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The strain on potable water supplies heightens the competition for water resources and potentially reduces the demand for outdoor plantings and landscaping. We conducted an online survey with 1543 respondents in 2016 to ascertain their water conservation and plant expertise, their involvement in water conservation and plant issues, and the importance of plants and landscaping. We also collected demographic characteristics. Cluster analysis results identified two key market segments comprising’50% of the sample each: those who are Actively Interested in Water Conservation and those who are Disinterested in Water Conservation. The Actively Interested segment was younger, had more adults and children in the household, and had a higher household income. In addition to having a higher mean score for water conservation involvement and expertise, the Actively Interested segment had a higher mean score for water conservation importance and impact, as well as plant expertise and involvement. The Actively Interested segment scored higher on select components relating to horticultural importance, including aesthetically beautiful landscapes, active landscape enjoyment, desire for a low maintenance landscape, and response in drought, compared with the Disinterested segment. The Disinterested segment scored higher on the Non-Landscape Use with no enjoyment. Findings suggest that pro–water-conserving attitudes are found among consumers who value outdoor landscapes and those individuals who spend more on plants. Results suggest that producers and retailers should focus marketing and communication efforts on low water use cultivar selection and operationalizing water-conserving behaviors more than convincing consumers that plant purchases and landscaping are important. The challenge to allocate water resources in urban, suburban, rural, and agricultural areas will likely intensify in the coming decades as competition for potable water supplies increases (Springer, 2011). About 35% of domestic potable water, water fit for human consumption, is used for irrigation, 45% is used for thermoelectric production, and only 9% is used for public potable water supplies (U.S. Geological Survey, 2017). Compared with personal direct water uses (e.g., drinking and brushing teeth), outdoor indirect water use (e.g., watering gardens, lawns, and landscapes) is discretionary. Whereas water for irrigation meets a physical need for plants, the water indirectly meets a psychological need by elevating homeowners’ perceived social status through aesthetically pleasing landscapes (Seyranian et al., 2015). In addition, landscapes provide tremendous economic, environmental, and well-being benefits (Hall and Dickson, 2011). Thus, homeowner perceptions about water use and conservation may be related to their perceptions about the importance of plants and landscapes. Attitudes about water conservation, plants, and the importance of landscaping can potentially influence the investment of water resources in existing and future landscapes and, in turn, dramatically affect the future sales of landscape plants. Demographic characteristics influence residential water use and conservation. Being female is positively correlated with the adoption of drought-tolerant plants as well as water conservation and environmentalism (Fan et al., 2017; Gilg and Barr, 2006); male heads of households were 20% less likely to adopt the use of drought-tolerant plants (Fan et al., 2017). Gregory and Leo (2003) found a slight positive relationship between income and household water use, as did Domene and Saurí (2006). Older individuals had a greater likelihood of water conservation, but increased knowledge and general education appeared to be more directly linked to conserving water (Gilg and Barr, 2006; St. Hilaire et al., 2010). Lifestyle influences water use. For individuals with high aesthetic and recreational priorities, outdoor water use was high (Beal et al., 2013; Fan et al., 2017; Gregory and Leo, 2003; Springer, 2011; Syme et al., 2004). Jorgensen et al. (2009) and Syme et al. (2004) showed that higher outdoor water use was related to more recreational activities at the residence, higher perceived garden/landscape value, increased spending on their garden or landscape, and dislike for paying an increasing price for water. Householders who perceived that their landscape would increase the resale value of their house usedmore water annually, as did persons who spent more time outdoors (Syme et al., 2004). Mayer et al. (1999) reported that U.S. households with a garden used 30% more water compared with households that did not maintain one. Recent research suggests that attitudes toward the uses of potable water supplies have changed in other countries because of greater social awareness and increasingly widespread exposure to drought conditions, which included more pro-conservation behavior (Beal et al., 2013). Education about and adoption of sustainable water use practices may help ensure an adequate supply of irrigation water while conserving