ANTI-CONSUMPTION APPEALS ON MEAT IN A SUPERMARKET
BRAND CONCEPT CONTEXT: WHO BENEFITS?
The effect of an anti-consumption appeal relative to green consumption appeals on brand attitude moderated by supermarket brand concept
January 2019
MSc Marketing Management Thesis
ANTI-CONSUMPTION APPEALS ON MEAT IN A SUPERMARKET
BRAND CONCEPT CONTEXT: WHO BENEFITS?
The effect of an anti-consumption appeal relative to green consumption appeals on brand attitude moderated by supermarket brand concept
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
Department of Marketing
9700 AV Groningen (NL)
January 2019
MEINHARDT WOLF DRAAIJER
s2536609
Gedempte Zuiderdiep 49a
PREFACE
Research is a tool that can alter life by examining how we, customers, companies and contextual factors interact with each other. In an era, where the world is changing so fast, where natural resources are becoming scarce, where animals extinct and cities tend to explode, I believe it is crucial to spend a larger share of this ´tool´ on where it is needed the most, to preserve the earth.
I have been born and raised with this idea as a kid, by my beloved parents. I
remember, from when I was a young boy, that I did not like this continuous focus on these matters. Now being grown up, I am really happy how they transferred this way of thinking to me using their ‘tools’. This is why I felt really delighted when I heard I got the chance last summer to focus on sustainability, anti-consumption and to use the research ´tool´ in order to try to do something good. I hope my study can make a modest contribution to this field.
ABSTRACT
Today, climate change is a worldwide problem affecting life on earth. Overconsumption of meat, sold in every supermarket, is its main cause. Consequently, academic literature on marketing has focused, for the last decade, on discovering a way in which companies can present green consumption appeals to people to make them consume green products.
However, green consumption appeals do not insist people to consume less. Anti-consumption appeals do aim to reduce consumption. The current research proposes that the effect of presenting anti-consumption appeals, relative to green consumption appeals, on customer brand attitude, is negative. Secondly, it proposes that this is more negative in a conservative supermarket brand concept context, due to the huge value distance between conservatism and sustainable anti-consumption appeals. This was tested in an experiment in which 293
manipulated respondents had to rate supermarket advertisements. Hence, it could be concluded that the second proposition yielded statistical evidence. More research on anti-consumption appeals is required to discover a way in which both the earth and brands can benefit from them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ... 7
1.1 Relevance of the research ... 8
1.1.1 Academic contribution. ... 8
1.1.2 Practical relevance. ... 9
1.2 Aim of the research ... 10
1.3 Outline remaining chapters ... 10
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 11
2.1 Differences Green consumption and Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption appeals ... 11
2.1.1 Appeal. ... 11
2.1.2 Green Consumption. ... 11
2.1.3 Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption. ... 12
2.2 Supermarkets & sustainability ... 15
2.3 Drivers of Brand attitude ... 16
2.4 Effect of Anti-Consumption appeals on Brand Attitude ... 17
2.5 Supermarket Brand concepts & associated values ... 18
2.5.1 Brand concept. ... 18
2.5.2 Values. ... 19
2.6 Moderating effect of supermarket brand concepts ... 19
2.7 Conceptual Model ... 20
3. METHODOLOGY ... 21
3.1 Design & Participants ... 21
3.2 Procedure and manipulations ... 22
3.3 Measures ... 23 3.4 Data Analysis ... 24 4. DATA ANALYSIS ... 26 4.1 Descriptive statistics ... 26 4.2 Scales review ... 27 4.2.1 Factor Analysis. ... 27 4.2.2 Reliability. ... 28 4.3 Hypotheses testing ... 29
4.3.1 Assumptions for 2-way ANOVA. ... 29
4.3.3 Results summary. ... 31 4.3.4 Control variables. ... 31 4.4 Additional analyses ... 31 5. DISCUSSION ... 32 5.1 Main findings ... 32 5.2 Academic contribution ... 34 5.3 Managerial contribution ... 35 5.4 Limitations ... 36
5.5 Suggestions for future research ... 37
5.6 Conclusion ... 38
REFERENCES ... 38
APPENDICES ... 44
APPENDIX A: Experiment setup ... 44
APPENDIX B: Supermarket appeals ... 44
APPENDIX C: Pre-test ... 45
APPENDIX D: Survey ... 48
APPENDIX E: KMO and Bartlett’s test ... 58
APPENDIX F: Communalities ... 59
APPENDIX G: Rotated component martix using VARIMAX ... 59
APPENDIX H: Summarized results control variables ... 60
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, climate change is one of the biggest challenges the world has to cope with. The change in climate affects the atmospheric circulation, the level of precipitation, a rise in sea level and causes extreme weather conditions (George et al., 2014). Ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland have decreased in volume, on average 281 billion tons of ice every year (NASA, 2017). Furthermore, the global mean temperature of the earth has risen by 1.62 since the end of the 19th century (George et al., 2014). According to more than 95% of the
researchers researching the warming trend, it is extremely likely that this is the result of human and company activity (Santer, 1996). Limiting climate change would ask for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emission resulting from human activity, which is possible if businesses are adapted carefully (IPCC, 2014).
Authors and Journals state that the meat sector is a crucial contributor of carbon emission leading to climate change (George et al., 2014; Santer, 1996; De Volkskrant; 2018; The Guardian, 2018). Radical beyond green adaptation in activities is required to halt the increasing carbon emission (George et al., 2014). Additionally, the forecast for global meat production indicates a rise of 19% in the period 2014 till 2023 (FAO, 2013). Consumption of retail bought meat is projected to rise by 2.4 kg per year reaching an expected total of 36.3 kg per person compared to the base period (OECD, 2014). More than 42% of the agricultural emissions in the United States of America are coming for animal agriculture, caused by gases directly emitted by ruminants: cows, sheep and buffalo ferment food using bacteria from their stomachs. Since production-wise farmers are not likely to stop producing meat in the near future, retailers should step forward in directing the consumer to a different product category. (New York Times, 2014; Homewood, 2015).
A moral goal for a company to be sustainable and to stimulate sustainable
consumption can be to fight global warming (Hennigfeld et al., 2004). However, another reason for companies to conduct green business is to obtain more favourable evaluations by stakeholders. (Hennigfeld et al., 2004). 76% of the executives feel that Corporate Social Responsibility is positively contributing to long-term shareholder value and believes it contributes to a strong brand reputation (McKinsey, 2010). On the other hand, a poor
managed green business plan leads to a negative impact on financial performance (Chatterji et al., 2009). However, just being sustainable is not enough, it remains a challenge for
(Hennigfeld et al., 2004). The amount of sustainable appeals companies are launching to their customers is rising, in line with the global sustainability trend (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014). An example of a sustainable appeal were the temporary 850 organic pop up stores of the Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn (Levensmiddelenkrant, 2015). For example, they tried to shift the meat consumption of the customer to the organic produced alternative. Presenting this organic alternative in order to shift preference is a green consumption appeal.
