Which messages are most
effective in encouraging
consumers to actively participate
in promoting ethical
consumption?
Hypotheses
H1: Ecological interest messages lead to the highest active participation of
consumers compared to self-interest messages and generational messages.
H2: Generational interest messages lead to the lowest active participation of
consumers compared to self-interest messages and generational messages.
H3a: when a person has an internal locus of control, ecological messages will
have a bigger effect on willingness to actively participate than a person with an external locus of control faced with the same ecological message.
H3b: when a person has an internal locus of control, generational messages
Research design
• Online survey (Qualtrics) with 3 scenarios, one for each message (Self-interest, Generational, Ecological).
• 29 Forced choice statements to determine the respondent’s Locus of Control.
A. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck
B. People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make
• Pro-environmental behaviour intention:
Scale ranges from 1 = strongly disagree to 9 = strongly agree
1. I would contribute money to an organization that prevents food waste 2. I would sign a petition in support of tougher food waste laws
Research design cont.
•
Covariate: biospheric value orientation
Scale ranges from -1 = opposed to my values, 0 = not important, to 7 =
extremely important
Example: Preventing pollution: protecting natural resources.
Descriptive analysis
•
Frequency of messages
•
Mean and standard error for LOC, PBI and value
orientations
Frequency Percentage Group 1: Ecological message 31 31.6%
Group 2: Self-interest message 30 30.6%
Group 3: Generational message 37 37.8%
Total 98 100%
Mean Standard Error
PBI 4.94 .15
LOC 11.55 .48
Egoistic Value Orientation 4.75 .13
Altruistic Value Orientation 6.75 .13
Effect of messages on active
participation
Chi-square test of messages and willingness to actively participate:
Are you willing to join a community that promotes ethical consumption?
Yes No
Ecological message group 6 (19.4%) 25 (80.6%)
Self-interest message group 9 (30%) 21 (70%)
Generational message group 9 (24.3%) 28 (75.7%)
Effect of messages on active
participation, cont.
Results of binary logistic regression with interaction effect on ‘willingness
to actively participate (yes/no)’:
Variable Beta Significance Constant 2.170 .331
Ecological message .865 .650
Generational message -.748 .682
LoC -.037 .697
Egoistic value orientation .709 .007
Altruistic value orientation 1.550 .028 Biospheric value orientation -2.171 .007
Interaction LOC and Ecological message
-.023 .879
Interaction LOC and generational message
Effect of Messages on Pro-environmental
behaviour intention
Results of linear regression with interaction effect on PBI:
Variable Beta Significance
Constant 1.785 .049
Ecological message .539 .483
Generational message -.422 .580
LoC .044 .307
Egoistic value orientation -.377 .000
Altruistic value orientation -1.095 .000
Biospheric value orientation 1.789 .000
Interaction LOC and Ecological message
-.041 .521
Interaction LOC and Generational message
Discussion
• Results of this research do not support the findings of the research of Bolderdijk et al. (2011) that pro-environmental messages elicit more compliance than economic or self-interest appeals.
• More research is needed on the use of self-interest appeals for promoting pro-environmental behaviour and intention and the potential side effects of using this type of appeal to support pro-environmental behaviour.
• Locus of Control has a very small effect on both active participation and pro-environmental behavioural intention.
• People with a biospheric value orientation as compared to an egoistic or altruistic value orientation leads to a significantly higher pro-environmental behavioural intention
