Is green-highlighting the way towards credible CSR claims? : new insights in consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards green talk

Is green-highlighting the way towards credible

CSR claims?

New insights in consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards green talk.

Name: Joy Schoenmaker Student number: 10056092

Study: Msc Business Administration Marketing Thesis supervisor: Dr. L. Moratis

Date: February 2nd 2016 Word count: 14.768

Table of Contents

Statement of originality ... 3

Foreword ... 4

Abstract ... 5

1. Introduction ... 6

1.1 Social and environmental responsibility ... 6

1.2 Credibility and scepticism ... 8

1.3 Consumer involvement in sustainability ... 9

1.4 Research gap ... 10 1.5 Academic relevance ... 12 1.6 Managerial relevance ... 13 1.7 Thesis structure ... 14 2. Literature review ... 15 2.1 CSR ... 15 2.1.1. Defining CSR ... 15 2.1.2. Consumer involvement ... 17 2.2 Purchase intentions ... 18 2.3 Behavioural congruence ... 19 2.3.1. Hypotheses 1 and 2 ... 20 2.4 Perceived CSR credibility... 21 2.4.1 Hypothesis 3... 22 2.5 CSR motives... 22

2.5.1. Reactive versus proactive CSR ... 22

2.5.2. Greenwashing and green-highlighting ... 24

2.5.3. Hypotheses 4 and 5 ... 25 2.6 Conceptual model ... 27 3. Research Design ... 28 3.1 Method ... 28 3.2 Sample ... 30 3.3 Procedure ... 31 3.4 Measures ... 32 4. Results ... 35 4.1 Reliability of scales ... 35

4.2.1 Hypothesis 1... 37 4.2.2 Hypothesis 2... 37 4.2.3 Hypothesis 3... 41 4.2.4 Hypothesis 4... 46 4.2.5 Hypothesis 5... 46 4.2.6 Additional analyses ... 47

5. Discussion and conclusion ... 49

5.1 General discussion... 49 5.2 Hypotheses ... 50 5.2.1. Hypothesis 1... 50 5.2.2. Hypothesis 2... 51 5.2.3. Hypothesis 3... 52 5.2.4. Hypothesis 4... 54 5.2.5. Hypothesis 5... 55 5.3 Managerial implications ... 56

5.4 Limitations and future research ... 57

5.4.1. Limitations ... 57

5.4.2. Future research ... 59

5.5 Conclusion ... 60

References ... 61

Appendix A: Questionnaire ... 72

Appendix B: Green-highlighting and reactive CSR communication ... 83

Green-highlighting condition ... 83 Reactive CSR condition ... 84 Appendix C: SPSS output ... 85 Hypothesis 1 ... 85 Hypothesis 2 ... 87 Hypothesis 3 ... 90 Hypothesis 4 ... 99 Hypothesis 5 ... 99 Additional Analyses ... 100

Statement of originality

This document is written by Joy Schoenmaker, who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

Foreword

I wish to thank various people for their contributions and support throughout the process of writing this thesis. Firstly, I would like to thank my parents, Yvonne Weber and Emile Schoenmaker, for sharing my research with their friends to make my sample more differentiated. Moreover, I would like to thank them for their unconditional support

throughout my study career, the processes of three theses and believe me they had a hard time with it. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisor Lars Moratis for giving useful feedback and supervision during the process of writing my thesis.

Abstract

Purpose – This thesis aims to examine variables that influence the effect of consumers’

involvement on consumers’ purchase intentions. The variables used in this study are behavioural congruence and firms’ perceived credibility. Further, this study examines the types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, green-highlighting and reactive CSR, and how these types influence consumers’ purchase intentions.

Design/methodology – An experiment was conducted using an online questionnaire. The

sample consisted of 139 Dutch participants who participated voluntarily in this study. The sample was distributed between consumers with low and high levels of involvement.

Findings – Consumers with high levels of involvement declare more purchases of sustainable

goods than consumers with low levels of involvement; however, these two groups do not differ from each other in their purchase intentions in both conditions. Further, a full mediation effect is found for behavioural congruence, and a partial mediation effect is found for

perceived credibility. Finally, the results show that green-highlighting has a more positive effect on consumers’ purchase intentions than reactive CSR does.

Research limitations – The design of the study enhances the internal validity of the results.

However, this study uses a convenience sample with a majority of students as respondents. Therefore, the generalisability of this study is limited by the origin of the sample.

Practical implications – The findings suggest that marketing professionals should choose to

actively communicate their CSR strategies, and further suggest that green-highlighting is an effective strategy to use. Moreover, these professionals should be aware that their firms’ perceived credibility has an important influence on consumers’ purchase intentions.

Originality/value – This study investigates green-highlighting, thereby expanding the

literature on this new phenomenon. Furthermore, it sheds new light on the variables that influence consumers’ purchase intentions.

1. Introduction

Today, society is increasingly concerned with the diminishing effects of overconsumption, pollution, resource depletion, and all other destructive effects of over-population on society and the environment. Since sustainable development has become a concept of great interest across the economic world, consumers pressure firms and governments to behave in a

responsible way (Siminicâ, Crãcuin & Dinu, 2015). In this age of sustainability, companies are expected to incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, and therefore most of them have changed their traditional business models to newer sustainable ones (Schmeltz, 2012). Together with the increased interest in sustainability, the number of studies in this field has risen simultaneously (Chan, Leung, & Wong, 2006). Different conceptualisations of CSR are available; however, to avoid confusion this study uses the conceptualisation offered by Aguinis (2011), as used by Aguinis and Glavas (2012). They state that CSR are context-specific organisational actions and policies that take into account stakeholders’ expectations and the economic, social, and environmental performance. According to Loose and Remaud (2013) the two most identified CSR are social and environmental responsibility.

1.1 Social and environmental responsibility

CSR contains three different dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. As stated above, the dimensions of social and environmental responsibilities are the two most identified types of CSR. Social responsibility involves social progress that recognises everyone’s needs (Jenkens & Yakovleva, 2006). Moreover, social responsibility includes the minimisation of social and cultural disruption to communities, maintenance of stakeholder dialogue, and transparency of operation (Sánchez, 1998). Environmental responsibility, on the other hand, includes the effective protection of the environment and prudent use of natural resources (Jenkens & Yakovleva, 2006). It is a form of environmental protection: the environmental

promoted to allow successive use (Sánchez, 1998). These two dimensions are the main

arguments for firms to perform CSR activities. Green and Peloza (2011) state that the cause of the CSR message will also play a role in the consumer attitude, and therefore according to them it does matter whether CSR activities focus on social or environmental responsibility. Therefore, companies should take different types of CSR communication into account for both dimensions.

