Don’t let fashion go to waste; pro-environmental
behaviour in fashion
By
SUSANNE VERMAAS
University of Groningen
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Don’t let fashion
go to waste;
pro-environmental
behaviour in
fashion
December, 2013
.Abstract: The research of this thesis has as a goal to systematically study the differences between persuasion conditions and pro-environmental behaviour in the fashion industry, c.q. with regard to their customers. Furthermore, I studied whether these effects are moderated by personal biospheric values. A new marketing trend has emerged where customers are encouraged to hand in old garments for CSR practices. However, where one company uses moral appeals to persuade customers to behave pro-environmental, other companies focus on the monetary value for the customer. A combined appeal, using both moral and monetary incentives to encourage customers is also tested. Based on literature I expect to find combined persuasion being the most effective, followed by moral persuasion and monetary persuasion. However, participants with high biospheric values are expected to prefer moral appeals over the combined condition. I also studied the effects of persuasion conditions on attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. A laboratory experiment is applied in which a simple pro-environmental action is promoted: handing in the brought garments. Participants were persuaded to hand in their brought garments, in which either monetary, moral, or combined appeals were used. Even though we did not find all expected outcomes, this thesis has created plentiful input for future studies. This laboratory experiment shows that marketing departments in fashion should focus on communicating a clear message to the target customer and also stimulate customers to read the advertisement. Furthermore, in contrast to expectations, altruistic and hedonic personal values yielded to be significant in some of the persuasion conditions. In sum, this first attempt of studying the effects of persuasion drivers considering pro-environmental behaviour within the fashion industry has revealed interesting implications for practice as well as motivating outcomes for further research.
Supervisors: Dr. M. Leliveld, Dr. J.W. Bolderdijk Research theme: Pro-environmental behaviour Key words: pro-environmental behaviour, persuasion drivers, moral appeals, monetary appeals, brand loyalty, personal values, biospheric values, corporate social responsibility, fashion. Master Thesis 2012-2013
Faculty of Economics and Business
University of Groningen MSc BA – Marketing Management
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Abstract
The research of this thesis has as a goal to systematically study the differences between persuasion conditions and pro-environmental behaviour in the fashion industry, c.q. with regard to their customers. Furthermore, I studied whether these effects are moderated by personal biospheric values. A new marketing trend has emerged where customers are encouraged to hand in old garments for CSR practices. However, where one company uses moral appeals to persuade customers to behave pro-environmental, other companies focus on the monetary value for the customer. A combined appeal, using both moral and monetary incentives to encourage customers is also tested. Based on literature I expect to find combined persuasion being the most effective, followed by moral persuasion and monetary persuasion. However, participants with high biospheric values are expected to prefer moral appeals over the combined condition. I also studied the effects of persuasion conditions on attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. A laboratory experiment is applied in which a simple pro-environmental action is promoted: handing in the brought garments. Participants were persuaded to hand in their brought garments, in which either monetary, moral, or combined appeals were used. Even though we did not find all expected outcomes, this thesis has created plentiful input for future studies. This laboratory experiment shows that marketing departments in fashion should focus on communicating a clear message to the target customer and also stimulate customers to read the advertisement. Furthermore, in contrast to expectations, altruistic and hedonic personal values yielded to be significant in some of the persuasion conditions. In sum, this first attempt of studying the effects of persuasion drivers considering pro-environmental behaviour within the fashion industry has revealed interesting implications for practice as well as motivating outcomes for further research.
Key words: pro-environmental behaviour, persuasion drivers, moral appeals, monetary appeals, brand loyalty, personal values, biospheric values, corporate social responsibility, fashion.
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Table of Contents
Don’t let fashion go to waste; pro-environmental behaviour in fashion ... 5
Previous research on moral and monetary appeals ... 7
How this paper extends current research ... 8
The firms’ perspective; Corporate Social Responsibility ... 10
I. Persuasion drivers ... 11
II. Personal (biospheric) values ... 14
III. Brand loyalty... 17
Method ... 19
Experimental design ... 19
Participants ... 20
Advertisements; the stimuli ... 20
Procedure ... 22
The survey ... 23
Results ... 24
Control analysis ... 24
I. Persuasion driver effects ... 26
II. Personal values; moderating effects ... 28
III. Brand Loyalty effects ... 29
Discussion ... 31
I. Persuasion drivers ... 32
II. Personal Values ... 34
III. Brand loyalty... 35
Managerial recommendations ... 35
Further research ... 36
References ... 37
Appendix ... 42
Appendix A: Advertisements used in the experiment ... 42
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Don’t let fashion go to waste;
pro-environmental behaviour in fashion
Within the fashion industry, a new marketing trend has emerged where customers are encouraged to hand in old garments. Popular labels like H&M, C&A and Kuyichi are major founders of this type of marketing within the fashion industry. H&M for example is focusing on the environment; old garments are being reused as second hand clothing, reused as other products, recycled into new fashion or even used for energy production. In this campaign, moral appeals are used to persuade customers to exhibit pro-environmental behaviour. H&M promotes pro-environmental behaviour by referring to sustainability; the conservation of life through valuing ecological balance (Brown, 2010). Macintosh retail group (a Dutch shoe company red.) alternatively, focuses on the monetary value for the customer; ‘your old shoes are worth 10€’. This money has to be used for a future purchase at this particular store. In fact, the use of monetary appeals is fairly common among marketers when promoting pro-environmental behaviour (World Wildlife Fund, 2008). Hence, focusing on either moral values (H&M) or monetary values (Macintosh retail group) to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour are used alternately in marketing campaigns among different fashion companies. Yet, it is questionable which persuasion driver (frame) is most effective.
6 | P a g e Fashion campaigns in which pro-environmental behaviour is stimulated, like collecting old garments, are not accidental. The interest in environmental issues is growing quickly (Collins et al, 2007; Verhoef, 2005). Consumer awareness of pressing societal issues, like climate change, working conditions, the financial crisis and so on is increasing. Such societal issues and the resulting public pressure (media attention) directed at the fashion industryamplified the urge for companies to involve corporate social responsibility (CSR) within their marketing campaigns. Fashion firms are increasingly attributing to environmental protection and sustainability in order to improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) profile (Kozlowski, Bardecki and Searcy, 2012). CSR can be defined as ‘actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law’ (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). Collecting old garments, especially through campaigns of the moral persuasive type, can be qualified as CSR, since it is a campaign which assumes to do some good for society (stimulate pro-environmental behaviour) without being it obligatory by law. The monetary persuasion type campaign however, still assumes to do some good for society but the company is benefitting from it at the same time. Specifically, a gift card (monetary value) triggers future sales, as the costs of a single purchase is presumably higher than the value of the gift card. Thus, environmentally speaking, fashion companies are aware of their responsibility and use it at the same time to boost their marketing strategy. Hence, companies actively seek to improve future purchase intentions from their target customer base.
