SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

Objective: The purpose of this research is to explore the switching intention of consumers from traditional technology and products - to sustainable technology and products while shedding light on important technology and product adoption constructs. Theoretical Framework: This research integrates the theory of UTAUT and consumer self-accountability in order to examine the switching intention of consumers from traditional technology and products - to green, eco-friendly and sustainable technology and products. Method: Convenience sampling and a questionnaire was used to collect data which was analyzed quantitatively with the help of multiple regression run in SPSS. A score of 0.9 in the Cronbach alpha test indicated that the scales and constructs in the questionnaire were valid. Results and Conclusion: The results suggest that self-accountability, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence significantly and positively impacts the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products. Implications of the research: Business and marketers can call attention to self-accountable behavior of people, which can have a positive impact towards the consumption of sustainable technologies and sustainable products. The focus on the performance and the ease of use of the sustainable technologies and sustainable products will help researchers and marketers immensely. Also this paper contributes positively to the societal goals of creating a sustainable economy. Originality/Value: This paper adds value to areas of research such as consumers switching intention, self-accountability, UTAUT, sustainability, e nvironmental conscious consumer behavior, and sustainable consumption and decision making.


INTRODUCTION
Sustainable, eco-friendly and green products have become the topics of discussion especially after the pandemic. In spite of all the discussion and importance being given to sustainable technologies and sustainable products previous research has reported far low consumption of sustainable technologies and sustainable products compared to what is stated (Kilian & Mann, 2020;Pristl et al., 2021;White et al., 2019). Researchers are working on to understand the low acceptance, consumption and switching intent towards environment friendly and green products. Governments and policy makers are aiming to build a society which is efficient in using its resources and there is low carbon emission (Abreu et al., 2021;Liu & Qin, 2016;Schanes et al., 2019). Sustainable technologies make environmental conscious investment decisions possible and help in achieving sustainable developments. While a significant number of people are concerned about the resource depletion (Oliveira. Baracho & Sergio. Scalize, 2023;Sethuraman et al., 2023) and effects of climate change, behavioural changes in individual consumption to sustainable products and acceptance of sustainable technologies is yet to be seen. This paper therefore tries to get an understanding of individuals switching intention that can alter the decisions and behaviours towards purchase and consumption of green, eco-friendly and sustainable products and sustainable technologies.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Environmental awareness, animal welfare and health consciousness is leading companies to depend more to sustainable technologies giving rise to sustainable products (Weaver et al., 2017). Sustainable products have many opportunities to enter new markets with labels such as eco-friendly or green or sustainable product (Charter & Tischner, 2017;Dangelico & Vocalelli, 2017;Radhakrishnan, 2020). Manufacturers also place a list of benefits before the consumers giving very good reasons for consumers to buy or to switch from a current non-sustainable product to a sustainable product. Manufacturers and marketers only assume and present benefits of the sustainable product but for the consumer the question is not about benefits alone. The consumer will have to look into the sacrifices too that will need to be made while switching from a non-sustainable product to a sustainable product (Arli et al., 2018;Carrington et al., 2014). The convenience of using a product, the performance of the product etc. will have to be thought about before switching to a new product. Consumers switching intent is an important area in consumer research as enterprises growth depends on them, but there is not much literature on this area. There is extensive research on branding (Arbouw et al., 2019;Loučanová et al., 2021;MOHAMMAD, 2017) and brand loyalty (Kim et al., 2007;Molinillo et al., 2017) but the intention to switch has not been studied much. Also in order to elicit sustainability related behaviours from consumers marketers are looking into the best ways to get in touch and communicate with the consumers for example to promote sustainable lifestyles companies are advertising the use of refurbished and collaborative consumption goods (Ertz et al., 2016(Ertz et al., , 2019Slaton & Pookulangara, 2022;Sun, 2021). Circular economy which encourages better usage and handling of the resources (Pedro de. Oliveira & Luiz Perez. Teixeira, 2023) is one such sustainable area which is gaining importance (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017;Gil-Lamata & Latorre-Martínez, 2022;Grafström & Aasma, 2021;Morseletto, 2020). Yet consumers intention to switch towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products has received little attention. Previous research suggests a wide gap between sustainable technology and product related attitudes and sustainable behaviours (Joshi & Rahman, 2017). Promising research is being done to reduce this gap and reach the goal of a sustainable economy but complementary mechanisms that can influence sustainable choices are not being considered to a greater extent. There are previous studies on complementarities in technology value chains and it has been reported that complementarities span across industries with differing models, knowledge and logic being applied for the functioning of a technology (Mäkitie et al., 2022). This study considers looking into one such complementary mechanism which is selfaccountability (Peloza et al., 2013). Self-accountability is an obligation to raise up to or meet personally held self-standards. In case of discrepancy between highly held self-standards and actual behaviour, individuals will act to align them leading to self-regulatory behaviours (Dhiman et al., 2018;Tran & Paparoidamis, 2021;Zhang et al., 2016). Drawing from previous research this study suggests that self-accountability can influence sustainable choices and tries to explore the role of self-accountability in impacting the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products. Venkatesh et al (2003) integrated eight prominent theories (theory of reasoned action, innovation diffusion theory, the theory of planned behaviour, the technology acceptance model, the combined technology acceptance model and theory of planned behaviour, the motivational model, the model of personal computer utilization and the social cognitive theory) to understand and predict new technology adoption, acceptance and usage giving rise to unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003). This study uses UTAUT theory to understand the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products, as UTAUT is a comprehensive theory looking into technology and product adoption, their acceptance and usage by consumers. Consumers switching intention will happen only if the consumer is ready to accept, adopt and use the product, hence using UTAUT the switching intention of the consumer can also be explored (Abbad, 2021;Chao, 2019;Dwivedi et al., 2019;Huang, 2023). UTAUT suggests that a product to be adopted depends on four key constructs -performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. According to United Nations the focus of companies and individuals today should be to create a sustainable economy (Costanza et al., 2013) (Ali et al., 2021;Fernandes et al., 2021;Shaikh, 2018). With the goal of creating a sustainable economy this study explores self-accountability and the key construct of UTAUT in influencing the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products. The next paragraph of the paper throws light on objectives of the research:

Objectives
There are two objectives mentioned below: (i) To know the awareness of people about sustainable technologies and sustainable products (ii) To explore self-accountability and the four key constructs of UTAUT (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions) in influencing the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products. The next section goes into the methodology of the study, starting with the development of the hypothesis.

METHODOLOGY
Before the methodology can be looked into, it is important to establish the hypotheses of a study. The research hypotheses are statements about the proposed relationships between the variables in a study (Madah, 2023). Based on the reasoning and knowledge obtained while reviewing the literature the following hypotheses are developed and proposed.

Hypothesis Development
The literature review helped in looking into Self-accountability and the four key constructs of UTAUT and the below hypothesis are developed and proposed.
Self-Accountability -Self-accountability is the willingness of a person to be responsible. It could be being responsible towards mother earth, towards one's own health or towards some good the person has established. The person would like to live up to certain internal standards the person has set voluntarily (Dhiman et al., 2018). Studies have shown that consumers would like to make ethical and sustainable choices and would want to contribute to the society (Peloza et al., 2013). Highlighting self-accountability, this research suggests that self-accountability can positively influence people to switch towards eco-friendly and sustainable products.
H1: Highlighting self-accountability by sustainable technology companies will influence positively the consumers switching intention towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products UTAUT was introduced in 2003 with an objective to understand the consumers behaviour towards new innovative products and technologies. The various factors like social, economic or psychological are considered in consumers acceptance and use of a new product or a new technological product. In order to understand the switching intent of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products this study encompasses the four key constructs -performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. This study hypothesises that these four key constructs can positively influence the switching intention of the consumer towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products.
Performance Expectancy -Performance expectancy is what a consumer expects from a new product in their everyday life. If the performance of the new product is perceived to be higher then there is greater chance of the consumer switching to the new technological product.  in their paper have shown how perceived performance can be an indicator of future happiness and usage of a new product. Their paper links performance expectation to behavioural and functional intents of consumers. According to the authors performance expectancy can be a crucial driving force in accepting and adopting a new technological product like smart watches or mobile phone with new technology etc (Mustafa et al., 2021;Mustafa, Sohail, Alroobaea, Rubaiee, et al., 2022;Mustafa, Zhang, Shehzad, et al., 2022). This research enables us to suggest that the expected level of performance can enable the consumers to weigh the benefits and sacrifices effectively of sustainable technology products that are green, ecofriendly and sustainable.
H2: Performance expectancy of sustainable technology products will influence positively the consumers switching intention towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products Effort Expectancy -Effort expectancy is how easy to use the product is or how much effort consumers will have to put in while using the product. Consumers are wary to use a new product if they do not understand how to use it or feel if it a difficult to use product compared to the product they are already using (Mustafa et al., 2021;Mustafa, Qiao, Yan, Anwar, et al., 2022;Mustafa, Zhang, & Naveed, 2022). Ease of use of a technological product can create a better response from consumers. The benefit of using the new product in a similar way or in an easier manner than the current used product is more when compared to the sacrifice of using the new product in a difficult way. Advanced or more features in a product can create curiosity but they also can inhibit the consumer from buying it as it can be perceived as more complicated (Mustafa et al., 2021). This study hence hypothesises that effort expectancy will positively influence the consumers switching intention towards sustainable green products.
H3: Effort Expectancy of sustainable technology products will influence positively the consumers switching intention towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products Social Influence -Social influence is how people embrace the new technological product. While going for a new product it is common for consumers to consider the views of the other people around them. Or could be their relatives, friends or any social group they follow. Societal effects cannot be ignored as they weigh heavily on consumers purchase decisions. According to , social influence does play an important role in decision making of a new product. Social influence can help in switching from an old product to a new product with ease. The benefits if discussed at a group level always can outweigh the sacrifices and the consumers will be able to switch to a new product with ease (Mustafa, Hao, Qiao, Kifayat Shah, et al., 2022;Mustafa, Sohail, Alroobaea, Rubaiee, et al., 2022;Mustafa, Zhang, & Naveed, 2022;Mustafa, Zhang, Shehzad, et al., 2022). The next hypothesis hence formed is: H4: Social influence of sustainable technology products will influence positively the consumers switching intention towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products Facilitating Conditions -Facilitating conditions means the resources made available to consumers in order to make them aware about the product and instrument placed