Thus, CSR activities are also a tool for firms to affect consumers in different ways (Pomering & Dolnicar, 2008). As the field of CSR has expanded, researchers have published literature addressing important and specific research questions. For example, a few earlier studies show that CSR initiatives create consumer loyalty when consumers evaluate the companies positively (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Mohr & Web, 2005). CSR activities not only affect consumers’ loyalty but also their purchase intentions (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, & Hill, 2006). Sen and Bhattachary (2001) investigate when, the extent to which, and why CSR initiatives influence consumer behaviour. Their study suggests that congruence between consumers’ characteristics and firms’ characteristics play an important role in consumers’ behaviour and attitude towards firms. Consumers who claim to be socially and

environmentally involved expect companies to have the same characteristics; consequently, if this is the case the firm will be positively evaluated (Ruiz & Rubio, 2009). However, until now previous studies show inconsistent results concerning consumers’ responses to CSR (Peloza & Shang, 2011). Although many reviews have been published in the last few years, the CSR literature still remains highly fragmented and sometimes contradictory. More insight is needed on these inconsistent findings, and furthermore there are still many undiscovered relations, such as for example the relation between communication of CSR activities and consumer responses.

1.2 Credibility and scepticism

The way in which companies communicate their CSR activities could influence consumers’ attitudes. For companies it is still a challenge to communicate CSR activities in such a way that they will be perceived as positive and credible (Du, Bhattacharya & Sen, 2010). CSR activities can be communicated in different ways: proactively and reactively (Ellen, Webb & Mohr, 2006). Sustainable companies will probably communicate their CSR activities

proactively to maximise consumer awareness. In addition, these companies are generally more eager to learn about CSR strategies (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006). The way in which consumers perceive companies’ CSR activities is crucial in determining companies’ success (Brown, 1998). As much as possible, companies want consumers to evaluate their CSR activities as positive and credible instead of as negative and sceptical. Corporate credibility can be defined as the extent to which a company is perceived by consumers to possess expertise and to be trustworthy (Goldsmith, Lafferty, & Newell, 2000). Goldsmith et al. (2000) find that corporate credibility is important for companies as it should be influential in persuading consumers and is incorporated into a company’s reputation. According to Groza, Pronschinske and Walker (2011), consumers evaluate proactive CSR activities as being positive and credible, which results in high purchase intentions. On the other hand, less sustainable companies will probably be more reactive in their CSR approach (Torugsa, O’Donohue & Hecker, 2012). Therefore, reactive CSR may provoke more negative and incredible perceptions.

In general, consumers have opinions about the appropriateness of companies’ CSR activities. Consumers’ scepticism relates to the amount of persuasion knowledge used to develop judgments about CSR activities (Friestad & Wright, 1994). Increased scepticism among consumers regarding companies’ motives of CSR communication suppresses the communication’s effectiveness (Campbell & Kirmani, 2000; Holt, 2002). Webb and Mohr

(1998) find that consumers are more sceptical about the CSR activities of profit organisations than about the same activities performed by non-profit organisations. Moreover, consumers react negatively when they feel that they are being deceived (Forehand & Grier, 2003). Therefore, consumers can become sceptical about company intentions when they communicate CSR reactively (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006).

Consumer scepticism also appears when consumers perceive companies to be ‘greenwashing’. Greenwashing is the dissemination of false or insufficient information by a company to present a socially and environmentally responsible image (Furlow, 2010).

Moreover, greenwashing occurs when firms communicate CSR activities but in reality do not do anything or do only a small amount of what they claim to do (Walker & Wan, 2012). Consumers evaluate greenwashing negatively; when companies greenwash, consumers become very sceptical about those companies’ true intentions, which leads to reduced credibility (Wood, 2015; Elving, 2012). Green-highlighting is a new phenomenon and is in contrast to greenwashing defined as a combination of symbolic and substantive actions. Symbolic actions are any actions related to CSR matters that a firm takes to show ceremonial conformity. In contrast, substantive CSR actions involve actual changes at a more operational level; in general, this implies tangible and measurable activities that require the use of a firm’s resources (Zott & Huy, 2007). Walker and Wan (2012) suggest that the combination of

symbolic and substantive CSR activities should lead to more positive evaluations than greenwashing. However, no support has so far been found for this proposition.

1.3 Consumer involvement in sustainability

As stated above, CSR activities have the ability to positively influence consumers’ purchasing behaviour once the awareness of these activities has been established (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). In general, consumers can be divided into two types based on their awareness and interest in sustainability: those with low levels of involvement

(low-involved consumers), and those with high levels of involvement (high-(low-involved consumers) (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006). It is expected that high-involved consumers will pay more attention to CSR activities than low-involved consumers. Moreover, high-involved consumers are more sceptical towards companies’ CSR initiatives than low-involved consumers (Peattie, 2010). However, the former do not always high-involved consumers show sustainable

behaviour; this is called the attitude/behaviour gap (Young, Hwang, McDonald, & Oates, 2010). The attitude/behaviour gap is where consumers report that they are very concerned about environmental and social issues but struggle to translate this into purchases (Dobson, 2007). This gap is the opposite of behavioural congruence, which involves a consistent state of behaviour and consistency between values, attitude, and goals projected and the actual observed behaviour.

1.4 Research gap

In the past years a lot of fragmented research has been done on the topic of CSR. Although multiple researchers examine the relation between CSR activities and consumers’ purchase intentions, current available literature still shows inconsistent results (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Peloza & Shang, 2011). Moreover, different types of CSR communication influence consumers’ attitudes towards the company performing the CSR activities (Pomering & Dolnicar, 2008). Earlier studies look at the differences between reactive and proactive CSR, with the outcome that in general proactive CSR is evaluated more positively than reactive CSR (Groza et al., 2011). Likewise, proactive CSR is perceived as being more credible than reactive CSR (Goldsmith et al., 2000). A sub-type of proactive CSR is green-highlighting; according to Walker and Wan (2012), this type of CSR communication should be more beneficial than other forms, although no evidence exists to support this statement.

Furthermore, consumers differ in their attitudes towards involvement. High-involved consumers are more aware of sustainability programs, products, and product production.

Therefore, they may be more critical of companies’ CSR initiatives, which could in the end lead to sceptical attitudes towards companies among this group of consumers (Furlow, 2010). Moreover, earlier research shows that these consumers do care about sustainable purchases but that this does not always lead to true sustainable purchases (Dobson, 2007). However, little is known about the behavioural gap of consumers, and about the situations in which it is most likely to occur.

Therefore, the present study investigates multiple research gaps. It examines the difference between reactive CSR and green-highlighting in consumers’ purchase intentions in order to provide better insights into the outcomes of green-highlighting; Walker and Wang’s study lacks significant results. Moreover, this study examines the differences between low- and high-involved consumers with regard to their purchase intentions, perceived credibility, and declared purchases. Current literature finds inconsistent results for the relationships between these constructs. Furthermore, little is known about the circumstances in which behavioural incongruence is most likely to occur, the present study aims to provide an explanation for this phenomenon.

Hence, considering previous literature involving CSR and the discussed existing literature gap, the following research question is developed, together with three sub-questions.

RQ: How is the relationship between consumer involvement and consumers’ purchase intentions influenced by consumers’ behavioural congruence, companies’ perceived credibility, and companies’ communication of CSR activities?