7 | P a g e Acting pro-environmental for the sake of the environment (moral persuasion) may allow people to experience internal benefits which feed short-term self-interest in another way (Bolderdijk et al, 2012). Accordingly, it is debatable which type of persuasion driver is best to use when it comes to enhancing pro-environmental behaviour in the fashion industry. A combination of both persuasion drivers could also be the most effective approach.
Moreover, pressing societal issues and its related marketing campaigns can ultimately be attributed to specific behaviour of individuals (Bolderdijk, 2010). As such, the chosen type of persuasion within the marketing campaign can influence consumers’ behaviour in a different manner. Furthermore, people have different perspectives about societal issues and also attach different values to these thoughts. According to previous research, personal values influence behaviour. When encountering an odd situation not knowing what to do, people will base their behaviour on the values that they consider most important (Steg et al, 2012). Previous research shows that biospheric values are the strongest predictors of pro-environmental behaviour (De Groot & Steg, 2008, Nilsson et al, 2004). Individual consumers can have different personal perceptions and knowledge of biospheric values, causing different reactions to campaigns and its persuasion drivers. So, echoing on previous research, this thesis will also measure biospheric values to search for individual differences. To that end I constructed the following research question;
Research question
What are the effects of persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour, and are these moderated by personal biospheric values?
Previous research on moral and monetary appeals
8 | P a g e Furthermore, the preference was more apparent when self-focus was activated. Self-focus can be defined as the attentiveness to one’s inner state, personal history or any other aspect of oneself (Fransen et al, 2009). That is, there was a stronger difference when phrased appeals were connected directly to the self; ‘Do you care about your finances/the environment? Check your tire pressure’. By doing so, the link between compliance and the self was made apparent to the participants.
The study of Bolderdijk et al. provides support for the theory that compliance with persuasive appeals has internal consequences; they do or do not allow people to feel good about themselves. These internal consequences may determine whether people comply with appeals. Summarizing, he found that moral appeals do, and monetary appeals do not allow people to preserve the moral self-concept.
Monetary appeals create an economic mind set of analysing the additional costs and benefits, whereas moral appeals do not. When this economic mind set fits your personality it is satisfactory, however it could also harm people’s self-concept. Specifically, agreement with monetary appeals can be perceived as a risk for the moral self-concept, which could even render such appeals counterproductive. An example of this counter productivity of monetary appeals is the change in persuasive drivers of donating blood in the UK. Traditionally moral persuasion drivers are used to recruit new blood donors, which enhanced people’s self-concept. However, when they changed to monetary persuasion drivers in a trial, blood donations dropped dramatically (Ferguson, 2008). This was caused by the moral obligation of donating blood becoming less apparent, harming one’s self-concept simultaneously. Another example of the counter productivity of monetary persuasion is previous research about punishment. Research done by Holmas et al (2010) found that a reduction of effort is created for pro-social motivation when monetary punishment is used. That is, people tend to behave less pro-social when their ‘bad behaviour’ (i.e. occupying a needed hospital bed) can be compensated by paying a monetary punishment. Thus, monetary incentives may be counterproductive when it comes to pro-environmental or pro-social behaviour, because the moral obligation becomes less apparent.
How this paper extends current research
9 | P a g e First of all, according to ‘the theory of reasoned action’, consumer behaviour is influenced by the attitude towards the behaviour and the subjective norm (Chang, 1998; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Normative goals, like acting appropriately, could thus be of importance when opting for certain purchase behaviour (Lindenberg & Steg, 2007). It is generally known that extensive car usage (which can be directly linked to tire-pressure) is harming the environment. So, people’s normative thoughts could trigger people to travel by bike instead of the car, as this is recognized as more appropriate behaviour. However, it is not commonly recognized that extensive fashion purchases are harming the environment or nature. Hence, the normative appeal in fashion is very subdued. Therefore, moral persuasion might be differently effective in the fashion industry compared to the automotive industry.
Secondly, since moral persuasion campaigns have not been previously used in the fashion industry, the impact might now be different compared to the automotive industry, as it is a common practice in the latter.
Thirdly, Bolderdijk et al. argue that the beneficial financial consequences of pro-environmental behaviour, like money savings when improving tire-pressure, are often uncertain and only delivered after a delay, which render them less motivating (Lehman and Geller, 2004). In fashion however, there is no delay considering the economic benefits, as customers can decide themselves when to use the received ‘gift card’, implemented by Macintosh retail group as discussed before. Therefore, monetary appeals might be differently effective.
Fourthly, even though Bolderdijk et al. (2012) did not find altered preference after measuring biospheric value strength (all participants preferred complying with moral instead of monetary appeal), it could be different in the research for this thesis for two reasons. (I) Within the research of Bolderdijk et al. participants were asked to compare both appeals. In this research however, participants will only be exposed to one of the four stimuli. (II) Since monetary value creates short term benefits in the research for this thesis, the effects might be different on pro-environmental behaviour and its subsequent biospheric values.
10 | P a g e In addition to these differences, implications for practice could also be very useful. Within fashion, each business has identified clear customer descriptions (i.e. segments). Therefore, marketers could benefit from this research by considering an effective pro-environmental message based on the type of customers and its preferred type of persuasion driver.
This is the first research where fashion advertisements focused on pro-environmental behaviour are discussed and tested in relation to moral or monetary appeals. The research will be customer-centric, as it will be tested from a consumer point of view and their degree of personal (biospheric) values. This research explores the relationships within the field of effective advertisements, which moves on the edge of marketing, social responsibility and consumer psychology. For marketers it would be interesting to know how to formulate their advertisements in relation to their corporate social responsibility focus.
In the following chapters I will provide a theoretical background for the main focus of this thesis. Building upon this foundation, I will present the specific hypothesis related to the effects of persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour, brand loyalty, and its subsequent effect after measuring personal (biospheric) values of participants.
The firms’ perspective; Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) within marketing practices has become a popular trend within the retail industry (Vallaster, Lindgreen and Maon, 2010). Corporate governance and future sales are important motives for companies to implement CSR. The overall idea of CSR is consistent: a firms’ commitment to ensure societal and stakeholder wellbeing through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources (Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, 2010; Luo and Bhattacharya, 2006).