Another example of a presented sustainable appeal is the ‘week without meat’
initiative, supported by supermarket Jumbo, in which influencers and famous chefs requested customers to stop consuming meat for a week by showing online and in-store recipes, paired with information concerning how to replace meat in meals (Week Zonder Vlees magazine, 2018). This type of sustainable appeal is an anti-consumption appeal since it requests customers to stop consuming meat.
1.1 Relevance of the research
The current research contributes to both marketing research and practice. The contributions to academic research are presented below.
1.1.1 Academic contribution. For about ten years, there has been a relative surge in
green consumption appeals serving as a criticism against common advertising appeals leading to environmental degradation (Peattie & Peattie 2009, Atkinson & Rosenthal 2014). Earlier academic research in the field of marketing has already contributed to a greater understanding of the motivations and values of consumers reacting on these green consumption appeals (Chatzidakis & Lee, 2013). Authors claim that promoting eco-friendly products is a practice mainly to boost market share and profit (Black & Cherrier, 2010). Moreover, it is stated that only switching to green production and consumption is not effective to tackle the problem of global warming (George et al., 2014; Jackson, 2005). On the contrast, applying
anti-consumption appeals does refer to a strategy encouraging decreased anti-consumption of a product category in total (Armstrong, Soule and Reich, 2015). In recent years, only a few studies have researched the effect of the use of anti-consumption appeals in order to reduce overall
consumption in a product category, despite its proven effectiveness (Chatzidakis & Lee 2013). It is stated that more marketing research on this appeal type is required (Prothero et al., 2011). This research answers this academic request and contributes to the field of presenting anti-consumption appeals, further developing theory on the topic.
consumption appeals) on brand attitude. The above-mentioned appeal types and brand attitude are also used in the current study, but the chosen context is different. Reich & Soule (2016) test the effectiveness of the appeals in a context of a brand that both produces and sells the chosen product. This current research focuses on appeals presented by supermarkets, that merely sell products, which might result in a different effect on brand attitude (Sloot & Steenkamp, 2018).
Additionally, this research can serve as an extension because an extra moderator is added to the model: supermarket brand concept. Companies generally have different values reflected in their brand concepts (Schwartz, 1992), leading to conservative and openness brand concepts. The reaction of customers towards green consumption and anti-consumption appeals can, due to these brand concepts of the brand presenting the appeal, have a different effect on brand attitude (Torelli, 2012). Green consumption and anti-consumption appeals can trigger associated pro-social goals like welfare increase and the protection of the earth
(Verplanken & Holland, 2002). Conservative supermarket brands may trigger the opposite associated goals. If a conservative supermarket presents sustainable appeals, this may lead to discomfort for a customer potentially affecting attitude (Schwartz, 1992; Verplanken & Holland, 2002). This research will create a foundation for understanding the interaction between appeal types and supermarket brand concept and their potential effect on brand attitude.
Finally, this study enhances the overall generalizability of the previous study (Reich & Soule, 2016), since this research is conducted at a different time and in a different continent, using a different group of respondents.
1.1.2 Practical relevance. In practice, this research has implications for managers
and for society. First, the research helps managers by testing how the attitude of customers towards brands is influenced if an anti-consumption appeal is applied relative to a green consumption appeal, which can assist them in creating their business strategy. Based on the results of the research they can decide which appeal type suits best to their own brand concept, benefiting the company.
1.2 Aim of the research
In short, the aim of this research is to understand the way the supermarket brands are observed and reacted on, when applying an anti-consumption appeal. This is important for supermarket brands to see the effect of these appeals on the customer its brand attitude. Supermarkets can adapt the appeal type to the customers to achieve the best attitude towards the brand.
Furthermore, this research will provide a greater understanding of the influence of an
openness supermarket brand concept presenting an anti-consumption appeal in comparison to a conservative supermarket brand concept.
The previous can be summarized to the following research question: What is the effect of presenting an anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeal) on a customer its brand attitude and how is this effect moderated by supermarket brand concept? This research question can be further divided into the sub research questions provided below.
· What is an anti-consumption appeal? · What is brand attitude?
· What is the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on a customer its brand attitude? · What is a conservative vs an openness brand concept?
· How does the brand concept of a supermarket moderate the relationship between message appeal type and brand attitude?
1.3 Outline remaining chapters
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The second chapter presents an overview of earlier important academic research in the fields of anti-consumption and brand attitude and the moderating effect of supermarket brand concept. First, appeals, green consumption and anti-consumption are conceptualized. Second, supermarkets are conceptually defined in the context of the research. Third, the concept of brand attitude is presented and its dimensions are explained.
Next, succeeding this general theoretical part, the effect of using an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude is discussed followed by a hypothesis on how anti-consumption will affect customer brand attitude in the supermarket context. Furthermore, supermarket brand concept is conceptualized. After this, the moderating effect of supermarket brand concept, strengthening or weakening the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude is discussed followed by a proposition. In the final part of the chapter the hypotheses are visually summarized in a conceptual model.
2.1 Differences Green consumption and Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption appeals
In this research, the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude is tested relative to a green consumption appeal. Therefore both anti-consumption and green consumption need to be conceptualized before the effect can be analyzed carefully. However, first, it is important to conceptualize appeals.
2.1.1 Appeal. An appeal is a message directed from a brand, product or institution
communicated to an individual or group. The goal of an appeal is to request something, convince someone, to realize change, to withdraw someone or to stimulate someone (Keenan, 2004). Different categories of appeals exist which include health appeals, legal appeals and environmental appeals. The latter category is important for the context of the current research since it focuses on a brand its commitment to sustainability through different means and types (Armstrong, Reich & Soule, 2015).
2.1.2 Green Consumption. Green consumption is the voluntary consumption of a
means, like highlighting the environmental friendliness of an organic meat producing brand or product by the use of green processes and material use (Armstrong, Reich & Soule, 2015). Alternatively, a green consumption appeal can also merely communicate the brand its commitment to sustainability overall (Ijer & Banerjee, 1993).
2.1.3 Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption. Different to green
consumption, anti-consumption does entail consuming less (Kotler, 2011). Two important characteristics of anti-consumption are first that the non-consumption of anything is intentional and conscious (Cherrier et al., 2009). Second, overlapping with green
consumption, it serves as a self-expressive function to help communicating beliefs and values (Cherrier et al., 2009; Black & Cherrier, 2010). Anti-consumption can be practiced from consumer perspective for several reasons. Reasons include saving money, not liking
something, not considering something tasty or to protect the environment (García-de-Frutos et al, 2016). The latter type of anti-consumption, is often referred to as Environmentally
Oriented Anti-consumption (Kotler, 2011; García-de-Frutos et al., 2016). This type can be conceptualized as, drawing on the previously mentioned characteristics, acts against every type of unsustainable consumption, with the aim of protecting the environment driven by environmental concerns and motivations (García-de-Frutos et al., 2016).
Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption appeals of brands should in general signal the scarcity of a product and aim to repel a consumer segment. Furthermore, it should present a message encouraging reduced overall category consumption for environmental protection sake (Armstrong, Soule & Reich, 2015). Consequently, an effective marketing anti-consumption appeal launched by a brand in-store can trigger a customer to become aware and make them start practicing anti-consumption (Reich & Soule, 2016; Sodhi; 2011, Princen; 2010).
Table 1: Recent research on Green consumption and Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption appeals
Authors Appeal type Focus Findings
Atkinson & Rose (2014)
Green consumption
Effect of green eco-labels on brand attitude, with trust as a moderator
Effect of eco-labels stronger when perceived trust is higher
Bailey et al. (2016)
Green consumption
Investigates the reaction of customers on green consumption
advertisement
Explored a different effect for high and low green
consumption receptive customers Bickert & Ruth (2012) Green consumption Effect of environment affection and brand familiarity on the effect of a green consumption appeal
Discovered a stronger effect for customers more familiar to the brand and with higher environmental affection
Brough et al. (2016)
Green consumption
Investigates the effect of gender on the
effectiveness of green consumption appeals
Found a stronger effect for female customers. Femininity more related to green
consumption than masculinity
Finisterra & Reis (2012) Green consumption Research on possible factors causing
scepticism towards green consumption
advertisements
Higher level of scepticism when a customer is more environmentally aware Green & Peloza (2014) Green consumption Research on other vs self-benefit frame of green consumption appeal on purchase intention
Other benefit more effective in general in stores, however in private, self-benefit appeals are more effective Grimmer & Wooley (2014) Green consumption
Investigates the effect of a brand using green advertisement on customer purchase intention
The research did not find a significant effect, however, when a customer was more environmentally involved a positive effect was found for the advertisements Kong & Zhang (2014) Green consumption Research investigating for which products green consumption appeals are most effective in
realizing a positive brand effect
Effect of using a green
consumption appeal is stronger for products that are harmful
Olson et al. (2014)
Green consumption
Investigates the effect of new green products and ads on the customer its brand attitude
Xue (2015) Green consumption
Investigates the effect of an individual framed green appeal vs a collective framed green appeal on brand attitude
Effect is stronger when an individual framed appeal is used in a Chinese context (collectivistic culture) Armstrong, Soule & Reich (2015) Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption
Investigates the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on attributed altruistic motives to brands moderated by level of excellence of environmental reputation Effect of anti-consumption appeal was stronger when the brand had a higher level of environmental reputation. (Brand communicating the appeal is also the actual producer of the product)
Chatzidakis & Lee (2013) Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption Explains in a literature review the benefit to companies and marketing of anti-consumption and conceptualizes it to show the difference compared to green consumption appeals.
Concludes with the need for more research on consumption and
anti-consumption appeals relative to green consumption appeals
García-de-Frutos et al. (2016) Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption Research conceptualizes EOA in micro context and reviews possibilities for future research of EOA at the
organisational, brand and macro level.
Signals the needs for multilevel research on Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption Reich & Soule (2016) Environmentally Oriented Anti-consumption
Investigates the effect of an anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeal) on brand attitude moderated by green involvement, attitude towards the ad itself in a product and institutional context, and the use of an amplifier
Effect of an anti-consumption appeal was more negative in a product context. however. the effect was more positive in an institutional context. Green involvement had a
strengthening effect. (Brand communicating the appeal is also the actual producer of the product)
Current study:
Environmentally Oriented
Anti-consumption Investigates the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude moderated by the brand concept of the
supermarket
Effect of anti-consumption (relative to a green
consumption appeal) on brand attitude is negative.
2.2 Supermarkets & sustainability
The present research investigates the effect of an anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeal) on a customer its attitude in supermarkets. Before testing these
sustainable appeals in a supermarket context, the term supermarket is conceptually defined. A supermarket is a retailer selling groceries. A supermarket sells products and services to customers for consumption or usage, to satisfy both personal and family needs (Kaltcheva & Weitz, 2006). The main functions of a supermarket include providing an assortment to the customer, offering this assortment in a quantity customers desire, keeping an inventory and offering extra transaction services (Steenkamp & Sloot, 2018).
Supermarkets differ in the way they add value. Three main categories can be applied to depict the way value is added. First, discounter supermarkets, selling for the lowest price while offering less choice, lower quality and service. Second, middle of the road
supermarkets, offering average and slightly above average prices, assortment and services. The final category, premium supermarkets, provides a wide and deep assortment, which is often higher priced and offers a higher level of service (Steenkamp & Sloot, 2018).
The way a supermarket tries to add value over time, is not always experienced in this way by a customer. A supermarket can change practices in several fields in various ways, but the way the customer perceives it remains fixed due to the supermarket brand image receiving a fixed spot in the human brain (Kelley, 1967). A brand is the name, term, design or symbol or any other feature that identifies the sellers goods and services distinct from other seller’s from customer perspective (Kotler, 2016). A brand serves as a network of associations in the mind of a customer (Franzen & Bouwman, 2001). All messages and appeals from any supermarket are judged by the customers based on this fixed position. These messages and appeals can be about lower prices, quality guarantees, assortment adjustments and various other topics.
Next to these type of appeals, an appeal type of growing importance in the grocery retail business is sustainability. On average the trend is that customers are more aware of sustainability in the last decade and judge supermarket brands on this criteria too (Steenkamp & Sloot, 2018). This is why supermarkets try to communicate, next to their price, assortment and quality efforts, their sustainability efforts in order to influence the way the customer perceives them. Recent sustainability efforts of Dutch supermarkets include: Albert Heijn with a campaign showing the roots of their fruit and vegetables (Ahold, 2018), Jumbo
magazine, 2018) and Ekoplaza providing a guarantee that their assortment is for 100% organic (Ekoplaza, 2018).
Every supermarket can present both green consumption and anti-consumption appeals to its customers. Earlier research stated that for companies producing products, presenting sustainability appeals had an effect on how the brand was judged and on the attitude of the customer (Reich & Soule, 2016; Armstrong, Reich & Soule, 2015, Bailey et al., 2016).
However, since a supermarket does not produce a product, but merely sells products produced by other parties, the effect of using the appeals may be different compared to companies both producing and selling products.
2.3 Drivers of Brand attitude
This research investigates the effect of an anti-consumption appeal in supermarkets. When a supermarket presents any appeal towards a customer, it will trigger responses in the brain of the customer affecting his or her attitude.