- How does behavioural congruence influence the relationship between consumer involvement and consumers’ purchase intentions?

- How does firms’ perceived credibility influence the relationship between consumer involvement and consumers’ purchase intentions?

- How does firms’ CSR communication influence the relationship between consumer involvement and consumers’ purchase intentions?

1.5 Academic relevance

Inconsistent findings in Walker and Wan (2012)’s study highlight the need for more research about the new ways of communicating CSR. In this regard, the present study contributes to extending the literature on green-highlighting since there is limited literature available on this topic. Moreover, the study compares green-highlighting to another type of CSR

communication: reactive CSR communication. Therefore, this study provides new insights into the different ways in which green-highlighting and reactive CSR communication affect consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions.

Furthermore, this study contributes to elaborating the area of consumers’ perception of companies’ CSR activities, its antecedents, and outcomes. This research provides a greater understanding of how and why consumers respond differently to the two types of CSR communication. Current literature mainly shows the centrality of CSR management. However, the effect of CSR communication on consumers’ perception and behaviour is barely explored. There is a need for more understanding of why and when consumers differ in their purchase intentions. Moreover, there is a need for better insights into consumers’

behaviour and CSR. To address this need, this study examines the differences in behaviour of low- and high-involved consumers as reactions to different aspects of CSR.

In addition, this study aims to provide an explanation for the inconsistent findings in the current literature regarding the influence of CSR communication on consumers, as well as to elaborate the clarification for multiple phenomena that are related to firms’ CSR

communication and activities. This is done by considering the congruence not only between companies and their CSR activities, but also between consumers’ thoughts and actual declared purchasing behaviour. These phenomena include, for example, consumers’ scepticism, firms’ hypocrisy, greenwashing, firms’ perceived credibility, and consumers’ purchase intentions.

Thus, this thesis examines the difference in influence between green-highlighting and reactive CSR communication, using consumer involvement in sustainability as independent variable and consumers’ purchase intentions as dependent variable. The variables of firms’ perceived credibility and behaviour congruence are investigated as mediators. Finally, two types of CSR communications, green-highlighting and reactive CSR, are examined as moderators. Moreover, this thesis aims to provide a foundation on which to build future research.

1.6 Managerial relevance

The increased importance of companies’ sustainable behaviour and expansion of CSR activities has resulted in an increase in managerial focus on companies’ relationships with consumers (Burchell & Cook, 2006). Companies may use the results of this study when determining their CSR strategy. The most appropriate choice for a CSR strategy is important for companies because this strategy can enhance the credibility of their CSR initiatives. When the companies’ CSR initiatives are evaluated as being positive and credible, consumers show higher purchase intentions; this would be a favourable outcome for companies.

Considering that companies perform CSR activities because consumers expect them to do so indicates how powerful consumers are. Therefore, it is important for companies to understand consumers’ behaviour. This study may give companies new insights into whether they are perceived as credible and into how this perception differs for different types of consumers. Moreover, it is important for companies’ managers to know how consumers perceive their implemented CSR activities are perceived. This study may provide managers with a better understanding in consumers’ reactions to CSR activities and their

communication. Furthermore, this research may help to allocate resources more efficiently to achieve managerial goals. Hence, this thesis provides new insights for companies and their

managers about the different types of CSR communications, perceived credibility, consumers’ reactions, and possible favourable outcomes.

1.7 Thesis structure

The structure of the thesis is organised as follows: in the second section, the literature review and hypotheses are proposed; the research methodology is described in the third section; empirical results are presented in the fourth section; and the discussion, limitations, implications for future research, and conclusion are discussed in the last section of this thesis.

2. Literature review

This chapter will discuss the key concepts of the conceptual model of this study and the corresponding hypotheses. Furthermore, it will provide an overview of earlier studies

conducted involving these concepts. First, the concept of CSR will be explained together with other related concepts. Second, purchase intentions will be discussed, followed by

behavioural congruence. In the third section, firms’ perceived credibility will be discussed together with the different types of CSR communication. Finally, the conceptual model that guides this research will be presented.

2.1 CSR

2.1.1. Defining CSR

Nowadays, companies are under pressure to act and perform in a sustainable way with escalating global environmental problems creating the perception that business is a major contributor to these problems (Hawken, 1995). This explains the dramatic increase in CSR investments. Issuance of CSR reports and research analyses have established CSR as an important topic in the business literature (Malik, 2015). In the last few years, CSR has been conceptualised in multiple ways. The CSR concept went through an evolution of definitions and research could not agree on a single one (Garriga & Melé, 2004). In the 1950s, the definition of CSR mainly focused on outlining managing obligations towards society, while in the 1960s the focus was broadened to include the relationship between companies and society. Sethi (1975) elaborates on this by making a distinction between social obligation, social responsibility, and social responsiveness. Social obligation describes the corporate behaviour driven by market forces and legal constraints, while social responsibility implies that corporate behaviour is congruent with the prevailing norms, values, and expectations of performance; and social responsiveness involves corporate behaviour, which is anticipatory but could also be preventive.

In contrast, Friedman (1970) proposed that CSR activities were equal to theft. The only exception was when the CSR activities were held for a business case, e.g. to increase goodwill or to retain employees. This view proposed that businesses should only run in the interest of their owners. Freeman’s stakeholder theory (1984), on the other hand, explains that for successful implementation of CSR firms’ stakeholders need to participate actively.

More recent literature focuses more on the strategic management concerning CSR. Some studies argue that firms benefit from integrating sustainability into their strategic thinking, because they are more able to identify valuable ideas and strategies for the long run (Wagner, 2007). Meanwhile, other studies emphasise the strategic value of characteristics of CSR (Lantos, 2001). This implies that companies can undertake several actions to show that they behave in a responsible way. They can do this for either social or environmental concerns, or for both. CSR does not contain only a single activity; instead it consists of a variety of different activities (Lindgreen, Swaen & Johnston, 2009). Given the broad conceptualisation of CSR, it is not remarkable that the domains of socially responsible behaviour are many and diverse (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). This makes it difficult to define a clear and consistent definition of CSR. This study uses the definition proposed by the Commission of the European Communities (2001), which states: ‘CSR is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis’. Companies generally anticipate their stakeholders’ expectations. The term ‘stakeholders’ is a comprehensive term for various parties that influence companies’ actions. According to Freeman (1984), a stakeholder is any group or

individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s objectives. This definition of stakeholder offers an extremely wide field of possibilities as to who or what a

stakeholder is. This study is mainly interested in the largest stakeholder group: consumers (Dawkins & Lewis, 2003; Maignan & Ferrell, 2001). For companies it is important to know what kind of

influence their CSR initiatives have on consumers’ purchasing behaviour, and whether there are differences between consumers (Mohr, Webb & Harris, 2001).