11 | P a g e industry, this has led to improvements on the environmental and social impacts of its manufacturing practices (Chen and Burns, 2006). However, companies are also investing in social responsibility due to their expected positive influence on companies’ financial results. Hence, CSR has changed from an exclusive ideology to a mainstream part of almost every large organization (Kotler, 2011). Firms which implement a CSR strategy have various objectives but all lean towards the same ultimate goal; stimulate purchase intentions (Westberg, 2004).
Previous research demonstrates that CSR positively affects many customer related outcomes. Assuming all other factors remain constant, people show improved loyalty and are willing to pay premium prices when a company implements a CSR strategy (Creyer and Ross, 1996; De Pelsmacker, Driesen and Rayp, 2005; Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, 2007). People also show more positive attitudes towards firms which involve in CSR initiatives and they are more willing to purchase from these firms (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Furthermore, CSR implementation results in an improved reputation of the firm and in improved campaign evaluations (Brown and Dacin 1997; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). All outcomes consecutively improve business performance and thus financial results (Peloza and Chang, 2011).
Positive financial consequences resulting from CSR investments can only be achieved when thoroughly communicated with its customers. Including CSR within a marketing campaign is only effective when there is a good fit between the company and the pro-environmental activities. Furthermore, transparency is decisive when it comes to CSR (Westberg, 2004). Marketing strategies and the accompanied advertisements are thus crucial in order to be successful in translating CSR investments into companies’ financial results. The marketing campaigns in fashion stimulating pro-environmental behaviour are a good example of communicating CSR with the customer. Collecting old garments shows a good fit between the fashion company and the pro-environmental activities. However, it is questionable which persuasion driver (either monetary or moral) is most effective with regard to translating a CSR strategy into positive financial outcomes for the company.
I. Persuasion drivers
12 | P a g e biosphere (Stern, 2000). Within the research for this thesis, environmental consciousness is stimulated by handing in old garments (clothes, shoes etc.). Researchers have analysed different methods to persuade consumers to act in more appropriate ways (Lehman & Geller, 2004; Frantz & Mayer, 2009; Allcott & Mullainathan, 2010). Money came out to be a one of the most influential and universal sources of encouragement (Lea & Webley, 2006). The research by Bolderdijk (2010) revealed that customers preferred a reduction in fuel costs (monetary value) over an equivalent reduction in CO2 emission (moral value) when they could choose between the two options. Thus, companies can manipulate consumers’ behaviour to comply with their pro-environmental CSR strategy by just offering them monetary value in return. Within this research, monetary stimulus is created by offering the participants a gift card (redeemable at any next purchase) when handing in their old garments (e.g. behaving pro-environmental).
However, the same research found that participants nevertheless expect that complying with biospheric (moral) appeals will allow them to feel better about themselves than complying with economic (monetary) appeals (Bolderdijk et al, 2012). So, persuasion drivers (either moral or monetary) create different compliance with certain behavioural activities. As such, normative goals, like acting appropriately could also be of importance when opting for certain purchase behaviour (Lindenberg & Steg, 2007). This could lead to an internal conflict between gaining money on the one hand and the desire to act appropriate on the other. Thus, moral values could also be an incentive to behave in a desired manner. Within this research, moral stimulus is created by focussing on the environmental values of handing in old garments (e.g. behaving pro-environmental).
self-13 | P a g e concept (Bolderdijk, 2010). The research by Bolderdijk et al. (2012) also showed that participants felt better about complying with moral rather than with monetary appeals.
H1 – Moral persuasion is more effective than monetary persuasion when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour.
Nonetheless, the internal conflict between gaining money on the one hand and the desire to act appropriate on the other is influenced by its short term and long term benefits; monetary appeals can be explained by its short term individual benefits (money) (Geller et al., 1982). In contradiction with the research of Bolderdijk et al. (2012), the monetary stimulus in the research for this thesis truly creates direct short term economic benefits; the gift card can be directly used. However, the economic benefits in the tire-pressure research were uncertain and only delivered after a delay, which could be translated into long-term benefits. As also discussed by Bolderdijk et al, monetary appeals prove more persuasive in situations where a pro-environmental action involves substantial and obvious economic benefits. Therefore, it is expected that monetary persuasion will be more effective than the control stimulus when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour. This is not in line with the research of Bolderdijk et al., where monetary appeals proved less effective than the control stimulus.
H2 – Monetary persuasion is more effective than the control stimulus when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour.
In addition to the research of Bolderdijk et al. (2012), the effects of a combination of both persuasion drivers will also be tested. It is expected that this combined stimulus will be most effective when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour, as the previously discussed internal conflict will be solved by addressing both benefits; moral and monetary value.
H3 – Combined persuasion will be more effective than either moral or monetary persuasion when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour.
14 | P a g e Ordering the four stimuli from most to least effective when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour leads to the graphic display below:
II. Personal (biospheric) values
So far, only the effects of persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour are discussed. However, as briefly mentioned before, personal values influence behaviour of the individual (Steg et al, 2012). Therefore, it is questionable whether the effective preference for moral instead of monetary appeals is limited to certain groups. Bolderdijk et al. (2012) measured the biospheric values of an individual; we will do the same in order to search for differences in pro-environmental behaviour. Values in general function as a guide in the life of an individual (Schwartz, 1992). Thus, values affect individuals’ actions when considering pro-environmental behaviour, as individuals assign different values to different objectives. So the difference in added value can affect beliefs, attitudes, preferences and norms related to pro-environmental behaviour (Stern and Dietz, 1994). Four types of values can be distinguished when it comes to understanding individuals’ environmental actions. These are biospheric and altruistic values (self-transcending values) versus egoistic and hedonic values (self-enhancing values) (Steg et al, 2012). Self-transcending values reflect on people considering the interests of the collective when making choices, while self-enhancing values focus on personal costs and benefits when making choices. Distinguishing the two types of self-transcending values; where altruistic values are concerned with the welfare of other human beings, biospheric values are concerned with the quality of nature and the environment for its own sake (Steg et al, 2012). According the previous research (De Groot and Steg, 2008; Nilsson et al, 2004), biospheric value is the best predictor for pro-environmental thoughts, preferences, attitudes and behaviour. Therefore, biospheric values can be used best as a moderator within this research, where pro-environmental behaviour is stimulated by handing in old garments. However, for the sake of consistency, other personal values will also be measured.
