Research Profile | Dr. Chirag Malik

Helping the electric car manufacturers understand and profile potential buyers

Urbanization has many distinguishing characteristics. One of its specific features is increasing metropolitanization. Hence, rapid urbanization leads to continuous increase in the number of vehicles, causing traffic congestion, which, in turn, creates air pollution. This is true for most urban areas worldwide. There has been a gradual change in the environment. Environmental pollution is a significant issue for India. Growing number of cars and increasing noise emission& emission of pollutants have been documented over the years, which have led to numerous health consequences.Transportation is the leading cause of environmental degradation in urban communities with over 10% excess contribution to India’s total carbon discharge. According to the World Health Organization (referenced in the Center for Science and the Environment), in 2018, India is home to 14 of the 20 most-polluted urban areas globally. One of the main culprits for air pollution is poisonous emission from internal combustion engines which use fossil fuels.

Currently, environmental degradation is a global concern. One of the main culprits for air pollution is poisonous emission from internal combustion engines, which use fossil fuels. Hence, electric vehicles (EVs) are marketed actively worldwide to alleviate the impact on internal combustion engine pollution and resolve environmental issues. Concerned governments have started various schemes and incentives to make people shift from conventional vehicles to EVs. By 2030, the government of India has pledged to make India 100% E-Vehicles compliant on the road. High cost of EVs, lack of charging facilities, and limited range (i.e., one-time travel distance at single full charge), however, have been found to be significant barriers for customers.

The EVs can potentially provide an alternative to the currently active fuel-based transport system worldwide. Its growth and deployment have been growing rapidly over the past decade. Reports suggest that global electric passenger cars have crossed over 5 million mark in 2018. Electric mobility is constantly growing. In fact, the shift from convention fossil fuel vehicle to EVs have been done only in a few niche markets.However, a variety of conditions have joint forces over the last decade to create access to the consumer market for electrical mobility.

The automotive industry in India needs reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption that pushes the industry, researchers, and policymakers towards focusing on increased adoption of electrically driven plug-in EVs.EVs are part of the environment friendly product group and are thus subject to all of the influences that inspire or discourage their adoption by consumers. Therefore, the environmental attitude, environmental concern, and other sociopsychological factors influence the formation of attitude towards EVs. Hence, it is essential to examine the influence of these factors on consumer’s attitude towards EVs, which, according to Theory of Reasoned Action, further influence the adoption behaviour and shifts it towards EVs. This paper also examines the moderating role of perceived economic benefit on the attitude and adoption of EVs.

Implications of the research

The study has implications not only for marketing professionals but also for governments & social bodies. The results indicate that customers respect the environment and have a supportive attitude towards it,which contributes favourably in formulating their response pertaining to EVs.The advertisers should then concentrate specifically on the environmental advantages of EVs and convey them to the public. Governments have a duty to increase social consciousness to inspire the community to have a positive response towards EVs. The research results also indicate that the marketer should reflect on people’s functional and emotional needs,as well as link it to their approach to EVs.Marketers must explain that the purpose of EVs is to contribute towards the environmental protection. Given the strong gap in opinion between the category of respondents with high PEB, marketers should concentrate on effectively communicating the economic advantages of EVs.

Research Profile | Dr. Chirag Malik

Dr. Chirag Malik (PhD., MBA., UGC-NET, B.Sc.) is working as an Associate Professor at BML Munjal University, Gurgaon. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry and academics. He is a member of Analytics Society of India, IIM Bangalore. He has completed his doctorate in management from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow in 2017. Before turning to academics, he also spent close to a decade in commercial sector working with large corporations like Tata AIG and Biocon. He also holds a certificate in Data Science from EXcelR, certificate on Machine Learning with Business Applications from IIM Bangalore and is also a licentiate from Insurance Institute of India. Dr. Malik holds the distinction of UGC-NET, A(III) as well.

His current areas of interest are Business Analytics, Marketing Analytics and Marketing Research. His work has been published in many national and international journals of repute. Some of the widely circulated papers have been on topics like Role of Environmental Knowledge, Environmental Concern and Long-Term Orientation in Shaping Environmental Attitude in India, An Empirical Investigation of Weak Form Efficiency of Gold Exchange Traded Funds in India, Effect of Eco-Literacy, Consumer Effectiveness and Perceived Seriousness on Consumer Environmental Attitude: A CFA Approach, etc.

He has also published various research papers in Scopus indexed, Inderscience, Sage Publications, and ABDC indexed national and international journals of repute. He presented papers in many national and international conferences organised by reputed institutions as well, such as IIM Indore, IIM Lucknow, IIM Ahmedabad, MDI Gurgaon, and IIT Roorkee. Dr. Malik has also been session chair of various technical sessions at international conferences held at reputed institutions and conducted workshops on research methodology and analytics using various statistical tools such as Python, R, SPSS, AMOS and advanced excel.