Sustainable Technology? Consumers’ Perspectives on RFID Tags and Proenvironmental Attitudes

After more than 20 years since the birth of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, research has grown on their technological aspects along with customers’ concerns. In fact, as RFID tags were progressively implemented across sectors, consumers’ involvement and awareness-raising activities emerged as of utmost importance for their successful adoption. This importantly emerged in the fashion sector, where the adoption of RFID tags started in the early 2000s by big companies in the field. Moreover, recent research trends on RFID tags have started focusing on environmental sustainability aspects. However, researchers’ studies have generally concentrated on technological aspects, rather than investigating consumers’ perspectives on RFID tags and especially in relation to their sustainability potential. This is especially true for the textile and apparel (T&A) industry, which is one of the most environmentally polluting sectors at the global level. In this context, we conducted a scenario experiment to explore people’s perceptions of RFID tags and the potential linkage between customers’ pro-environmental attitudes and the technology, by also introducing the mediating impact of information provision. The survey was conducted at the beginning of 2023 on a sample of 314 people in Northern Italy. The preliminary analysis of the results remarks that common people do not know RFID tags in general, thus also ignoring their potential to address environmental sustainability concerns. Consequently, the study highlights the role played by information provision and the way that is presented and shown to potential consumers. The exploratory study puts into evidence the key role played by consumers’ knowledge and perceptions, paving the way for further investigations in the direction of customers’ segmentation and exploration of the association between technologies potential and their impact at a wider, societal level.