Moral persuasion is triggered by high biospheric values, asking customers to hand in old garments out of concern for others and the environment. Also, moral appeals may allow customers to boost their moral self-awareness, which can be perceived as personally rewarding. On the other hand, individuals with few biospheric values might not be triggered by this type of campaign, as they do not feel the urge to
15 | P a g e act socially responsible. Hence, the effect of moral and monetary persuasion can be dependent on its level of biospheric consciousness and self-awareness, which decreases inconsistencies between people’s current behaviour and personal standards (Gaukens et al, 2009). Therefore, biospheric values will serve as a moderator within this research.
Different behavioural effects considering high vs. low biospheric values
An essential motive for behaving pro-environmental may be that people want to save environmental quality and treasure the environment (De Groot and Steg, 2008; Thogersen and Olander, 2003). Consumers who strongly endorse self-transcending values (biospheric and altruistic values) tend not to identify with enhancing values (egoistic and hedonic values). As such, consumers with high self-transcendent values (and thus high biospheric values) are more willing to behave in a manner that promotes a sustainable environment (Stern, 2000). This indicates that moral persuasion will be most effective when it comes to stimulating individuals with high biospheric values to behave pro-environmentally. Also, these people are more likely to engage in recycling behavioural activities (Dunlap et al, 1983). Moreover, individuals with high biospheric values will not identify with self-enhancing values, like monetary benefits for themselves. This indicates a lower effect when monetary persuasion is used.
16 | P a g e Accordingly, at the core of self-awareness and its accompanied level of biospheric consciousness, lies the idea that self-aware people try to decrease inconsistencies between their current behaviour and personal standards (Gaukens et al, 2009). When people are persuaded by monetary appeals, it may activate some undesired cognitive consequences. People with high biospheric values might risk seeing themselves as being only worried about money, which may threaten peoples’ moral self-concept and their pro-environmental behaviour. Thus, a focus on monetary appeals when it comes to CSR might be less effective than previously thought, especially when it concerns people with a high level of biospheric values. When there is a personal benefit (e.g. monetary appeals) involved in the pro-environmental action, it is not selfless anymore and will not satisfy the moral self. In contrast to moral appeals, monetary appeals stimulate customers to act pro-environmental just because of the involved personal stake. Thus, being persuaded by monetary appeals considering the CSR campaign will not stimulate the moral self-concept and can be considered as inappropriate, or even immoral (Kretzmann, 1992). It is expected that the combined persuasion stimulus (both moral and monetary persuasion) will be more effective than solely monetary appeals. Respondents with high biospheric values will feel like betraying their own biospheric values when they comply with just monetary appeals. These respondents will therefore prefer the combined persuasion over monetary persuasion, as self-transcending values are also used which may stimulate the moral self-concept.
Ordering the four stimuli from most to least effective considering people with high biospheric values when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour leads to the graphic display below:
17 | P a g e Furthermore, since moral persuasion will have no negative effect on customers with low biospheric value, the combined persuasion type is expected to be more effective than the monetary persuasion type.
Ordering the four stimuli from most to least effective considering people with low biospheric values when it comes to pro-environmental behaviour leads to the graphic display below:
As such, the following hypothesis can be constructed considering the moderating effects of biospheric values.
H4 – The effects of various persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour is dependent on the strength of individuals’ biospheric values.
III. Brand loyalty
As mentioned before; each CSR strategy ultimately has the same goal: stimulate purchase intentions (Westberg, 2004) and thus brand loyalty. This can be done by improving customers brand based equity (CBBE), as this ultimately stimulates brand loyalty. Customer brand based equity is measured by the customer’s subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its objectively perceived value. This is influenced by brand awareness, attitude toward the brand and corporate ethics (Lemon et al, 2001). Behavioural and attitudinal loyalty both are dimensions of brand loyalty (Dick and Basu, 1994). Both dimensions are related, since buying behaviour is frequently affected by the favourable thoughts and attitudes of a consumer towards a brand (Keller, 1993). Nevertheless, outcomes range from the possibility to set higher relative prices (attitudinal loyalty) versus greater market share (behavioural loyalty). The differential effects of monetary, moral and combined persuasion on attitudinal and behavioural loyalty will be studied within the research for this thesis.
Attitudinal loyalty
Attitudinal loyalty is defined as the systematically favourable assessment of a brand causing an emotional connection towards that brand (Morgan, 1999). Attitudinal loyalty involves feelings, emotions, satisfaction and primary affect that an individual holds in relation to a brand (Dick and Basu,
18 | P a g e 1994). Consequently, attitudes towards a brand are of great importance. Attitudes can be observed as a temporary constructed judgment (Wilson et al, 2000), which can be influenced by the situational factors like the context of an advertisement. Thus, the specific marketing campaign of collecting garments and its subsequent persuasion driver can change the overall attitudinal loyalty of an individual. As discussed before, according to ‘the theory of reasoned action’, consumers’ behaviour is influenced by the attitude towards the behaviour and the subjective norm (Chang, 1998; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Thus, a positive attitude should, in combination with subjective norms, result in pro-environmental behaviour caused by the advertisement.
Consumers have a positive attitude towards companies who are establishing CSR (Cone et al, 2004). As already mentioned in the second paragraph of this thesis, the monetary persuasion type might be linked to CSR to a lesser degree when compared to the moral persuasion type. The monetary persuasion type still assumes to do some good for society, but the company is clearly benefitting from it at the same time. Specifically, it triggers future sales, as a discount is given at a future purchase. Therefore, I hypothesize that the effect on consumers’ attitude towards the company and the campaign is higher with moral persuasion than with monetary persuasion.
H5 – Moral persuasion leads to the highest attitudinal loyalty compared to combined and monetary persuasion concerning the campaign and the company.
Behavioural loyalty
Behavioural loyalty is defined as the purchase behaviour of consumers towards a certain brand. Behavioural loyalty is guided by automated scripts leading to repeated purchase behaviour. These habitual processes lead to a ‘cognitive lock-in’, as severing the habit will result in cognitive switching costs (Johnsen et al, 2003). Thus, the habit remains, while more striking offers are available. This type of behaviour is preferred by companies, as it stimulates future purchase intentions. Different models, like the personality of a brand (Aaker, 1996), the customer brand based equity model (Keller, 2008) and analyzing multidimensional brand equity (Yoo and Donthu, 2001) all found a positive effect of brand equity drivers on loyalty behaviour and purchase intentions.
19 | P a g e improved attitude towards the company (see hypothesis 5) combined with positive corporate ethics will contribute to higher behavioural loyalty. However, corporate ethics can also be highest when considering monetary appeals, as this can be judged by respondents to be more sympathetic instead of creating this ‘perfect world’ of helping the environment. Furthermore, the gift card received when monetary and combined persuasion are applied leads to a direct purchase, which might also improve behavioural loyalty. Thus, because both moral and monetary persuasion have incentives to create the highest behavioural loyalty, I argue that the combined persuasion driver creates the highest behavioural loyalty.