2.1.2. Consumer involvement

According to ‘Dossier Duurzaam’, four out of 10 consumers state that sustainable aspects in firms’ campaigns or products play an import role in their purchasing behaviour (Dossier Duurzaam, 2015). In the last five years, the trend has grown for Dutch consumers to behave in a sustainable way. Parallel to this trend is an increased sustainable consumption, which is based on a decision-making process in which the consumer takes social and environmental responsibility into account in addition to individual needs and wants (Meulenberg, 2003). Thus, for consumers it is important and more likely nowadays to behave in a sustainable way. The ethical consumer takes part in a kind of consumerism that mainly incorporates environmental issues but also animal welfare, human rights, and labour working condition in the third world (Tallontire, Rentsendorj & Blowfield, 2001). Ethical consumers are mainly more involved and critical of companies’ CSR initiatives (De Pelsmacker, Dries & Rayp, 2003).

The degree of consumers’ involvement refers to the degree of perceived personal relevance of a CSR issue (Celsi & Olson, 1988). Furthermore, an earlier study by Yeon Kim and Chung (2011) indicates that consumer consciousness plays an important role in predicting consumers’ attitudes and purchasing intentions towards sustainable products. Moreover, Vermeir and Verbeke (2006) find that high-involved consumers, also referred to as ethical consumers, have more positive attitudes and are more willing to purchase sustainable products. Moreover, Lee and Shin (2010) find that high-involved consumers are more aware and educated in terms of sustainability. These

consumers are found to be more critical in their product choice and more critical towards companies and their CSR activities. In contrast, low-involved consumers care less about sustainability and know less about it. Furthermore, these consumers are less critical of companies’ CSR activities, or are not aware of their CSR activities at all. This study will make a distinction between low- and

high-involved consumers as is done by Ramasamy, Yeung and Au (2010). They define consumers with high levels of involvement to be consumers who state that being committed to social

responsibility and sustainability are important considerations when buying a product. In contrast, the authors consider consumers who do not take sustainable claims into account when buying a product to have low levels of involvement. Taking previously discussed literature into consideration, this study proposes that low-involved consumers will differ from high-involved consumers in their perception of companies’ CSR initiatives as well as in their purchasing behaviour.

2.2 Purchase intentions

Purchase intentions are defined as a summary of the motivation required to perform a particular behaviour, reflecting an individual’s decision to perform a particular behaviour, and reflecting an individual’s course of action, as well as an index of how hard individuals are willing to try to perform the behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). CSR initiatives can influence consumers’

intentions to buy companies’ sustainable products or services. For companies it is important to know how consumers respond to their CSR activities because consumers’ purchases of sustainable goods may be positively or negatively influenced by these CSR activities. Pava and Krausz (1996) state that, in their meta-analytic research, 12 of the 21 studies show positive associations between CSR activities and performance. The way in which consumers’ purchase intentions are influenced by firms’ CSR activities depends on several conditions, e.g. the level of involvement of the consumer, firms’ CSR motives, and perceived corporate credibility (David, Kline & Dai, 2005). Brown and Dacin (1997) find that CSR communication affects consumers’ evaluation of a firm, which in turn affects consumers’ preference for the firm’s sustainable products. Therefore, it is important for companies to know which type of CSR communication affects consumers positively and increases their purchasing behaviour. Conversely, it is also important for companies to know how decisions in CSR communication may harm their sales volume (products purchased by consumers).

A previous study by Becker-Olsen and Hill (2006) shows that profit-motivated CSR

initiatives result in a lower likelihood of purchase intentions than socially motivated CSR initiatives. Lee and Shin (2010) find that consumers with a higher level of involvement perceive sustainable products positively, which has a positive effect on consumers’ purchase intentions of sustainable products. This implies that consumers seek positive CSR activities and tend to buy products or services from companies that care about sustainability. Increased consumers’ concern about involvement has a positive effect on purchase intentions of sustainable goods (Hartmann & Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2012).

2.3 Behavioural congruence

Behavioural congruence is a consistent state of behaviour. This means that there is consistency between projected goals, values, and attitudes, and actual observed behaviour. The way an individual thinks and feels should be in line with the way he or she behaves. Earlier research has been conducted examining congruence between consumer and firm characteristics (Zhang & Bloemer, 2008), congruence between consumer characteristics and product characteristics (Cowart, Fox & Wilson, 2008), and congruence between firms and their activities (Walker & Wan, 2012).

However, the field of behavioural congruence is still an unexplored field in the literature. Consumers can state that they care about social and environmental sustainability, but this concern does not necessarily lead to the purchase of green products (Junior, da Silva, Gabriel & de Oliveira Braga, 2015). When this happens, there is a discrepancy between the consumer’s attitude and behaviour; this can be defined as behavioural incongruence. Bagozzi (1985) states that behavioural incongruence shows the indirect relationship between behaviour and attitude. Proposing a mediator must transform attitude into purchasing behaviour (Bagozzi, 1985). Earlier studies indicate that a consumer’s buying decision is not necessarily the one that he or she desires, but is instead the decision that best suits the need of the situation. Consumption habit and price of green products are two different factors that could influence the consumer’s purchasing behaviour (Lockie, Lyons,

Lawrence & Mummery, 2002). These factors could serve as a bottleneck for consumers who intend to buy sustainable products.

Research by Thogerson and Olander (2002) shows that sustainable consumption is higher for individuals who claim to care about social and environmental sustainability. This means that high-involved consumers are more likely to purchase green products than low-high-involved consumers. However, concern about sustainability has only become a topic in society in the last few years. Therefore, consumers need to change their purchasing habits; this also applies to high-involved consumers. Earlier studies show that in combination with higher prices for green products and consumption habits, high-involved consumers may show incongruent purchasing behaviour (Ajzen, 2001).

2.3.1. Hypotheses 1 and 2

Considering the literature mentioned above, this study focuses on the stakeholder group of

consumers. This study makes a distinction within the consumer group between consumers who are low- or high-involved with sustainability. The study examines the relationship between the degree of consumers’ involvement in sustainability and their purchasing behaviour of sustainable goods. Furthermore, the attitude-behaviour gap is examined in order to determine whether consumers’ declared sustainability statements can be seen in their purchasing behaviour. This means that, based on the literature, behavioural congruence may influence the relationship between consumers’ levels of involvement and consumers’ purchasing behaviour. This leads to the following hypotheses.

H1: Consumers’ involvement increases the predictability of consumers’ purchase intentions.

H2: Behavioural congruency mediates the relationship between the amount of involvement and

consumers’ purchase intentions.

The next sections of this literature overview will discuss literature on different CSR topics. First, the literature about consumers’ perception of companies’ perceived credibility will be

discussed; this will lead to the third hypotheses. Second, the literature on CSR motives will be presented, together with the sub-phenomena of greenwashing and green-highlighting. This section will provide the theoretical basis for the fourth and fifth hypotheses. This chapter will then conclude with the conceptual model of this study.

