modeling led to the result that joyful consumption is an important antecedent of domain-specific eco-innovativeness. Additionally, a biospheric value orientation leads to higher eco-innovativeness, whereas altruistic values reduce eco-innovativeness. The results show that practitioners and product designers have to take into account not only the benefit for nature but also the hedonic component of a new product.