by the sustainable technology companies that can explain the usage of the sustainable products (Mustafa, Zhang, Shehzad, et al., 2022). The resources and instruments act as a demo for the new technologically advanced product. Consumers can use these demo products and understand the benefits and usage, which can lead to higher sales of the product. The consumers can be made to feel that they are buying new known product and hence the switching to a new product can be easy. The consumers feel that they are switching to a known advanced product will weigh more in terms of benefits than sacrificing an old less advanced product. Many previous studies have also suggested that if proper facilitating resources are provided and facilitating conditions developed people will positively adopt and use the new product than hang on with the current old product. , Ahmar, Ali, Jiang, Wang, and Iqbal (2022), have demonstrated how providing good facilitating conditions can influence consumers to turn towards new technological and advanced products. Sustainable and eco-friendly products are normally seen as technologically advanced products (Mustafa, Sohail, Alroobaea, Rubaiee, et al., 2022). Hence this study suggests that proper facilitating conditions will positively influence consumers to switch to new eco-friendly and sustainable products.
H5: Facilitating Conditions provided by sustainable technology companies will influence positively the consumers switching intention towards green, eco-friendly and sustainable products

Materials and Method
The research instrument to collect the data was questionnaire. The questions and the construct in the questionnaire was taken from previous studies and so were reliable and valid (Kimberlin & Winterstein, 2008). Also a pilot study of fifty respondents was undertaken and minor changes were introduced based on the feedback of the respondents. The respondents were first asked if they have used sustainable products and were aware of sustainable technologies. Based on their responses the respondents were selected. Also a Cronbach alpha test was done and a score of 0.90 indicated that the constructs and the scales were reliable (Kimberlin & Winterstein, 2008). Convenience sampling approach was used to choose the respondents, as there is not much data available about the respondents in India using sustainable products. The sample size decided was 150 out of which 100 respondents filled the questionnaire completely. Hence the final sample size taken was of 100 respondents.
The independent variable considered for the study were self-accountability, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. The dependent variable was consumers switching intention towards accepting sustainable technologies and using sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Data Analysis
Multiple regression was used to analyse the data, the independent variables of selfaccountability, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions were taken together to predict the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products. The table 1 shows all the variables considered for the study. It clearly shows that the dependent variable is switching intention of consumers to sustainable technology and sustainable products and the independent variables are self-accountability (SA), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC).  Table 2 shows the summary of the model. It shows the R and Rsquare values that helps us to know about the model.  Table 3, the Anova table shows that the model is significant, i.e. the p value is less than 0.05. Table 2 and Table 3 very clearly show that the independent variables of selfaccountability (SA), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC) are trying to predict the dependent variable which is switching intention of consumers to sustainable technology and sustainable products.  Table 4 is the coefficients table and it looks at all the independent variables individually, i.e. how individually the independent variables of self-accountability (SA), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC) affect the dependent variable of switching intention of consumers to sustainable technology and sustainable products.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
From Table 2 R value and R square values can be observed. R value is 0.996 and R square value is 99.3 percentage. This means that the variance in the dependent variables of switching intention of consumers to sustainable technology and sustainable products can be explained by the independent variables of self-accountability (SA), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC) by 99.3 percentage. While looking at the ANOVA table (Table 3), we find that the alpha value is less than 0.001 (Sig value) which is less than 0.05. This means that the model is significant and the independent variables can explain the variance in the dependent variables. Hence the model is found to be a good fit. In table 4, i.e., coefficients table it is observed that all values except facilitating conditions are less than 0.05, explained below: • SA < 0.001, i.e., self-accountability significantly and positively impacts the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products, hence the first hypothesis (H1) is found to be true. • PE < 0.001, i.e., performance expectancy significantly and positively impacts the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products, hence the second hypothesis (H2) is found to be true. • EE = 0.017 (Less than 0.05), i.e., effort expectancy significantly and positively impacts the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products, hence the third hypothesis (H3) is found to be true. • SI = 0.004 (Less than 0.05), i.e., social influence significantly affects the switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products, hence the fourth hypothesis (H4) is found to be true. But, • FC = 0.628 (More than 0.05), that means facilitating conditions do not significantly affects the switching intention of consumers to sustainable technology and sustainable products, hence the fifth hypothesis (H5) is found to be untrue.