2.4 Perceived CSR credibility

How the public perceives a company’s CSR activities is crucial to that company’s success (Brown, 1998). For companies it is important that consumers trust them. The concept of trust is defined as the perception of a company’s honesty, reliability, and benevolence (Berens & Van Riel, 2004). Corporate credibility is defined as the extent to which consumers feel that a firm has the knowledge and ability to fulfil its claims, and whether the firm can be trusted to tell the truth. Thus, perceived corporate credibility refers to the perceived expertise, reliability, trustworthiness, and truthfulness of a company (Newel & Goldsmith, 2001).

Perceived corporate credibility contributes to building brand equity for companies’ products, including both tangible and intangible goods (Aaker, 1991). Furthermore, the credibility or

reputation of a firm also contributes to the success of launching new products (Cooper, 1994). Moreover, earlier studies show that perceived corporate credibility may play an important role in the way in which consumers react to advertising for brands closely related to particular corporations (MacKenzie & Lutz, 1989; Lafferty & Goldsmith, 1999). Similarly, Maignan and Ferrell (2001) find that the communication of CSR activity may affect consumers’ evaluations of corporate citizenship and indirectly also their purchasing behaviour. In can therefore be concluded that it is important for firms to be aware of their perceived corporate credibility in order to establish success.

If the public does not perceive a company’s CSR activities as credible, this probably means that it is sceptical about the firm’s CSR activities (Elving, 2012). Companies usually lose their credibility when they manage cause-related marketing (CRM): this is when a company promises to donate a certain amount of money to a(n) (non-profit) organisation or good cause when consumers

purchase one of its products or services (Varadarajan & Menon, 1988; Nan & Heo, 2007). CRM is more of a commercial activity for mutual benefit than simply donating money or products is, because it leads to an increase in sales. However, CRM is therefore also extremely vulnerable to generating sceptical responses, and leads to the consumers perceiving the company as less credible.

2.4.1 Hypothesis 3

Based on the literature now available, this study proposes that firms’ perceived credibility mediate the relationship between the amount of consumer involvement and their purchase intentions. This leads to the following hypothesis.

H3: A firm’s perceived credibility mediates the relationship between the amount of consumer

involvement and their purchase intentions.

2.5 CSR motives

2.5.1. Reactive versus proactive CSR

Through the increased consumer interest in environmentally and socially sustainable products and services, companies have made considerable efforts in the marketing and sales of their green products or initiatives (Bhatia, & Jain, 2013). Companies can communicate this in two different ways: proactively and reactively. If a firm chooses a proactive CSR strategy, it actively engages in and supports CSR prior to any negative information being received by the outside world (Du et al., 2010). Conversely, reactive CSR involves activities to protect the image of the organisation after irresponsible actions or scandals have been reported (Murray & Vogel, 1997; Wagner, Lutz & Weitz, 2009). Earlier research indicates that consumers respond more positively to proactive CSR, while consumers generally respond more negatively to reactive CSR (Wagner et al., 2009).

Groza, Pronschinske and Walker (2011) explain the effects of proactive and reactive CSR by using the attribution theory and the persuasion knowledge model (PKM). Consumers attribute multiple and specific motives to CSR activities, including strategic-driven, stakeholder-driven, and

value-driven motives. These attributions are linked with proactive or reactive CSR and have a direct effect on consumer purchase intent, among others. A proactive way of communicating CSR

activities means that a company positions itself as actively engaging and supporting different causes or charities (Du et al., 2007). Proactive CSR communication takes planning and careful

consideration from the firm. Through engaging a proactive strategy, companies try to create an image of social responsibility before consumers potentially perceive their CSR activities negatively. If companies use a proactive strategy, it is more likely that they will be perceived positively due to their strategy’s seemingly altruistic nature. Furthermore, in general proactive initiatives result in more favourable thoughts about a company than reactive CSR initiatives do, as well as increasing consumers’ purchase intentions. Conversely, companies engage in reactive strategies to enhance their image with statements about their corporate responsibility after socially irresponsible actions (Wagner et al., 2009). In general, reacting to an irresponsible event involves a level of negative effect for the consumer; this may overshadow the previously held positive view of the company (Ricks, 2005). This also happens with reactive CSR. This type of CSR evokes negative thoughts and reduces positive attitudes towards the company. Negative attitudes towards the company eventually lead to lower purchase intentions of consumers (Hill & Becker-Olsen, 2006).

The key challenge for companies is to minimise consumer scepticism towards their CSR activities (Du et al., 2010). Scepticism among consumers occurs when companies claim to be something that they are not; this is called corporate hypocrisy (Wagner et al., 2009). Sceptical responses of consumers have a negative effect on a firm’s reputation, perceived credibility, and consumers’ purchasing behaviour. Scepticism arises when consumers think that a company uses CSR solely to improve its image and because they are expected to do so. Altogether, this raises questions about the true motives of the company (Elving, 2012). In summary, when companies act in self-interest instead of for societal benefits, consumers have more sceptical thoughts about the company.

2.5.2. Greenwashing and green-highlighting

Companies use green marketing to respond to market needs and wants (Divine & Lepisto, 2005). By going green, companies show their consumers that their products or services possess green

properties. However, many environmental claims focusing on green attributes are ambiguous and deceptive (Chen & Chang, 2012). This raises the question of the extent to which the advertisement and product description are truly honest and accurate. According to research by Aji and Sutikno (2015), companies present their products as being greener than they in fact are. Companies that do this are greenwashing. This occurs when there is a difference between the symbolic actions – what firms say they do – and substantive actions – what firms really do. The commonly used definition is that greenwashing is a tool in which public relations, advertising, or marketing is/are used

deceptively to create the perception that a product or service is green while in reality it is not (McGrath, 1992). Newell, Goldsmith and Banzhaf (1998) find that greenwashing has a negative effect on firm performance. Greenwashing causes scepticism among consumers, and has a negative influence on firm performance (Walker and Wan, 2012). Moreover, greenwashing decreases consumers’ green trust, which leads to lower perceived credibility of a firm. Green trust is the

willingness to count on one object based on the belief in its credibility, benevolence, and ability with regard to social and environmental performance (Chen, 2010). In addition, greenwashing has a positive association with consumer scepticism (Aji & Sutikno, 2015) and a negative influence on consumers’ purchasing intentions (Newell et al., 1998). Thus, in general people have a negative association with symbolic actions, which allow firms to at least appear to fulfil stakeholders’ requests without bearing large costs or needing to change their whole business (Meyer & Rowan, 1977). Often the synonym used for symbolic action is green talk (Walker & Wan, 2012).

In contrast, substantive actions are generally formulated as green walk (Walker & Wan, 2012). Substantive actions are CSR actions that may directly influence a firm’s productivity (McGuire, Sundgren & Schneeweis, 1988) but also imply larger costs (Oliver, 1991). Research by

Walker and Wan (2012) shows that consumers have a positive association to substantive actions (green walk). Green-highlighting represents the opposite of greenwashing and is defined as the combination of symbolic and substantive actions, in which a firm discusses environmental

responsibility in terms of what it currently does and what it plans to do in the future (Walker & Wan, 2012). Another way for a firm to express green-highlighting is by focusing on the green aspects of the product to distract consumers from its less sustainable elements. An earlier study by Schons and Steinmeier (2015) examines the difference between green walk and green talk. They find that stakeholders show the potential to enforce real green walk, while they punish green talk.