H6 – Combined persuasion leads to higher behavioural loyalty than monetary or moral persuasion separately.
Method
Experimental design
The experimental design used for this research was a 4 (moral, monetary, combined and control persuasion) x 2 (a median split on low versus high biospheric values) between-subjects design (figure 2). The main dependent variable was ‘pro-environmental behaviour’, measured by the willingness to hand in the brought garments. As additional dependent variables credibility (of the flyer), underlying processes (like attention given to the advertisement), attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty were measured. This design allowed us to examine whether there were differences in consumers’ pro-environmental behaviour for the three different persuasive drivers and how this was moderated by individuals’ biospheric values.
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Participants
The research was executed within the FEB Research Lab. Participants were students of the University of Groningen (RUG). Participants were seated in separate computer cubicles and the instructions were presented on a computer screen. Participants could earn four research points or €8. In total 112 participants participated in this experimental study. After removing participants who did not complete the questionnaire (1.8%), the sample included 110 participants. The sample contained 46 (41.8%) female and 64 (58.2%) male participants, with an average age of 20 (Mage = 20.38, SD = 1.891).
Advertisements; the stimuli
21 | P a g e persuasion is an argument based appeal, as customers are convinced by the discount they will receive, which affects the thoughts of a consumer. Emotional appeal advertisement on the other hand, is aimed at affecting emotions and feelings of the consumer. The advertisement is mainly based on intended emotional perception (affect based). This type of advertisement is also known as the ‘soft sell’ approach. Moral persuasion is an emotional based appeal, as customers are convinced by playing on their emotions and feelings. The individual functions for both of these advertisement variables can be to inform, changing the non-evaluative consumer response (beliefs, knowledge) or to persuade, changing the evaluative consumer response (attitudes, preferences, feelings) (Fennis and Stroebe, 2010). Besides the same individual functions for both these types of advertisement variables, argument based (monetary) and emotional (moral) appeal are two very different types of advertisement. Therefore, it is questioned which type of persuasion strategy can be used best when it comes to CSR campaigns in fashion.
The stimuli
All above reasoning was tested in a laboratory setting in which the following pro-environmental behaviour was promoted; ‘hand in your old garments!’ The benefits of handing in old garments were framed as serving moral benefits (‘save the environment’), serving one’s monetary benefits (‘save money’) or serving both benefits (‘save the environment, save money’). Also a control stimulus was used; ‘hand in your old garments’. The promotion was done by a printed advertisement focusing on one of the four stimuli (see figure 3 for an example and appendix A for all advertisements). All four advertisements were identical considering size, colours, and main text. Figure 3 – An example of a fictive advertisement used for the
22 | P a g e Note that only the slogan and accompanied image differed between advertisements. That is, in the main text, participants could read the same information (containing both monetary and moral motivations of why handing in old garments would be a good thing). Only the titles were manipulated. All titles were connected directly to the self, as Bolderdijk et al. (2012) found that the preference for a stimulus will be more apparent when self-focus is activated. Also one sentence from the main text was marked in order to focus on the particular persuasion driver. The advertorial design is based on the original H&M advertisement, as currently used in their campaign. For credibility reasons, we asked participants whether they were acquainted with the campaign before starting this research.
This editing of the existing H&M brochure will not be used for any other causes than this laboratory research. In order to increase external validity, the H&M logo was shown in the advertisements. H&M was a good fit, as participants of the research were all students whom were familiar with the brand.
Procedure
Beforehand, all participants were informed to bring two pieces of old garments to the laboratory. Participants were randomly assigned to any of the four cubicles in which one of the four stimuli was presented. The first questions asked in the survey were measuring the personal values of the participant (biospheric, altruistic, egoistic and hedonic personal values (Steg et al. 2012). In order to imitate real life conditions within the laboratory setting we came up with the following procedure. As participants had to bring garments to the research lab without them knowing the real purpose (the possibility to hand in the garments), a cover story was used. Also, showing the leaflet was part of this procedure, as customers normally do not pay too much attention to a printed advertisement. The cover story focussed on another activity. A creativity task was the main purpose of this activity. Participants were asked to fold any of the brought garments on a previously determined surface. After each task, questions were asked about the difficulty of the task and the number of folding’s they used. At the same time, a printed advertisement (one of the four stimuli) was lying on the table on top of the ‘previously determined surface’. The latter was done in order to make sure that each participant at least had to move the flyer (and thus notice it) in order to fulfil the assignments. Within this part of the experiment questions were asked about the brought garments and the difficulty of the assignments.
23 | P a g e was asked to leave the brought garments at the laboratory. The lab assistant informed the participant that the research lab is authorized to handle the procedure and would hand in the brought garments at an H&M store if agreed by the participant. In case of the monetary and combined persuasion groups, the participant immediately received their gift card (5€ redeemable at any Dutch H&M store) when they complied. No gift card was given when complying with the moral appeal or control variable (eventually they received a gift card when they complied, but only after the entire experiment was over). Whether complying or not, the participant was asked to fill in a final survey about H&M in the cubicle, as there was still time left for their research hour. This final survey included all dependent variables.
The survey
Measuring biospheric values was done by means of a short version of Schwartz’s value scale (1992). This shortened version has been developed by De Groot and Steg (2008) and has extensively been tested and validated in various studies. The shortened version consists of 16 questions measuring biospheric, altruistic, egoistic and hedonic values. Measuring biospheric values included four items covering preventing pollution, respecting the earth, unity with nature and protecting the environment. Participants were asked to rate the importance of these items as ‘a guiding principle in their life’ on a 9-point Likert scale ranging from -1 ‘opposed to my values’, 0 ‘not important’, to 7 ‘extremely important’. The Cronbach’s Alpha for this four items scale was .83. For the sake of consistency, also altruistic, egoistic and hedonic values were measured. The Cronbach’s Alpha of these values were respectively .61 (4 items), .74 (5 items) and .71 (3 items).
Measurements about attitudinal and behavioural loyalty were done based on three items each. Questions for attitudinal loyalty were based on a method from Helgeson and Supphellen (2004). Participants were asked to rate their ‘attitude towards H&M’ on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 7 “strongly agree”. The three statements included ‘I like the H&M brand’, ‘H&M is a good brand’ and ‘I would recommend H&M to my friends and acquaintances. The Cronbach’s Alpha for this three items scale was .87.
