Predicting Green Purchasing Behaviour in B2B Machinery

Abstract

Climate change and environmental awareness are key issues for governments. Especially in the machinery market, manufacturers have developed very innovative green solutions. Due to the high development costs of the innovative technology, these solutions come with higher prices. Plasser & Theurer, a manufacturer of railway maintenance machines, has been developing sustainable electrically powered machines for 10 years. These high innovative machines can not only be used with zero emissions, but also show huge advantages in the operation of the machines. These are defined as E3, which stands for the three core strategies behind the sustainable machine: Economic, Ecologic and Ergonomic. The aim of this thesis is to predict green purchasing behaviour, especially in the railway maintenance business. To answer the research questions, 10 respondents in Europe were selected and interviewed according to several criteria. The semi-structured interviews were analysed using Mayring's qualitative content analysis. The results of the factors influencing an E3 machine can be categorised into economic factors, government influence and non-economic factors. The results show a high dependency on the regulations and payment of the infrastructure owner, which in all interviews was the state. The biggest barriers to purchasing an E3 machine are the government and the price of the machine. Until the government is able to reduce the uncertainty about green solutions and show clear benefits for operating sustainable machines on the infrastructure, or until the additional cost of an E3 machine compared to a conventional machine is reduced, sales of E3 machines will only increase slowly. The same result is shown by the analysis of the Market Perceived Customer Value. Based on an isolated economic analysis, E3 V1 has a higher weighted value for the customer than E3 V4. The customers are impressed of this high innovative E3 V4, but have issues to pay this additional costs, as long as the infrastructure owner is not ready to offer more incentives by operating a sustainable machine. Preferred financing models were also analysed. Customers are conservative when buying a railway maintenance machine, but especially for the high investment amount of E3 machines, other innovative financing models can help to reduce the risk of the customer's purchase. E3 retrofits and battery upgrades were also discussed. Overall, there is significant uncertainty in the investment decision. To reduce this uncertainty and further promote sustainability, management implications have been defined for three groups: the construction company as machine owner, the government as infrastructure owner and the manufacturer.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Peter Hutterer (Supervisor)