Attitude is the salient belief of an individual at a given moment in time (Ajzen, 1989). Attitude can be explained by a construct with two main underlying areas active in the human brain. These dimensions are cognition and affection. The cognitive part of the brain deals with intelligence. The affective part deals with emotions. A third underlying part, the conative part, leads to the translation of the other two into actual acting attitude (Simon & Carey, 1998). Brand attitude is the overall evaluation of a brand at a certain moment using the three previously mentioned dimensions. The cognitive component of brand attitude is created by the brand its attributes representation (useful/useless, wise/foolish, safe/unsafe,
beneficial/harmful, valuable/worthless, perfect/imperfect and wholesome/unhealthy).
Furthermore, the emotional brand attitude component is formed by the emotional experience associated with the brand (love/hate, delighter/sad, happy/annoyed, calm/tense, excited/bored, relaxed/angry, acceptance/disgusted and joy/sorrow) (Ajzen, 1989). The more the brand is evaluated in the first of the two options of the presented pairs, the more positive is the brand attitude. The conative brand attitude is the actual behavioral action towards the brand resulting from the internal evaluation of the previous two dimensions (Mitchell & Olson, 1981). The different components of brand attitude can also be summarized to a more general level. General brand attitude is made up of four main components: positive/negative,
2.4 Effect of Anti-Consumption appeals on Brand Attitude
Previous studies on the usage of anti-consumption appeals in different circumstances stated the possibility that anti-consumption appeals are received in the same way as green
consumption appeals (Black & Cherrier, 2010). However, several authors have argued in recent literature that an anti-consumption appeal has a different effect on brand attitude, suggesting various reasons to explain this effect (Garcia-de-frutos et al., 2016; Chatzidakis & Lee, 2013; Armstrong, Soule & Reich, 2015; Reich & Soule 2016; Prothero et al., 2011) This different effect can be explained using attribution theory. Attribution theory considers the process by which customers try to explain the cause of an attitude or received information and thereby creating a judgement (Heider, 1958). The attributed judgement of the customer is based on three kinds of evidence: consensus, distinctiveness and consistency (Kelley, 1967). Next to the three kinds of evidence judgement can also be based on past experience (Kelley, 1967; Linge & Ostrom, 1979). Attributed judgements of customers are considered more diagnostic on positive attitudes and information than on negative attitudes and information (Linge & Ostrom, 1979).
Based on the theory above a customer might not attribute genuine motives for green consumption and anti-consumption appeals by a profit brand such as a supermarket. These appeals are considered as positive acts, which are seen as less diagnostic than negative acts. This is why customers might question the commercial motive of the supermarket launching the appeals and for example expect a for-profit reason. This attribution might cause a negative effect on brand attitude for both of the appeal types (Uhlmann et al., 2015).
Furthermore, because anti-consumption appeals can be seen as more radical since they forbid consumption in a certain category, the attributed interpretation is inconsistent to the way of past consumption experience, leading to a more negative judgement and brand attitude (Kelley, 1967). Hence, an anti-consumption appeal may be interpreted as more shocking leading to a more negative evaluation compared to the more traditional green consumption counterpart (Reich & Soule, 2016).
which might result in a negative attitude towards the supermarket brand presenting the anti-consumption appeal (Finisterra de Paco, 2016).
Furthermore, the more frequent some appeal is shown, the bigger the acceptance of the customer is (Atkinson & Rose, 2014). Anti-consumption appeals are not that common in the past experience of a customer leading to more negative judgement (Linge & Ostrom, 1979). Moreover, due to its distinctiveness, an anti-consumption appeal might be viewed as
surprising and unexpected, leading to suspicion. Suspicion leads to more involved information processing (Schull & Burnstein, 1990; Kelley, 1967). Hence, since anti-consumption appeals are less common, and less in line with expectations, the involved processed information resulted by suspicion might result in a judgement labeled as not genuine, resulting in a negative brand evaluation.
Concluding, because an anti-consumption appeal in a commercial context is perceived as radical, less genuine, less trustable, less credible, more surprising, is observed less
frequently relative to a green consumption appeal, the attributed judgement will be more negative and similarly the brand attitude is expected to be more negative. Based on the arguments above the following hypothesis is derived:
H1: An anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green-consumption appeal) has a negative effect on brand attitude.
2.5 Supermarket Brand concepts & associated values
2.5.1 Brand concept. Discussed before was the expected negative effect of anti-consumption
appeals (relative to green consumption appeals) on brand attitude. However, missing up to this point in the literature is the role of a company its associated brand concept presenting the anti-consumption appeal. Whenever a customer evaluates certain new information about a brand, they use earlier information about that brand to do this, shaping a brand concept
(Torelli, 2012). A brand concept can be defined as the associated profile of a brand, giving it a specific position in the mind of the customer (Park et al., 1991). These brand concepts can directly trigger related values and goals without being aware (Chartrand et al., 2008).
2.5.2 Values. The above can be further grounded by earlier research of Schwartz
(1992) on human values which stated that the beliefs about anything, which people hold are the result of ten different value types reflecting the abstract desired goals. This research presented the ten values divided in different groups, all within one big circle. When value types are not in the same group, they clash and cause motivational conflict. Two values in different groups cannot be pursued at the same time, pursuing one inhibits the one from the other group (Schwartz, 1992). On the other hand, values in the same group are mutually compatible with each other and result in discomfort (Majo et al., 2009).
These ten human values have four underlying highest order type of values, which can be divided in two pairs contrasting each other. The first contrasting pair consists of self-enhancement values and self-transcendence values. Self-self-enhancement values are associated with obtaining power over others and striving for wealth and ambitions. On the other edge, self-transcendence values are linked to equal welfare for everyone. The second contrasting pair consists of conservative values and openness values. Conservative values are associated with striving for the status quo. Conservative goals are keeping traditions in place and maintaining security. Openness values are associated with excitement, open-mindedness, progressiveness. The goals linked to this value type are always forward-looking and directed in uncertain directions (Torelli, 2012).
When the above pairs of high order values clash, an error is caused in the brain of an individual because they cannot be linked (Schwartz, 1992). If it does happen in a certain situation that the two contrasting value types are activated simultaneously, it results in an uncomfortable experience for the individual resulting in disfluency. The experience of disfluency triggers a negative motivation and attitude of the individual towards whatever presents the two opposing values (Labroo & Lee, 2006).
2.6 Moderating effect of supermarket brand concepts
Conservative and openness value concepts can also be linked to different type of supermarket brands. For instance, traditional supermarkets may be linked mainly to a conservative brand concept. This category includes discount and middle of the road type of supermarkets and they are continuously trying to maintain the status quo. On the other hand, other supermarkets which are different and forward-looking and focus on sustainability might be associated with the openness concept. These supermarkets are exiting in their sense of newness and at the same time face a lot of uncertainty in the first mover direction they are taking in being as green as they are. Furthermore, they are open-minded and caring for society in terms of business and in their attempt to preserve the climate (Torreli, 2012).