Stakeholders with high levels of involvement in particular are more likely to punish green talk. The authors created a four-fold matrix of companies’ strategies that apply symbolic and substantive actions (see Figure 1). Contrary to the study by Schons and Steinmeier (2015), Walker and Wan (2012) do not find support for the positive effect of substantive actions (green-highlighting). Due to the scarce amount of literature on this topic, and inconsistent findings in current literature, new insights are needed into this type of CSR communication.

Figure 1. Four-fold matrix of company strategies (Schons & Steinmeier, 2015).

2.5.3. Hypotheses 4 and 5

This study examines the effect of the two types of CSR strategies, reactive CSR and

purchasing intentions and how these differ for low- and high-involved consumers. It is assumed that reactive CSR has a more negative effect on consumers’ behavioural congruence, perceived

credibility of firms, and consumers’ purchase intentions. This negative effect is probably largest for the high-involved consumers, because they are more critical of companies’ CSR activities (Schons & Steinmeier, 2015). This study proposes that green-highlighting probably increases consumers’ behavioural congruence, firms’ credibility, and consumers’ purchase intentions. This study examines the above propositions to gain insight into the effect of different types of CSR communication on consumers’ behaviour. This leads to the following hypotheses.

H4: The type of CSR strategy (green-highlighting and reactive CSR) moderates the relationship

between behavioural congruence and consumer’s purchase intentions. Green-highlighting leads to more behavioural congruence and higher purchase intentions, while reactive CSR leads to more behavioural incongruence and lower purchase intentions.

H5: CSR strategy (green-highlighting and reactive CSR) moderates the relationship between the

perceived credibility of firms’ and consumers’ purchase intentions. Green-highlighting leads to higher perceived credibility of firms and higher purchase intentions, while reactive CSR leads to lower perceived credibility of firms and lower purchase intentions.

3. Research Design

In this chapter the methodology of the study will be represented. First, the method will be discussed together with motives for chosen instruments and conditions. Then the sampling procedure will be further discussed in detail together with the procedure of the data collection. Finally the measures will be described in detail together with the used scales.

3.1 Method

This study carried out a quantitative research using a cross-sectional survey design. This type of design is most common used in this typical field (Lockett, Moon & Visser, 2006). For qualitative research is not chosen because of its lack of scientific adequacy. This method of research is mainly viewed as failing to achieve or to make explicit rules for achieving reliability, validity, and objectivity (Sandelowski, 1986). Contrary, quantitative research is a favorable tool for using statistics to test the hypotheses and to generalize the findings (Muijs, 2010). In this research the questionnaire is administered digitally to the respondents. Through a link, respondents were able to fill out the questionnaire.

The questionnaire was written in Dutch to ensure understanding among the

respondents. The questionnaire contained 50 questions and was divided in three parts. First part measured the involvement in sustainability and declared purchase behavior. The second part involved two advertisements, each representing an different type of CSR communication, green-highlighting and reactive CSR. After each advertisement participants were asked about the credibility of the brand and about their purchase intentions. In the last part of the

questionnaire personal information about demographics were asked, e.g. gender, age and education.

The brands used to represent green-highlighting and reactive CSR are Andrélon and Lipton Tea. These two brands are originated from the same House of Brands, namely

an advertisement. Firstly, by highlighting the sustainable aspect of the product, by doing so covering the non-sustainable aspects of the product. Secondly, by showing in the

advertisement what kind of sustainable initiatives the company already incorporated and what their future activities and targets are among sustainability. The Palm Oil initiative from Unilever fits with the latter way of green-highlighting. In 2013 Unilever launched their Sustainable Palm Oil Policy, where they compromises three components, namely halt deforestation, protect peat land and drive positive economic and social impact (Schouten & Glasberger, 2011). To understand what kind of changes Unilever should make in de Palm Oil supply-chain it is pre-requisite to know where the Palm Oil originates. Through the

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) mark, Unilever shows that the product contains sustainable and traceable palm oil. With the new line of Andrélon ‘natural pure’ (‘natuurlijk puur’) Unilever promotes their target for 2020 to use 100% traceable palm oil for all their brands and products (see Appendix B for the advertisements).

For the reactive CSR communication the brand Lipton Tea is used. BBC launched last September 2015 a documentary about the abominable conditions where Unilevers’ employees from India live in. The documentary shows the broken houses with bad sanitation, no toilets, low wages and lack of protective clothes during their work. In reaction to this, Unilever chief executive Paul Polman stated that they are working to improve the life and working

conditions of their employees in India. However, there is lot to be done to raise the standard. Unilever is doing as much as possible to work with their suppliers in a responsible and sustainable way. To protect the image of the Unilever’s brand Lipton (Wagner et al., 2009), a new campaign was launched: ‘SustainabiliTea, your small cup can make a big difference’ (Ionescu-Somers & Seifert, 2014). This campaign shows the SustainabiliTea in combination with the Rainforest Alliances Certificate (RAF-mark). RAF-mark promotes and guarantees improvements in agriculture and rainforests. The label ensures that the goods are produced in

accordance to strict guidelines to protect the environment, animals, plants, employees and local communities. This advertisement shows the restoring reaction from Lipton to reduce harm of the scandal to their image. The advantages of the choice for these brands and

products are first that both products: shampoo and tea, are daily used by consumers. Moreover the brands are non-fictitious and well known, both internationally and nationally. For both brands the advertisements match closely to the two desired CSR strategies, green-highlighting and reactive CSR

3.2 Sample

The sample used in this study consisted mainly of students, young adolescent and adults of Dutch origin. The respondents were recruited through social media, e-mail and personal surroundings. There can be stated that this study used convenience sampling, because of the difficulty in access and time pressure to obtain enough participants in short period of time. Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique, where participants are selected through their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher (Sousa,

Zauszniewski & Musil, 2004). However, the combination of the sampling techniques, namely social media, e-mail and personal surroundings makes the sample more diverse and less biased than when only one sample is used.

From the 184 people that started filling out the questionnaire, 139 respondents fully completed the questionnaire (response rate 75.5 %). From the 139 respondents 67.6% were female, 54.7% of the respondents were of the age range between: 18 – 25 year. The sample covered a broad range of educational backgrounds; a majority of 97.8% completed an educational program at university of applied sciences (MBO = 5.0%, HBO = 24.5%, WO bachelor = 26.6%, WO master = 41.0%, Doctoral = 0.7%). The majority of the participants (59.7%) had an income below € 15.000, this represents the large group of students who participated this study (see Table 1).

Table 1. Frequencies and percentages of the demographic variables from the sample (N = 139).