24 | P a g e on a fashion brand again, I would consider H&M again’ and ‘I prefer H&M over other fashion brands’. The Cronbach’s Alpha for this three items scale was .88.
General credibility ratings (of the flyer) and underlying processes (like attention given to the advertisement) were also measured. As a means of control participants were asked whether they read the printed advertisement. They were also asked to indicate (both in an open and a multiple choice question) what the printed advertisement was about. Finally, participants were asked to answer some general questions about their shopping behaviour at H&M. They were asked to indicate whether they would assign themselves as a frequent buyer at H&M, how much they would spend at a next purchase at H&M and how many times he or she visits the H&M. The questionnaire ended with a thank you note. The debriefing followed after the research was over by email. When the participant finished the questionnaire, the lab assistant had to indicate (1) whether the participant handed in the brought garments and (2) what stimuli the participant was assigned to.
Results
All ANCOVA analyses discussed were made with persuasion type as independent variable and pro-environmental behaviour as dependent variable. The covariates are differing per analysis.
Noteworthy, we only had three weeks of collecting data. In this period we did not reach our required minimum number of participants. Due to this, some power issues emerged, which is especially important considering the moderating effects of personal values.
Control analysis
Gender25 | P a g e Familiarity
In order to confirm possible primary effects of the used persuasion conditions (IV: moral, monetary, combined or control) on pro-environmental behaviour (DV: 1= handing in their old garments, 2 = not handing in their old garments), we had to make sure participants were not influenced by their former knowledge about the original H&M campaign. Therefore, we asked participants whether they were acquainted with the original H&M campaign. An ANCOVA analysis with ‘former knowledge about the H&M campaign’ as covariate yielded insignificant effects F (1,105) = 0,974, p > .05, indicating participants were not influenced by their former knowledge about the H&M campaign when pro-environmental effects were measured.
Current shopping behaviour
We also questioned participants how much their monthly spending was at H&M, in order to check whether current shopping behaviour at H&M influences the behaviour of the participants during the experiment. Surprisingly, an ANOVA with persuasion type condition as independent variable (moral, monetary, combined and control) and ‘A big amount of my monthly fashion budget is spent at H&M’ (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) as dependent variable did yield significant results: F (3, 106) = 2,677, p < .05. An additional Tukey test revealed that only the moral (M = 3.38) and combined (M = 2.22) persuasion condition differed marginally (p = .096). Also an ANCOVA with ‘monthly spending at H&M’ as covariate yielded significant results; F (1,105) = 5,226, p<.05. This indicates that ‘monthly spending at H&M’ influences the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
The brought garments
26 | P a g e Another ANCOVA with the question ‘to what extent are both garments still in fashion’ as a covariate also yielded significant effects: F (1,105) = 15,213, p < .01. This indicates that the emotional value participants still attach to the garments they brought, influences the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
A final ANCOVA with the question ‘I already planned to discard the garments I brought’ as a covariate also yielded significant effects: F (1,105) = 47,692, p < .01. This indicates that the emotional value participants still attach to the garments they brought, influences the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
I. Persuasion driver effects
The effect of the different persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour of the participants was tested. A Chi-square analysis with persuasion type condition (moral, monetary, combined and control) and pro-environmental behaviour (1= handing in their old garments, 2 = not handing in their old garments) did not yield a significant difference: χ2 (3) = 0,763, p >.05. Almost the same amount of participants handed in their old garments in each of the four conditions; 57%, 50%, 52% and 60% respectively (figure 4). Additionally, an ANOVA using the same variables also yielded insignificant results; F (3, 106) = 0,247, p <.05, indicating there is no difference in pro-environmental behaviour between the different persuasion conditions.
Dependent variable Independent variable Total
Moral Monetary Combined Control
Handing in their garments (Pro-environmental behaviour)
12 16 14 18 60
Not handing in their garments (No pro-environmental behaviour)
9 16 13 12 50
Total 21 32 27 30 110
Underlying processes
Below the noteworthy results of underlying processes are cited. An overview of ANOVA and ANCOVA analysis performed considering all variables can be found in appendix B.
27 | P a g e Attention given to advertisement
Did they read it?
Participants were asked whether they read the advertisement they were exposed to. In order to analyse whether or not the ‘reading of the advertisement’ differed per persuasive condition, an ANOVA of persuasion condition on ‘reading of the advertisement’ was performed. This yielded significant results; F (3,106) = 3,608, p < .05, indicating that the type of advertisement influences the reading behaviour of the participant. The moral condition was the least read (M = 2.14), whereas the monetary (M = 3.84) and control (4.17) condition resulted in higher reading behaviour (see figure 5). An additional Games Howell test revealed that the moral and control condition yielded significant results; p < .01, and also the moral and monetary condition were differing significantly; p < .05.
Did they remember?
After exposure to the advertisement, participants were asked what the title of the advertisement was (the flyer was already taken out of sight). First an open question was used in order to check familiarity with the advertisement. No outstanding answers were given. Considering the multiple choice question however, only 28% gave the right answer, whereas 45% gave the wrong answer and 27% did not know (figure 6). A manually Chi-square analysis with persuasion type condition as independent variable (moral, monetary, combined and control) and the guessed title as dependent variable (correct, wrong and don’t know) did yield significant results; χ2(6) = 21,491, p < .01. This indicates that the type of persuasion driver (and its accompanied title) influences the attention given to the advertisement. Noteworthy is that 53% of the participants in the control condition gave the right answer, whereas the percentage of correct answers in the three persuasion conditions is much lower (moral 19%, monetary 9% and combined 30% respectively), indicating the latter three are remembered worse. Especially the monetary condition, in which only 9% of the participants gave the correct answer, is notable. Likewise, none of the participants in other conditions guessed for the monetary title. +
Mean (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)
F (3,106) P Moral Monetary Combined Control Overall I've read the advertisement
during the previous experiment
in which I participated. 3,608 0,016 2,14 3,84 2,89 4,17 3,37
28 | P a g e Persuasion type condition vs. remembered title
IV Correct Wrong Don't
know
Total
Moral 4 7 (2 combined, 5 control) 10 21
Monetary 3 21 (4 moral, 8 combined, 9 control) 8 32
Combined 8 13 (8 moral, 7 control) 6 27
Control 16 8 (6 moral, 2 combined) 6 30
Total 31 (28%) 49 (45%) 30 (27%) 110
II. Personal values; moderating effects
Measuring participants’ personal values (biospheric, altruistic, egoistic and hedonic) was done before the creativity test started. Distinct ANCOVA analysis with each of the four personal values as a covariate (F (1,105)) yielded insignificant persuasion type effects on pro-environmental behaviour (handing in old garments). The results were respectively’; F (1,105) = 0,317, p > .05 (0,575) for biospheric, F (1,105) = 1,729, p > .05 (0,191) for altruistic, F (1,105) = 0,293, p > .05 (0,590) for egoistic and F (1,105) = 0,276, p > .05 (0,601) for hedonic values. The relatively high power for altruistic values indicates a higher sample size might result in significant effects when measuring pro-environmental behaviour considering the different persuasion conditions.