This leads to the proposition that supermarkets with an associated conservative brand concept, presenting anti-consumption or green consumption appeals (associated with
openness by customers), will create a motivational conflict for customers. Triggering these opposing values causes discomfort leading to disfluency and will, therefore, result in a more negative brand evaluation (Verplanken & Holland, 2002). The two simultaneously activated values by the brand cannot be pursued at the same time (Labroo & Lee, 2006).
The associated value distance between a conservative brand concept and an anti-consumption appeal is bigger relative to a green anti-consumption appeal. Anti-anti-consumption appeals on meat insist customers not to consume meat at all, which is associated extremely with openness values and breaking with traditions and status quo (García-de-Frutos et al., 2016). Green consumption appeals are associated with openness values, however, less
extreme relative to anti-consumption appeals, since the customer is only encouraged to switch to green meat. Green consumption appeals still allows consumption in the same product category (Chatzidakis & Lee, 2013). This leads to the proposition that the negative attitude effect is expected to be even stronger for an anti-consumption appeal, relative to a green consumption appeal, applied for a supermarket with a conservative brand concept. Stated formally:
H2: A conservative supermarket brand concept (relative to an openness brand
concept) will strengthen the negative effect of an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude.
2.7 Conceptual Model
the effect of supermarket brand concept. Therefore, several hypotheses were presented which are visually represented in a conceptual model (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Conceptual model
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Design & Participants
For this research an online experiment is used in order to investigate the effect of presenting an anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeal) on an individual customer its brand attitude, moderated by the effect of supermarket brand concept. The current experiment extends the research on anti-consumption appeals in different contexts as was required according to previous studies (Reich & Soule, 2016; Chatzidakis & Lee, 2013). Customers associate different brand concepts with different values on which they evaluate the brands according to earlier experiments (Torelli, 2012). Therefore, a distinction between conservative and openness supermarket brand concepts is made.
The appeal type used (anti-consumption appeal or green consumption appeal) serving as the independent variable and the supermarket brand concept (conservative or openness) as the moderator variable. Brand attitude is the dependent variable.
3.2 Procedure and manipulations
The respondents were randomly distributed across the four conditions. They were asked to conduct the experiment on their smartphone or computer at their own pace. At the start, presented information stated that it would take on average 10 minutes to complete the survey and that the anonymity of the participant would be assured (Appendix D). When the
respondent had read this and agreed to participate, the experiment started. Respondents were told before the main study started that they had to evaluate a potential new advertisement appeal of a supermarket of a supermarket chain willing to move to the Netherlands. The chosen supermarket brand for presenting the two appeals was the Canadian chain ‘Loblaws’. It was expected that participants were not familiar with the brand and that earlier encounters with the chain could not interfere with the evaluation. Furthermore, the design images used included in the appeals were neutral, not signaling a particular brand concept, making sure the respondents were not biased.
Before the respondents had to evaluate an appeal, the respondents had to read a general description of the supermarket (Appendix A). It was told to the respondents that this served as background information, in reality serving as a brand concept manipulation (Torelli, 2012). However, the texts were written in a similar structure with a similar word count, they differed to the extent in which keywords were chosen to describe the supermarket. In the first text, presented to half of the respondents (group 1 and 2), conservative value concepts were used to describe Loblaws as a conservative brand. The second half of the respondents, had to read a text including openness value concepts, describing Loblaws as an openness brand (group 3 and 4).
Thereafter, the respondents had to answer two attention check questions. Furthermore, respondents had to complete a form on control variables and they had to complete some demographic questions. An additional section on human values was included in which the respondents had to rate their own personal values. Finally, the respondents were thanked for participating in the experiment.
3.3 Measures
Several measures are conducted in order to obtain the required information of the respondents.
General brand attitude. A 4-item scale measuring general brand attitude on a 1 to 7 scale was used (good, interesting, attractive, positive) to measure general brand attitude (Boerman et al., 2012, Reich & Soule, 2016).
Cognitive brand attitude. To measure the customer brand attitude in detail, the cognitive component of attitude as a result of the appeal presented by the brand is measured using several 1 (useless, foolish, unsafe, harmful, worthless, distrust, imperfect and unhealthy) to 7 (useful, wise, safe, beneficial, valuable, trust, perfect and wholesome) scales (Ajzen, 1989).
Emotional brand attitude. the emotional brand attitude component is measured by the respondent its reported emotional experience associated with the brand using multiple 1 (hate, sad, annoyed, tense, bored, angry, disgusted and sorrow) to 7 (love, delighted, happy, calm, excited, relaxed, acceptance and joy) scales (Ajzen, 1989).
Furthermore, in this research several exploratory measures are included in order to control for potential variables having influence on the effect of an anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeals) on brand attitude.
Green affection. Different customers have a different level of green affection. Those
customers with a high green affection, caring about environmental friendly activities, might react more positive on anti-consumption appeals because they are involved in protecting the earth (Grimmer and Woolley, 2014; Bailey et al., 2016; Reich & Soule, 2016; Bickart & Ruth, 2016). This involvement might influence brand attitude. Hence, making it important to control for green affection. The green affection is tested using an 5-item scale which measures on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree) scale in the end aggregated into one
component (Cordano et al., 2003).
attitude towards the brand. Somebody eating meat daily might react more negative towards a brand insisting them to eat less meat. On the other hand, a vegetarian might react more
positive towards the initiative of anti-consumption since he or she already stopped consuming meat. The answer scale reaches from 0 to 7.
Gender. The demographic variable gender is tested because it might have an influence on the effect of an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude. Women may care more about the environment because it might be considered as something feminine to act green and care for sustainability (Brough et al., 2012).
Age. The demographic variable age is tested because older customers might react different to the appeals than younger customers.
Education & Working situation. The demographic variables education and working situation are included since they might have an effect on the relationships studied in the current research. Higher educated people having a job might react more favorable to anti-consumption appeals than lower educated and unemployed people.
Schwartz values. An individual with traditional values might view anti-consumption appeals more negative than an individual with open values. Therefore, a control variable measuring one's most and least important personal values is included as a control variable. This will be measured using a 21- item, 8-point scale on the Schwartz values, grouping them in four value groups afterwards (Schwartz, 1992).
Attention check. The attention check item is measured asking the respondent whether the Loblaws appeal included the word ‘organic’ or the word ‘less’. Moreover, the respondent is asked at the end whether the supermarket text includes a bold highlighted word stating conservative or open.
3.4 Data Analysis
The data is analyzed taking various steps, starting with a pre-test.
Pre-test. First, the independent variable (first manipulation: green consumption appeal vs anti-consumption appeal) and the moderator variable (second manipulation: conservative brand concept vs openness brand concept) are tested using a test (Appendix C). The pre-test is conducted in order to understand if the actual pre-test is clear and if manipulations are understood as should. Furthermore, it tests whether the difference between the conditions is big enough.
are rated for each condition. Furthermore, 30 respondents have to rate two statements about a green consumption advertisement and 30 respondents have to rate two statements about an anti-consumption advertisement, both on a 7-point Likert scale.