Variables Frequency Percentage (%)

Gender Male Female 45 94 32.4 67.6 Age 18 – 25 years 26 – 35 years 36 – 45 years 46 – 60 years > 60 years 76 20 3 32 8 54.7 14.4 2.2 23.0 5.8 Education level Middle school

MBO HBO WO bachelor WO master Doctoral 3 7 34 37 57 1 2.2 5.0 24.5 26.6 41.0 .7 Income < € 15.000 € 15.000 – 30.000 € 30.000 – 60.000 € 60.000 – 100.000 > € 100.000 83 20 20 6 10 59.7 14.4 14.4 4.3 7.2 3.3 Procedure

The specific questions of the questionnaire have been developed based on the outlined

hypotheses that have been derived from the literature review. The questionnaire starts with an short introduction, explaining the subject matter of the study, giving a short explanation about CSR and assuring anonymity and confidentiality of the data use (see Appendix A).

First, a pilot study was conducted to test whether the questionnaire met all the requirements for this study. The pilot was tested on 15 persons, all derived from the

researcher’s personal environment. Feedback given stated that the difference between the two conditions was clear. Nevertheless, some statements in the questionnaire were found

ambiguous; this could have been caused through the translation process from English to Dutch statements. For example the statement whether consumers buy refill packaging, could be interpreted in two ways, namely refill packaging is cheaper of refill packaging is more sustainable. Moreover, feedback was given to include more reversed statement, to increase participants’ involvement during the questionnaire. In response to the given feedback statements were adjusted and checked again on comprehensibility.

With the adjustments made after the pilot study, the questionnaire was used in the main study. The questionnaire was designed in the online survey platform Qualtrics a commonly used tool at the University of Amsterdam Faculty for Economics and Business. Through a link participants were able to fill out the questionnaire via their computers or telephones. The survey administration started on December 4th 2015. The survey was closed about four weeks later on January 2nd 2016. To perform statistical analyses, the Statistical software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used.

3.4 Measures

This questionnaire was written in Dutch, the items were translated from English to Dutch. Through the pilot test the comprehensibility of the items were checked and adjusted for the final questionnaire used in the main study (questionnaire is enclosed in Appendix A). In the questionnaire personal information about demographics was asked, for the other measures existing and validated scales were used.

Consumer involvement. Consumer’s involvement in sustainability is composed of environmental and social concern. Involved consumers claim to pay attention to ecological packaging, the origin of products, or the lack of genetically modified organisms, and buying regularly sustainable products (Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006). To measure this construct the environmental concern items will be used as in the research of Junior et al., (2015). For social concern extra items from Schuhwerk and Lefkoff-Hagius (1995) are added to cover the whole

construct. This construct consists of ten items, whereof one counter indicative item. All items were answered on a 7-point Likert scale, 1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree. An example of an item is: ‘When possible I always choose sustainable products.’ Cronbach’s α was .85.

Declared purchase. This measure is taken to quantify wheter participants will buy the product in reality. This measure is used as by White, MacDonnell and Ellard (2012). This construct consists of six items, whereof each two counter indicative items. The items are answered on a 7-point Likert scale, 1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree. An example of an item is: ‘I will not buy this product.’ Crohnbach’s α was .68.

Perceived firms’ credibility. This construct will measure the extent to which

consumers feel that the firm had the knowledge and ability to fulfill its claims and whether the firm can be trusted to tell the truth (Newel & Goldsmith, 2001). This measure involved the credibility of the House of Brands ‘Unilever’ and the brands ‘Andrélon’ and ‘Lipton’. This study used the measure of consumers’ attitude towards the company as used by Groza et al., (2011) and by Bae and Cameron (2006). This construct consists in total for two condition of 22 items, 11 items per condition. Per condition five items measured Unilever’s credibility and six items measured Andrélon’s and Lipton’s credibility, whereof two counter indicative items. All items were answered on a 7-point Likert scale, 1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree. An example of an item is: ‘Unilever tries to create a favorable image with this advertisement.’ For Unilever’s credibility in both conditions the total Cronbach’s α was .62. However, without the items cond1_1 and cond2_1 the total Cronbach’s α was .76. Therefore in this study the items cond1_1 and cond2_1 were deleted from this scale. Finally, Unilever’s credibility in the first condition showed a Cronbach’s α of .71. In the second condition Unilever’s credibility showed a Cronbach’s α of .62. For Andrélon’s and Lipton’s credibility the Cronbach’s α were respectively .86 and .80.

Purchase intentions. The consumer’s intention to purchase a specific product is measured in this construct. This measure is used as by Junior et al., (2015). This construct consists of five items for the two conditions, whereof one counter indicative item. The items are answered on a 7-point Likert scale, 1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree. An example of an item is: ‘Difference in price interferes in my attention in buying sustainably correct

product.’ Cronbach’s α was for both conditions together .87, for the first condition .90 and the second condition .85.

4. Results

In this chapter results of the survey will be discussed in detail. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between consumer’s involvement and consumers purchase intentions, and how behavioural congruence, perceived firms’ credibility and type of CSR communication influence this relationship. First the reliability of the scales will be discussed for the variables together with

descriptive statistics and correlations for a detailed overview. After that, the tests and results of the hypotheses are described in sequence.

4.1 Reliability of scales

Scales were formed for the variables consumer involvement (CI), declared purchase (DP), for the variables purchase intentions in both conditions (PI1 and PI2), perceived credibility of Unilever in both conditions, Andrélon and Lipton (PC1_U, PC2_U, PC1_L, PC2_L). Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations, number of items and the Cronbach’s alphas for all scales. The scales show sufficient reliability for scientific purposes from α = .62 to α = .90.

Pearson correlations for the variables showed multiple significant correlations (see Table 3). Some interesting correlations are found, starting with the highly significant correlation between consumer involvement (IV) and declared purchase (DP), r = .714, p < .01. Furthermore, perceived credibility of Unilever in the first condition (PC1_U) shows a significant correlation with perceived credibility of Unilever in the second condition (PC2_U), r = .480, p < .01. For the perceived

credibility of Andrélon (PC1_L) and Lipton (PC2_L), r = .441, p < .01. Moreover, PC1_L is

positively correlated with PI1, r = .657, p < .01 and PC2_L positively related with PI2, r = .546, p < .01. Lastly, a significant positive correlation is found between the declared purchase and purchase intentions of the first condition, r = .192, p < .05.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and reliability of the scales.

