HOW CULTURE SHAPES ELECTRIC VEHICLE BRAND VALUE: THE ROLES OF FUNCTIONAL, EMOTIONAL, AND SOCIAL VALUE IN BUILDING TRUST AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

Despite accelerating global efforts to promote electric vehicles (EVs) as a solution for sustainable mobility, consumer adoption remains uneven across countries. Existing research highlights barriers such as high initial cost, limited charging infrastructure, and technological uncertainty; however, these factors alone do not fully explain cross-national differences in EV adoption behavior. Increasingly, scholars emphasize the role of consumer-based brand perceptions—particularly functional, emotional, and social value—in shaping trust and behavioral intentions toward EV brands. Drawing on the PERVAL framework and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, this study investigates how perceived brand value influences brand trust and purchase intention across two culturally distinct markets: Lithuania and Pakistan. Using survey data collected from 409 consumers, the study applies regression-based mediation and moderation analyses to examine direct, indirect, and culture-contingent relationships. The findings reveal that functional and emotional value significantly enhance brand trust, while social value demonstrates a weaker and context-dependent effect, particularly across differing cultural orientations. Brand trust strongly predicts purchase intention and partially mediates the relationship between perceived value dimensions and purchase intention, supporting extensions of both PERVAL and technology adoption perspectives. Furthermore, cultural context significantly moderates several value–trust relationships, confirming that perceived brand value is interpreted differently across developed and emerging markets. This study contributes to the literature on electric vehicle adoption and cross-cultural branding by demonstrating that brand value and trust formation are culturally embedded processes rather than universal mechanisms. The findings offer practical implications for EV manufacturers and policymakers seeking to design culturally adaptive branding and communication strategies to accelerate EV adoption in diverse markets.

Keywords: Electric vehicles; perceived brand value; brand trust; purchase intention; culture; cross-national study.