Responsible consumption and identity-based legitimacy in sustainable EV adoption

Purpose Electric vehicles (EVs) have been widely embraced in emerging markets, where domestic and foreign brands compete not only in terms of functional performance but also symbolic and identity-based meaning. Existing research mostly focuses on cognitive and evaluative determinants and has not examined how identity-based motivations and brand-origin cues influence sustainable mobility adoption. The purpose of this study is to advance an identity-conditioned adoption framework to examine the impact of consumer ethnocentrism, brand nationalism, environmental concern, perceived quality and attitude on EV purchase intention across domestic and foreign brand contexts. Design/methodology/approach The study used a cross-sectional survey-based approach using data collected from 440 Vietnamese consumers. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were used to test the proposed model and compare structural relationships across brand-origin conditions. Findings The findings reveal that identity-driven motivations significantly influence EV purchase intention. The relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and purchase intention in the domestic brand context is partially mediated by brand nationalism, while environmental concern strengthens the influence of ethnocentrism across brand origins. Although the overall psychological structure remains relatively stable across contexts, EV adoption in the domestic brand condition is less constrained by socio-economic resources, highlighting the role of national legitimacy processes in broadening socially inclusive sustainable technology adoption in emerging economies. Originality/value This study conceptualizes EV adoption as an identity-conditioned sustainable diffusion process, extending sustainable consumption and sustainable mobility transition research. The findings suggest that brand-origin cues activate distinct legitimacy pathways shaping green technology adoption in emerging markets.