To test the if the difference between the two conditions in both manipulations is big enough a One-way ANOVA is performed. In both cases the manipulation is significantly different. The conservative brand concept condition is significantly different from the
openness brand concept condition, F(1,29) = 63,020, p = 0,001. The mean of the conservative brand concept condition is way lower compared to the openness brand concept condition (conservative: M = 1,49, SD = 0,85, openness: M = 6,47, SD = 0,78). The green consumption appeal condition differ significantly from the anti-consumption appeal condition, F(1,29) = 22,416, p = 0,001. The mean of the green consumption appeal condition is lower than the mean of the anti-consumption appeal condition (anti-consumption: M = 6,78, SD = 0,49, green consumption: M = 1,42, SD = 0,74). Furthermore, the pre-test tests if respondents knew Loblaws before the experiment. The pre-test results show that none of the respondents knew the brand beforehand.
Factor and reliability analysis. Next, the dependent variable is checked on reliability by testing whether the same underlying construct, brand attitude, is measured by the sub-items under cognitive, emotional brand attitude and general brand attitude. The same is done for the control variable green affection, since in many previous studies of sustainable appeals this covariate had a significant influence on results. This is done by conducting a factor analysis and by checking whether Cronbach’s alpha is higher than 0.7. Afterwards, new variables can be created based on the mean scores of the variables.
Variable analysis. After the reliability and factor analysis the following variables are used for analyses. The independent variable (dummy: green consumption appeal 0, anti-consumption appeal 1), the dependent variable (means of cognitive brand attitude, emotional brand attitude and general brand attitude) and the moderator variable (dummy: conservative 0, openness 1). To calculate the interaction effect of the moderator on the effect of appeal type on brand attitude, a 2-way ANOVA analysis is conducted. This test is conducted three times to test for general, cognitive and emotional brand attitude as the dependent variable.
4. DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Descriptive statistics
In total, 293 respondents participated in the experiment of which 230 completed the full survey and 49 failed the attention check. This reduces the total sample to 181 respondents. When examining the data, no outliers are detected. This is caused by the predefined range of answering possibilities. The question that asked for age written in numbers of years is the only open question, not leading to outliers.
Table 2: Descriptive statistics
Variable Count Percentage
Age # % <20 43 23,75 21tm25 113 62,43 26tm30 9 4,97 31tm40 4 2,21 41> 12 6,63 Gender # % Male 88 48,6 Female 93 51,4 Highest finished education # % Primary school 0 0 Secondary school 73 40,3 MBO 5 2,8 HBO 20 11 University bachelor 44 24,3 University master 38 21 University PhD 1 0,6 Working situation # %
Full time employed 40 22,1
Studying 79 43,6
Employed & Studying 55 30,4
Unemployed 5 2,8
Retired 2 1,1
Meat consumption (days
pw) # % 0 19 10,5 1 10 5,5 2 17 9,4 3 28 15,5 4 23 12,7 5 23 12,7 6 29 16 7 32 17,7 4.2 Scales review
4.2.1 Factor Analysis. The survey consists of several items, of which some belong to the
First, a KMO test is conducted. The KMO test reveals high suitability for factorability. The KMO score is 0,933 which is higher than the threshold of 0,6. The Barlett’s test of
sphericity provides a significance level of 0,000 which is lower than 0,05 and holds
(Appendix E). After these criteria are met, a principal component analysis is conducted. The communalities of the items are all above 0,4 with a minimal value of 0,622 (Appendix F). Hence, the 24 items are in line with the criteria making them applicable for factorability.
The total variance explained by each factor is represented by the eigenvalues. Only eigenvalues larger than one were kept. This results in a number of 4 extracted factors that represent more than 60% (74,003%) percent of the total variance. Appendix G (rotated factor matrix using VARIMAX procedure) shows that all items belong to the desired factors. Hence, it can be concluded that the items can be successfully reduced to four factors: general brand attitude, cognitive brand attitude, emotional brand attitude and green affection.
4.2.2 Reliability. Next, the scales are tested on internal consistency. The scales
measuring green affection, cognitive brand attitude, emotional brand attitude and general brand attitude are tested using Cronbach's Alpha (table 3). All of the Cronbach’s Alpha values are above 0,6 which indicates internal consistency standards are met. Deleting items can not result in higher Cronbach’s Alpha values.
Table 3 also shows the number of items, mean, standard deviation and correlation coefficients per scale. The means reported that the average scores on the brand attitude variables were all between 3,5 and 4,5, so close to each other. The correlation coefficients indicate high correlations among the brand attitude related variables, which implicates perfect ascending linear relations. These strong correlations can be explained due to the fact that different forms of brand attitude are measured, but are all close to the concept brand attitude. The smaller correlations of green affection with the dependent variables suggests their relation is weaker and not linear. All standards are met which means the hypotheses can be tested.
Table 3: Number of items, Cronbach’s Alpha, Mean, SD and Correlation table
Nr. of
items α Mean SD General
Cognitive brand attitude Emotional brand attitude Green affection
General brand attitude 4 0,915 3,66 1,4 1
Cognitive brand
attitude 8 0,941 4,28 1,52 0,693 1
Emotional brand
attitude 7 0,941 4,29 1,36 0,778 0,778 1
4.3 Hypotheses testing
4.3.1 Assumptions for 2-way ANOVA. Earlier in this research the hypotheses were
presented. To test the hypotheses, 2-way ANOVA tests are performed. This test tests if the factors have an overall effect on the dependent variables. In order to conduct a 2-way ANOVA, six assumptions have to hold, which is the case in the current research. The dependent variable has to be measured at a continuous level which holds. Second, the independent variables need to be categorical, which holds too. Next, there should be an independence of observations, indicating that every respondent can only participate in one group, which suits to the research design. Fourth, there should be no significant outliers, which holds after examining the distribution. Furthermore, the dependent variable has to be normally distributed for each combination of the groups of the two independent variables. After a Shapiro-Wilk test for normality is conducted, there can be concluded based on a significant 0,005 (<0,05) score that the assumption holds. The final assumption is
homogeneity of variances in each of the groups. Hence, a Levene’s test for homogeneity is conducted, providing a significant test score of 0,001 (<0,05), which indicates the assumption holds.
4.3.2 Hypotheses testing. In order to examine the effect of appeal type and
supermarket brand concept on brand attitude a 2 (anti-consumption appeal vs. green
consumption appeal) x 2 (conservative supermarket brand concept vs. openness supermarket brand concept) ANOVA is conducted. This 2-way ANOVA test is conducted three times, for general brand attitude, cognitive brand attitude and emotional brand attitude respectively. The results of these tests are summarized in table 4.