However, also a cross table with Chi-square is performed for each persuasion condition separately with personal values as independent variable (biospheric, altruistic, egoistic and hedonic) and environmental behaviour as dependent variable (1= environmental behaviour, 2 = no pro-environmental behaviour) (figure 7). The Chi-square test did yield some (marginal) significant results. Only in the monetary condition altruistic personal values yielded to be significant; χ2 (1) = 4,500, p < .05, indicating that participants with high altruistic values in the monetary condition were more willing to hand in their garments (e.g. pro-environmental behaviour) compared to people with low altruistic values. Furthermore, only in the combined condition, hedonic personal values yielded to be marginally significant; χ2 (1) = 3,033, p = .082, indicating that participants with low hedonic values in the combined condition were more willing to hand in their garments (e.g. pro-environmental behaviour) compared to people with high hedonic values (see figure 7 & 8). However, the relatively high power of the other persuasion conditions considering hedonic personal values, indicate that a higher sample size might result in significant effects of hedonic personal values considering all persuasion conditions when measuring pro-environmental behaviour.
29 | P a g e
III. Brand Loyalty effects
Attitudinal loyalty
An ANOVA on attitudinal loyalty toward H&M after disclosure of the advertisement yielded an insignificant effect of persuasion, F (3,106) = 1,627, p > .05. This indicates that the three items scale of attitudinal loyalty does not differ between the different types of persuasion. ANOVA’s with persuasion condition as independent variable and one of the separate items of attitudinal loyalty as dependent variable, resulted in marginally significant results for only one of the three variables. The question ‘H&M is a good brand’ was marginally significant; F (3,106) = 2,142, p =.099. An additional Tukey test revealed that the moral and monetary condition yielded marginally significant results; p = .067, indicating that participants in the moral condition (M = 5,29) ranked H&M as a better brand compared to participants
Chi square (1): Personal values vs. DV (analysis made per IV condition)
Persuasion condition Biospheric Altruistic Egoistic Hedonic
Moral F = .016, p = .899 F = .089, p = .765 F = .064, p = .801 F = 1,683, p = .195 Monetary F = .125, p = .723 F = 4,500, p = .034 F = .000, p = 1.00 F = 1,391, p = .238 Combined F = .040, p = .842 F = .326, p = .568 F = .304, p = .581 F = 3,033, p = .082
Control F = .089, p = .765 F = 1,296, p = .255 F = .215, p = .643 F = 1,701, p = .192
Dependent variable & Moderators Independent variable Total
Moral Monetary Combined Control
Pro-environmental behaviour 12 16 14 18 60
low high low high Low high low high
Biospheric values (M=7,67) 5 7 8 8 7 7 8 10
Altruistic values (M=4,75) 6 6 5 11 8 6 4 14
Egoistic values (M=6,33) 6 6 9 7 9 5 6 12
Hedonic values (M=5,25) 6 6 3 13 9 5 5 13
Moral Monetary Combined Control
No pro-environmental behaviour 9 16 13 12 50
low high low high Low high low high
Biospheric values (M=7,67) 4 5 9 7 7 6 6 6
Altruistic Values (M=4,75) 3 6 11 5 6 7 5 7
Egoistic values (M=6,33) 5 4 9 7 7 6 5 7
Hedonic values (M=5,25) 2 7 6 10 4 9 1 11
Total 21 32 27 30 110
Figure 7 – Chi square analysis with personal values as independent variable and pro-environmental behaviour as dependent variable.
30 | P a g e in the monetary condition (M = 4,38). However, since these marginal significant results only apply to one item of attitudinal loyalty, it can be indicated that the persuasion conditions are not influencing participants’ attitudinal loyalty of H&M.
Furthermore, an ANCOVA with attitudinal loyalty as covariate yielded an insignificant effect; F (1,105) = 1,693, p > .05. Participants in different conditions did not perceive attitudinal loyalty differently, indicating there is no effect of the type of persuasion on attitudinal loyalty when behaving (not) pro-environmentally. However, an ANCOVA with one of the attitudinal loyalty items as covariate; ‘I would recommend H&M to my friends and acquaintances’, yielded significant results; F (1,105) = 3,909, p < .05. This indicates that the attitudinal loyalty item ‘I would recommend H&M to my friends and acquaintances’ influences the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
Also questions were asked considering the attitudinal loyalty of participants towards the campaign in specific; ‘I like the H&M campaign’ and ‘The H&M campaign is good’. ANOVA’s with persuasion condition as independent variable and one of both items as dependent variable also did not appear significant (F (3,106) = 0,096, p > .05 and F (3,106) = 0,425, p > .05 respectively). However, an ANCOVA with ‘I like the H&M campaign’ as covariate yielded significant results; F (1,105) = 15,810, p < .01. Also an ANCOVA with ‘The H&M campaign is good’ as covariate yielded significant results; F (1,105) = 14,837, p<.01. This indicates that both attitudinal loyalty items considering the campaign influence the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
Behavioural loyalty
31 | P a g e However, an ANCOVA with behavioural loyalty as covariate yielded marginally significant results; F (1,105) = 3,542, p = 0,063. Especially ANCOVA’s with two items of the three-items behavioural loyalty scale as covariate yielded marginally significant results: ‘I would choose H&M again anytime’ (F (1,105) = 3,168, p = 0,078) and ‘I prefer H&M over other fashion brands’ (F (1,105) = 3,234, p = 0,075). This indicates that behavioural loyalty influences the relationship between the persuasion conditions (IV) and pro-environmental behaviour (DV – handing in the brought garments), however no difference is found between persuasion-type effects.
As a result of our research we were able to analyse attitudinal loyalty as well as behavioural loyalty with regard to the company (H&M). However, with regard to the actual campaign (the leaflets presented to respondents), the analysis is restricted to attitudinal loyalty only, since no questions were asked to respondents that would allow to analyse the behavioural loyalty aspect.