Further Discussion
According to UTAUT, Facilitating conditions are necessary for a technology and a new product to be accepted. However in this research facilitating conditions do not seem to be impacting switching intention of consumers towards sustainable technology and sustainable products. This study suggests that Chennai being a metropolitan city and a capital of Tamil Nadu, major technological changes and technology related products get introduced here. People in Chennai seem to be highly knowledgeable and technologically adept. Our research on consumer awareness found people of Chennai possessing good knowledge about sustainable technologies and sustainable products. Previous studies too have found Chennai consumers to be positively oriented towards technology (Kannaiah & Shanthi, 2015). The presence of Information Technology and other technological companies in and around Chennai stand a testimony to the technologically developed consumers in Chennai. This study hence puts forward that facilitating conditions might not play an important role for consumers who are well versed in technology and know-how. Facilitating conditions can be helpful in places where people are not much aware about any new technology or new products. To create awareness in smaller cities, towns and villages facilitating conditions can be helpful. This study recommends that rather than creating facilitating conditions, people of Chennai would be benefited if they get products that are good in performance and can be easy to use. The survey indicated that people do feel positively towards mother earth and would like to use eco-friendly and sustainable products. They are health conscious and get influenced by the people around. But the results of the paper show that performance and the ease of use of a product is very important to people. And hence marketers of sustainable technology and sustainable products need to focus on the performance and the easy usage of their products. A list of mere benefits is not going to help if these sustainable products are not able to perform as good as or better than the old traditional products used by people.

CONCLUSION
People feel self-accountable towards the planet and also towards the human race. They are interested in using technologies and products that can help create a better world for the present and future generations. Sustainable technologies and sustainable products are welcome and people want to use them but this research points out that people expect more in terms of performance when it comes to switching from a traditional non-sustainable product to a sustainable product. People are also concerned about the effort they need to put in when using these products. Technologically easy to use products are what people want, as it saves time and it is worth switching to a product which can be used easily and is also beneficial to earth and the human race. People have to make a trade-off between the benefits and sacrifices before they can switch to a sustainable technology or a sustainable product. Marketers and manufacturers have to focus on performance expectancy and effort expectancy of the consumers when manufacturing and promoting sustainable technology and sustainable products rather than just depending on the term sustainable.

THEORETICAL AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
Previous research on sustainability, sustainable technology and sustainable eco-friendly and green products have suggested that people intend to buy a technology or a product if it is termed as sustainable, green or eco-friendly. This study reveals that mere listing a technology or a product as sustainable will not be of much help. Researchers, manufacturers and marketers also need to see the benefits and sacrifices people face and the switching intention needs to be considered. If people have to leave the old traditional products with which they are comfortable mere listing the benefits of technology and/or the products alone will not make them switch to sustainable technologies and sustainable products. To understand the switching intention of consumers this study draws the constructs from unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. UTAUT dwells into the intention and subsequent behavior of a consumer to use a particular technology and hence this study will be quite helpful for marketers, manufacturers and researchers of sustainable technologies and sustainable products.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
This study uses convenience sampling and a small sample size of 100 respondents is a limitation. In future research, researchers can take a bigger sample size to get more reliable and accurate results. Also the respondents belonged to a metropolitan city, in future research researchers can focus on smaller cities, towns and villages to get a better understanding and a complete picture of Indian consumers switching intention towards sustainable technologies and sustainable products.