Table 4: 2-way ANOVA results summary
df Mean Square F p η²p
General brand attitude
Appealtype 1 0,404 0,208 0,649 0,001
Appealtype*Supermarketbrandconcept 1 8,244 4,244 0,041 0,023
Cognitive brand attitude
Appealtype 1 2,784 1,626 0,204 0,009
Appealtype*Supermarketbrandconcept 1 1,471 0,859 0,355 0,005
Emotional brand attitude
Appealtype 1 6,659 3,724 0,055 0,021
Since the table shows the interaction of appeal type (anti-consumption vs. green consumption) and supermarket brand concept (conservative vs. openness) has a significant effect on general brand attitude (relative to cognitive and emotional brand attitude), it is decided to focus on this type of brand attitude in the remainder of this chapter.
The main effect of appeal type on general brand attitude is insignificant, F(1,177) = 0,298, p = 0,649, η²p = 0,001). Additionally, the interaction effect (appeal type*supermarket brand concept) on general brand attitude is significant, F(1,177) = 4,244, p = 0,041, η²p = 0,023.
A contrast analysis is used to decompose the significant effect of the interaction. Results show that presenting an anti-consumption appeal in a conservative supermarket brand concept context (M = 3,660, SD = 0,213) does lead to a lower mean brand attitude, than a green consumption appeal presented in a conservative brand concept context (M = 5,016, SD = 0,201; F(1,177) = 31,976, p < 0,001, η²p = 0,153, CImean-differences = [-2,233, -1.078]). A green consumption appeal presented in an openness brand concept context (M = 4,681, SD = 0,195) is evaluated more positive relative to an anti-consumption appeal presented in a openness supermarket brand concept context (M = 3,885, SD = 0,223; F(1,177) = 7,220, p = 0,008, η²p = 0,039, CImean-differences [-1,382, -0,212]). When the means are compared it can be stated that anti-consumption appeals lead to a lower brand attitude in a conservative brand concept context, compared to an openness brand concept context. Additionally, a green consumption appeal presented in an openness brand concept context leads to a lower mean brand attitude than a green consumption appeal presented in a conservative brand concept context. Figure 1 visually shows the scores on general brand attitude per appeal type moderated by supermarket brand concept.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Openness Conservative
Figure 1. Scores of general brand attitude per appealtype and supermarket brand concept
4.3.3 Results summary. The above leads to the conclusion that hypothesis 1 can be
rejected. An anti-consumption appeal (relative to a green consumption appeal) does not have a significant negative effect on brand attitude. However, there can be concluded that
hypothesis 2 is accepted. A conservative supermarket brand concept (relative to an openness brand concept) will strengthen the negative effect of an anti-consumption appeal on a
customer its brand attitude. The results are visually summarized in table 5.
Table 5: Hypotheses summary
4.3.4 Control variables. The control variables (green affection, meat consumption,
age, gender, working condition, education and language) are individually included in the 2-way ANOVA analysis on general brand attitude, to test for their potential effect on the model (Appendix H). One of the tested variables is the control variable green affection, which is highlighted individually since it had influence in a lot of earlier researches in the field of sustainable appeals. The test results show an insignificant effect of green affection on general brand attitude, F(1,177) = 1,322, p = 0,161, η²p = 0,162. Hence, the above indicates that the control variable green affection does not predict the general attitude towards the brand. In line with the described potential confound above, the remaining control variables did not have a significant effect on the dependent variable.
4.4 Additional analyses
1992). A correction is made for individual differences in ratings of the 21-item response scale to ensure a correct analysis, resulting in a centered score for the 10 human values.
A correlation matrix is created to examine the correlations between the human values and general brand attitude (Appendix I). The majority of values does not correlate well with general brand attitude, showing correlations close to 0 at an insignificant level. However, the human values: self-direction (0,126) and stimulation (0,152), show a small positive
correlation with general brand attitude, indicating that a higher score on a value is in line with a slightly more positive general brand attitude. These human values are significant at a 5% level. The human value universalism (-0,206) shows a small negative correlation with general brand attitude, indicating that a higher score on universalism aligns with a slightly lower general brand attitude. Universalism is also significant at a 5% level.
Surprisingly, self-direction and stimulation together underlie one of the four higher order type of human values: openness to change. When examining the correlation of self-direction and stimulation it showed a positive medium correlation (0,240) between the two human values. Because of these positive correlations with each other and with general brand attitude a new variable is created on the average of self-direction and stimulation, called: openness to change. This serves as interesting additional element of research since the higher order human value, openness to change, partially overlaps content wise with an openness supermarket brand concept. Openness to change values might strengthen the effect of an openness brand concept on brand attitude.
An additional 2-way ANOVA is performed to explore the effect of openness to change values on the relation of supermarket brand concept on general brand attitude. The interaction effect (openness to change*supermarket brand concept) on general brand attitude is
insignificant, F(1,180) = 1,460, p = 0,167, η²p = 0,556. Hence, having a high score on openness to change values in an openness brand concept context has no effect on general brand attitude.
5. DISCUSSION
5.1 Main findings
brand attitude is, moderated by supermarket brand concept. The results offered interesting insights.
The main question served as the starting point for an extension of earlier findings about the effect of presenting an anti-consumption appeal relative to a green consumption appeal on the attitude towards a brand (Reich & Soule, 2016). Earlier research shows that presenting the anti-consumption appeal to respondents results in a significantly more negative brand attitude. However, the current research reports that when an anti-consumption appeal is presented (relative to a green consumption appeal), the effect on brand attitude is
insignificant. An earlier study on presenting anti-consumption appeals, did like the current research its result state, that the average brand attitude would not be significantly different relative to presenting a green consumption appeal (Black & Cherrier, 2010). The majority of earlier research disagrees on this (Reich & Soule, 2016; Chatzidakis & Lee, 2013; García-de-Frutos et al., 2016). The insignificant effect of the current research can potentially be
explained by the different context. The current research tests for supermarket meat appeals, which implicates that the company presenting the appeal does not produce the product, compared to previous researches (Sloot, 2018; Finisterra do Paço 2012).
When including supermarket brand concept as a moderator variable on the relation between appeal type and brand attitude, the effect is significant. The effect of presenting an anti-consumption appeal on brand attitude is on average more negative when presented in a conservative supermarket brand concept context (relative to an openness brand concept context). This is in line with earlier research describing that the associated value distance between a conservative brand concept and an anti-consumption appeal is bigger relative to the value distance between an openness brand concept and an anti-consumption appeal (Torreli, 2012). The respondents experienced discomfort since the associated values of an
anti-consumption appeal and a conservative brand concept were extremely distant from each other, leading to a negative evaluation of a brand (Verplanken & Holland, 2002; Labroo & Lee, 2006).