water sources for human and ecosystem services. Not only have some attitudes changed but also purchase behavior has changed to include more pro-conservation products. Some research suggests that consumers are willing to pay more for plants grown using more environmentally friendly practices, including water conservation in plant production (Behe et al., 2013; Hall et al., 2010). Knuth et al. (2018a) showed some attitudinal differences toward water conservation among three groups of subjects who accurately or inaccurately perceived they had Received for publication 2 Apr. 2018. Accepted for publication 18 May 2018. Funding for this study was provided by USDA SCRI Clean WateR3—Reduce, Remediate, Recycle Grant number 2014-51181-22372; USDA NIFA Hatch Projects MICL 02085 and 02473, and TEX0-1-7051; Michigan State University AgBioResearch;Michigan State University Project GREEN; and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Professor. Doctoral Student. Professor and Ellison Chair. Corresponding author. E-mail: behe@msu.edu. 1164 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 53(8) AUGUST 2018 been in a drought situation relative to whether they actually had experienced a drought. Among all plant types listed, a greater percentage of those who accurately perceived they were in a drought had purchased evergreen trees and shrubs compared with those who did not accurately perceive a drought. The group that did not accurately perceive the drought placed a higher value on nursery plants grown with fresh water (vs. recycled water or a blend of fresh and recycled water) compared with those who accurately perceived a drought. Knuth et al. (2018b) showed that U.S. consumers valued the production water source more than plant water use in the landscape for both herbaceous and woody shrubs. Their conclusion was that education about contents of recycled water may facilitate greater acceptance, and ultimately the use, of recycled water. Each of these studies highlights the diversity of consumer water use and perceptions of water use and conservation. Here, we address consumer perceptions of residential landscape water conservation, landscape plants, and consumer involvement and expertise. Involvement and expertise. Involvement is defined as a person’s perceived relevance of an object based on inherent interests, values, or needs; or ‘‘a state of arousal, interest, or motivation’’ in a product (Behe et al., 2015; Greenwald and Leavitt, 1984; Petty and Cacioppo, 1986; Zaichkowsky, 1985). Consumer involvement with a product has a strong, positive relationship with purchase intention (Lin and Chen, 2006). Involvement level affects the type of information processed before the consumers’ purchase decision. For example, highly involved consumers were more likely to examine more inherent product attributes (e.g., plant form and flower color), whereas less involved consumers were more likely to consider extrinsic product cues (e.g., brand name and price) because extrinsic cues are cognitively processed compared with intrinsic cues (Behe et al., 2015; Greenwald and Leavitt, 1984). Involvement level with plants was directly related to visual attention to the plants in a recent choice experiment (Behe et al., 2015). In that study, plant involvement was measured with a 15-item scale (adapted from Zaichkowsky, 1985). Participants who had a high score on plant involvement paid more attention to the product and signage compared with participants who scored lower on that scale. Thus, more highly involved consumers processed information more deliberately than consumers with low involvement scores, which indicated that the low involvement group was quickly dismissive of the display information and may not have used information as thoughtfully in their purchase decision. Gregory and Leo (2003) found that involvement with water conservation was negatively related to water use in their study of Australian householders. They also adapted Zaichkowsky’s (1985) involvement scale to measure involvement with water conservation. In addition, Joo et al. (2016) showed that both involvement and expertise affected the information consumers viewed and their purchase decision. Expertise is an instinctive response that arises from training, practice, or time spent learning about a particular topic (Hoffman, 1998; Mylopoulos and Regehr, 2007). Prior studies have shown that consumers who are more knowledgeable about a product make purchase decisions in a different manner compared with consumers who are less knowledgeable (Grewal et al., 1998). Alba and Hutchinson (1987) and Shanteau (1992) reported that consumers with high product expertise were more selective of the information they examined beforemaking a choice because they had a better understanding of what product attributes should be examined. Consumers with different expertise levels differ in their ability to comprehend information and discern more pertinent information from

Consumer Involvement with and Expertise in Water Conservation and Plants Affect Landscape Plant Purchases, Importance, and Enjoyment