In conclusion
Only the moral condition is significantly different compared to other persuasion conditions when it comes to some credibility measures (see Appendix B for all details):
I've read the advertisement that I was exposed to in the previous research - The moral and control conditions are significantly different. There is also a significant difference between the moral and monetary condition.
H&M is a good brand - Only the moral and monetary conditions are marginally different. A big amount of my monthly fashion budget is spent at H&M - Only the moral and combined
conditions are marginally different.
Discussion
Below I will first allude to the expectations for the results of the research for this thesis. Thereafter, I will discuss the findings per research subject (persuasion drivers, personal values, brand loyalty).
32 | P a g e ratings (of the flyer) and underlying processes (like attention given to the advertisement) were measured in order to check for differences between persuasion conditions.
II. Furthermore, based on the experimental design I studied the moderating effect of individual personal values (biospheric, altruistic, egoistic and hedonic) on the different persuasion conditions and its subsequent pro-environmental behaviour effects (e.g. handing in old garments). I expected people with high biospheric values to comply more with moral than with monetary appeals, since these people are more willing to behave in a sustainable manner (Stern, 2000) and are motivated to stimulate their moral self-concept (Bolderdijk, 2012). Additionally, combined persuasion was expected to be more effective than monetary persuasion when it comes to people scoring high on biospheric values, as pure monetary persuasion can be considered as inappropriate, or even immoral (Kretzmann, 1992). In contrast, I expected people with low biospheric values to comply more with monetary than with moral appeals, due to their motivation of personal benefits. Additionally, combined appeals were expected to be most effective considering participants with low biospheric values, as moral persuasion was expected to have no negative effects.
III. Also the effects of the persuasion conditions on attitudinal and behavioural loyalty were tested. I expected moral persuasion to score highest on attitudinal loyalty, while combined persuasion was expected to score highest on behavioural loyalty.
Subsequently, for each of these research subjects, I will discuss the results, the managerial recommendations, as well as motivating outcomes for further research.
I. Persuasion drivers
33 | P a g e
have affected pro-environmental behaviour. On a conscious level however, it seems the different advertisements did not influence pro-environmental behaviour. A suggestion for further research will be that the advertisement has to be more in the centre of the experiment. By doing so, conscious thoughts and feelings of participants can be influenced and thus the real impact of the different persuasion conditions can be measured more completely. Furthermore, considering future research it is suggested to improve the design of the advertisements. Afterwards it can be discussed whether the colour of the advertisement (dark green) has influenced participants’ behaviour. Since green is regularly associated with environmental issues, the colour used may not have been the most objective.
However, I did find evidence for differences between the four stimuli when considering some general credibility ratings and underlying processes. First of all, current shopping behaviour of participants appeared to differ significantly between the persuasion conditions and pro-environmental behaviour. People in the moral condition claimed to spend more compared to people in the combined condition. Two explanations for this can be argued. First of all, participants might accidentally be distributed unequally among conditions considering this variable. A second explanation could be that participants in the moral condition rated their total spending at H&M higher due to influences of the persuasion type. Within the moral condition people might find a better fit between the company (H&M) and the pro-environmental CSR activity (Westberg, 2004), and they may feel the urge to behave in a sustainable manner (Stern, 2000) and are motivated to stimulate their moral self-concept (Bolderdijk, 2012). Participants may indicate they spend more at this store, in order to improve their moral self-concept.
Secondly, the check whether participants read the advertisement appeared to differ significantly between persuasion conditions. Especially participants in the control condition scored high on this item compared to participants in the moral condition; indicating simple messages with no moral value attached are more easily remembered. Also participants in the monetary condition scored high on this item compared to participants in the moral condition; indicating monetary messages are more salient compared to messages were moral value is dominant. Conclusively, the moral condition was least read, indicating that this type of persuasion needs more attention and marketing in order to get the attention of the consumer.
34 | P a g e messages with no moral or monetary value attached are more easily remembered. Furthermore, none of the participants has chosen 'monetary' as a wrong answer when they were in another condition. An explanation for this is already discussed by Bolderdijk et al (2012), where it is argued that people prefer a favourable self-image and thus want to maintain a positive view about oneself at all times. As such, people favour a ‘green’ image over a ‘greedy’ image. Therefore, I am suggesting that there may be something in monetary appeals that put people off. Further research is needed in order to confirm this.
II. Personal Values
I did not find support on the moderating effects of biospheric values on pro-environmental behaviour considering the different persuasion conditions. I argue two possible explanations for this outcome. First of all, the time of collecting data was limited. Since we only had three weeks of collecting data, we did not reach our required minimum number of participants in order to conquer all power issues. As participants had to bring two pieces of old garments, it was a bigger effort for them compared to other experiments, which resulted in fewer participants than expected. Due to this, some power issues emerged, which is especially important considering the moderating effects of the personal values. Secondly, the same argument is applicable as discussed before; too little visibility may have been given to the advertisement, making it hard for participants to base their decision of pro-environmental behaviour on the condition they were presented with.
However, I did find evidence for other personal values moderating pro-environmental behaviour. Altruistic values (concerned with the welfare of other human beings) proved to be significant in the monetary condition. Indicating that people with high altruistic values were more willing to hand in their garments compared to people with low altruistic values. Where I did expect people with high self-transcending (biospheric or altruistic) values to act more pro-environmental, I did not necessarily expect this to happen in the monetary condition, as this is also focussing on self-enhancing values. One possible explanation for this outcome could be that the deed of behaving pro-environmentally for the sake of other human beings weighs to be more important than the value received in return.
35 | P a g e higher sample size might result in significant effects of hedonic personal values for all persuasion conditions. This outcome can be explained by the origin of hedonic values; the focus on personal costs and benefits when making choices. People with high hedonic values are less willing to behave pro-environmentally, since they do not see the monetary value as enough rewarding for their personal benefit.
Finally, a limitation of the research for this thesis could have been the sample of respondents. Participants were all university students, which leads to issues with representation regarding age and social intelligence aspects of respondents vs. an ideal cross section of the population. These relatively young and intelligent people may be less influenced by persuasion drivers compared to an ideal replication of the population, as students may have a different perception and more knowledge of pro-environmental behaviour. Therefore, further research is needed in which the respondents represent a better sample of the population.
III. Brand loyalty
I did not find support for both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty being influenced by the different persuasion conditions. Where some separate items were influencing the relationship between the persuasion conditions and pro-environmental behaviour, no difference was found between persuasion-type effects. I argue the same explanation as done considering the effects of persuasion drivers on pro-environmental behaviour; too little visibility may have been given to the advertisement, making it hard for participants to judge loyalty considering the specific stimuli they were in.