Surprisingly, the brand attitude of respondents seeing a green consumption appeal in a conservative brand concept context, was even more positive than in an openness context, which was not in line with earlier literature (Torelli, 2012). Since a green consumption appeal (not as extreme as an anti-consumption appeal) is associated with openness values, the
changing the value distance. Customers might be aware of the aim of anti-consumption appeals attempting to limit their category consumption. Consequently, green consumption appeals allowing them to keep consuming the way they did, suddenly feels way more conservative. Green consumption does not stop the environmental problem of meat
overconsumption of customers since it only shifts, but does not insist the customer to limit total category consumption (García-de-Frutos et al., 2016).
The control variables did not have significant influence on the model of the current research. According to previous research, green affection was expected to have effect on the relation of presenting sustainable appeal types on brand attitude (Reich & Soule, 2016; Cervellon, 2013; Bickert & Ruth, 2012). The respondents with a high level of green affection might have considered the presented appeals as their status quo consumption style, hence not making an impact on their attitude towards a brand (García-de-Frutos et al., 2016). Another explanation might be that people scoring higher on green affection are more skeptical towards green appeals, changing their attitude concerning brands (Finisterra do Paço, 2012).
An additional analysis explores if the interaction of openness to change values and supermarket brand concept has an effect on brand attitude. This effect is insignificant. Potentially, respondents with a high score on openness to change values are more critical in their opinion about commercial institutions in their belief of progressiveness, causing a negative attitude to any appeal presented by a commercial organization (Finisterra do Paço, 2012).
Finally, as stated at the very beginning of this research, anti-consumption appeals are effective in order to protect the environment and life on earth by limiting consumption. However, anti-consumption appeals lead to a more negative attitude in every supermarket brand concept context, relative to a green consumption appeal. Although the above findings contribute to the anti-consumption literature, more research on the topic is required in order to discover a context in which an anti-consumption appeal leads to positive brand attitude, allowing both companies and the earth to benefit.
5.2 Academic contribution
The following section describes in which way the current research contributes to academic literature.
current research tests the effect of anti-consumption appeals on brand attitude in a context that had not been tested before in anti-consumption literature: supermarkets.
Second, this study has an academic contribution serving as a theoretical extension to the research of Reich & Soule (2016). Their research explored the effect of appeal type on brand attitude moderated by environmental concern. The authors requested for more research on the effect of appeal types on brand attitude influenced by different moderator variables. The current study includes a new moderator: supermarket brand concept. This added new moderator variable compared to the earlier research serves a foundation for academics to further expand the range of variables potentially influencing the relation between appeal types and brand attitude.
Next to testing for the effect of a new moderator, the current research serves as an extension to the research of Reich & Soule (2016) by enhancing its overall generalizability. The current research tests a different group of respondents in a different continent.
Furthermore, the current research is conducted in a different time, realizing up to date results.
5.3 Managerial contribution
The current research provides a guideline for marketing managers, showing in which direction the company has to move if they are willing to act really sustainable (by launching
anti-consumption appeals) with their business without being evaluated very negative by
customers. Even though, marketing managers and their created appeals are often considered as tools to merely raise demand, more and more managers and brands, are signaling the potential dangers of overconsumption on the long term (McKinsey, 2010). This research can show them which associated goals and values belong to a brand with an openness brand concept so they can try to reflect these values through their own brand, in order to reach the openness status in the eyes of the customers. If the brand has reached this high associated openness level, the manager is ready to launch an anti-consumption appeal. By being an openness brand according to the customer, the losses of launching anti-consumption appeals are minimized, since presenting anti-consumption appeals in an openness brand concept context leads to a more positive brand attitude than in a conservative brand concept context.
sustainability efforts are no longer only serving a niche. This can make the supermarket manager decide to invest more in their sustainable appeals.
5.4 Limitations
In the following section, three methodological limitations and two theoretical limitations are discussed.
First of all, the respondents had to answer a double attention check question (one question consisting of two sub-questions). Of the respondents 49 failed this question. This resulted in a loss of potential interesting data. This large number might be due to the fact that the attention check question was too detailed. Based on the large amount of removed
respondents a possibility is that more respondents (next to the 49 that failed) have guessed the attention question and had it right. This might have had influence on the reliability of the results of the experiment.
Next, a methodological limitation considers the strength of the manipulation. The wording of the manipulation concerning the two appeals was adapted to the manipulation used in the previous research (Reich & Soule, 2016). This manipulation was used in America facing American respondents. The exaggerated and direct wording used in the American appeals might not have been representative for the current research, involving a majority of Dutch respondents. This might have resulted in a change in brand attitude not caused by the appeal type.
Finally, a methodological limitation can be mentioned considering of the green affection scale (Cordano et al., 2003). The scale has been used to measure environmental involvement in history but the scale is 15 years old. For certain topics, like attitude and values, older scales still tend to be useful since these concepts remain more stable over time. However, since over the last few years research and awareness considering sustainability is developing rapidly a more recent and elaborate scale could have been applied for a more detailed, up-to-date measurement for the variable (Bickart & Ruth, 2012; Finisterra do Paço 2012; Bailey et al., 2016).
A theoretical limitation that has to be discussed is concerning the concept of green consumption appeals. Most reviewed literature on green consumption appeals of the last decade views this concept as being a sustainable consumption appeal. Considering the fact that it helps people to shift to for example organic meat, this is partially true. Even though the current research does mention that anti-consumption appeals lead to less category
more critical, well-grounded section on the non-sustainable side of green consumption appeals could have been added serving as an interesting alternative viewpoint on appeals.
A second theoretical limitation concerns the explanation why a supermarket
presenting appeals would result in a different level of brand attitude compared to a brand that both produces and directly sells a product. The minimal discovered amount of earlier
literature explaining this mentioned difference in the literature section makes the rationale for the different expected effect thin. This results in a section in the literature review that is less well-grounded compared to the rest of the chapter.
5.5 Suggestions for future research
In the following section, three suggestions for future research are presented.
First, following from the current research result that green consumption appeals lead to a more positive brand attitude in a conservative brand concept context (relative to an openness brand concept context), the question is raised whether a green consumption appeal is still associated with looking forward and progressiveness. This serves as an interesting opening for future research which can potentially create an experiment in which people have to examine certain green consumption appeals and rate to what extent they associate it with sustainability. It can also test how the customer perceives it relative to an anti-consumption appeal: conservative or open.
Second, future research can extend the theory on anti-consumption appeals by testing in different countries. Different cultures can lead to a different reaction to these kind of appeals. Since the anti-consumption appeals tested were focused on meat (because it is a main cause of global warming), the reaction to the appeal can also differ to the extent that meat is important in a culture (Harris, 1994). Taking this in consideration, future research can try to explore a tailored approach to realize a maximum acceptance level of anti-consumption appeals per culture on meat in order to maximize their effectiveness.
Third, additionally to the current model, future research can potentially elaborate the current study by including an extra moderator. An optional moderator could be an
individualistic written appeal versus a collectivistic written appeal. Depending on the
