Beyond Green Value: Functional Thresholds and Expertise-Contingent Effects on the Trial-to-Repurchase Gap for Sustainable Personal Care Products

Despite the growing interest in organic personal care products (OPCPs), their repurchase remains challenging, as product quality may be difficult to verify even after use. Integrating the theory of consumption values (TCV) with reference dependence theory (RDT), this study conceptualizes post-use loyalty as a comparative benchmarking process and positions comparative perceived quality (CPQ) as a mechanism linking realized values to repurchase intention (RPI). Using survey data from 298 OPCP consumers, we employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), necessary condition analysis (NCA), and importance–performance map analysis (IPMA). The results indicate that efficacy, hedonic, and health values are positively associated with RPI, whereas environmental value is associated with CPQ rather than directly with RPI. CPQ mediates the effects of efficacy and hedonic value on RPI, lending support to comparative evaluation in post-use loyalty formation. Consumer expertise also conditions these relationships, with environmental value more salient among higher-expertise consumers and hedonic cues more influential among lower-expertise consumers. NCA suggests threshold effects for stronger repurchase outcomes, while IPMA highlights consumer expertise as an important but underperforming lever. Overall, the study provides a diagnostic account of the trial–repurchase gap in OPCPs and offers insights into retention in sustainability-oriented credence-based categories.