Scale N Minimum Maximum M SD k α

Consumer involvement 139 2 7 4.82 .86 10 .85 Declared purchase 139 1 6 4.20 .88 6 .68 Perceived credibility Condition 1 Condition 2 Unilever Andrélon Unilever Lipton 139 139 139 139 2 1 3 1 7 7 7 6 5.79 4.30 5.76 3.61 .74 1.08 .82 1.00 4 6 4 6 .71 .86 .62 .80 Purchase intentions Condition 1 Condition 2 139 139 139 1 1 1 7 7 6 3.65 3.91 3.39 1.06 1.39 1.18 10 5 5 .87 .90 .85

Table 3. Pearson’s correlations for variables.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IV 1.00 DP .714** 1.00 PC1_U .116 -.068 1.00 PC1_L -.124 -.039 -.054 1.00 PC2_U .189* .035 .480** .015 1.00 PC2_L -.074 -.078 .008 .441** .119 1.00 PI1 .098 .193* -.077 .657** .035 .270** 1.00 PI2 .038 .040 -.045 .319** .047 .546** .047 1.00

Notes. ** p < .01 level; * p < .05 level

The variable consumer involvement was divided in two groups, low- and high involved consumers. The threshold used in this study was five, consumers with scores below or equal to five were allocated to the low-involved consumer group and consumers with scores higher than five were allocated to the high-involved consumer group. From this sample 52.5% belonged to the

low-involved consumer group (N = 73) and the other 47.5% tot the high-low-involved consumer group (N = 66).

4.2 Testing the hypotheses 4.2.1 Hypothesis 1

The first hypothesis states that low-involved consumers purchase less sustainable purchase intentions than high-involved consumers. To test this hypothesis two independent t-tests were conducted, one for the first condition (Andrélon) and the other for the second condition (Lipton). On average, low involved participants engaged slightly lower purchase intentions for the first condition (M = 3.88; SE = .12) than higher involved participants (M = 3.94; SE = .17). This difference between the mean was found not significant t (137) = .228, p = .820. Thus no difference was found between low- and high-involved participants in the first condition.

For the second condition another independent t-test was conducted. Just like in the first condition, low-involved participants showed lower purchase intentions (M = 3.36; SE = .139) than higher involved participants (M = 3.42; SE = .145). However, this difference was again not found significant, t (137) = .281, p = .779. Taking together the two conditions on purchase intentions still no significant difference is found, between the purchase intentions of the low-involved (M = 3.62; SE = .12) and high-involved participants (M = 3.68; SE = .13), t (137) = .307, p = .759. Thus, results show no support for our first hypothesis; no difference is found between low- and high-involved participants in their purchase intentions.

4.2.2 Hypothesis 2

The second hypothesis proposed that behavioural congruence mediates the relationship between the amount of involvement and consumer’s purchase intentions. Before testing this hypothesis a new variable needed to be created, namely behavioural congruence. Behavioural congruence consists of the discrepancy between declared purchase and purchase intentions for

both conditions. If the declared purchase of consumer is high and the purchase intention is also high than you can speak of behavioural congruence. However, when the declared purchase is high and the purchase intention is low, you speak of behavioural incongruence. Looking at Pearson’s correlations only a significant correlation is found between declared purchase and the purchase intentions of the first condition, r = .190, p < .05.

The variable behavioural congruence was made for both conditions, BC_1 represents the discrepancy between declared purchase and purchase intentions for the first condition, BC_2 represents the discrepancy between declared purchase and purchase intentions for the second condition. The two created variables represents behavioural congruence. The more near the mean to the zero, means that there is little discrepancy between the declared purchase and purchase intentions, so than there is behavioural congruence. The more the mean differs from zero implies that there is more, this is called behavioural incongruence. The first

condition the declared purchase is relatively in congruence with the purchase intentions (M = .29). However, in the second condition is the declared purchase less in congruence with the purchase intentions (M = .81). This means that participants their purchase intentions after the first condition are more in line with their declared purchase than their purchase intention after the second condition.

To test whether low- and high-involved participants differ in behavioural congruence two t-tests are conducted (see Table 4). On average, low-involved participants show higher purchase intentions after the first condition (BC_1) than they first declared to purchase (M = -1.62). In contrast, high-involved participants showed lower purchase intentions than declared purchases (M = .79), average shows a decrease of .79. The difference between low- and high-involved participants was found statistically significant, t (137) = -3.945, p < .01.

For the second condition (BC_2) the same method was used as for the first condition. Low-involved participants show a small decrease in purchase intentions compared to their

declared purchase (M = .36). While high-involved participants show a large drop in purchase intentions compared to their declared purchases (M = 1.31). This means that high-involved participants showed lower purchase intentions compared with their declared purchases in the second condition than low-involved participants. This difference is found statistically

significant, t (137) = -4.113, p < .001.

Table 4. Results of two independent t-test for behavioural congruence for low- and high-involved participants in

both conditions. M F Sign. t df p BC_1 Low High -.1620 .7931 .054 .817 -3.945 137 ** BC_2 Low High .3583 1.3113 .425 .515 -4.113 137 ** Note. ** p < .001

To test the mediation effect of the second hypothesis, mediation analyses were conducted with PROCESS model 4 for both conditions (see Table 5). The indirect in the first condition of -.519 means that consumers who differ in their behavioural congruence are estimated to differ one unit would differ by .519 in their purchase intentions. When declared purchase and purchase intentions are in congruence with each other, the value of behavioural congruence would be around zero. So, behavioural incongruence will lead to lower purchase intentions. This indirect effect is statistically different from zero, as revealed by a 95% BC bootstrap confidence interval that is entirely below zero (-.792 to -.249).

The direct effect of consumer’s involvement, c’ = .666, is the estimated difference in purchase intentions between two consumers experiencing the same level of behavioural congruence but who differ by one unit in their involvement, meaning that the consumer that is more involved with sustainability is estimated to be .666 higher in their purchase intentions.

This direct effect is statistically different from zero, t = 10.60, p < .001, with a 95% confidence interval from .541 to .790.

The total effect of consumer involvement on purchase intention is c = .147, meaning the higher consumers involvement the higher their intention to purchase the Andrélon product (first condition). However, this effect is not found statistically different from zero, t = 1.060, p = .291, with a 95% confidence interval from -.127 to .421.

Looking at the amount of variance explained of purchase intention, the mediation effect explained 82.0% of the variance in purchase intentions. The results of the mediation analysis of the first condition supports our second hypothesis; behavioural congruence

mediates the relationship between consumer involvement and consumer’s purchase intentions To test the mediation effect for the second condition, similar analyses were conducted as for the first condition. Results show an indirect effect of -.537, which means that

behavioural incongruence will lead to lower purchase intentions, so the declared intentions are higher than the true purchase intentions. This indirect effect was statistically significant from zero, as revealed by a 95% BC bootstrap confidence interval that is entirely below zero (-.7346 to -.2945).

The direct effect of consumer involvement was, c’ = .589, this means that consumers who differ by one unit in their involvement, but shows equal behavioural congruence, is estimated to be 0.589 higher in their purchase intentions. The direct effect is statistically significant from zero, t = 9.852, p < .001, with a confidence interval from .471 to .708. The total effect of consumer involvement on purchase intentions is c = .053. This means that two consumers who differ by one unit of involvement are estimated to differ by .0525 units in their purchase intentions. This effect is not statistically different from zero, t = .446, p = 656.

Looking at the amount of variance explained of purchase intentions, the mediation effect explained 78.5% of the variance of purchase intentions. The results of the mediation