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Do up-displayed eco-friendly products always perform better? The moderating role of psychological distance

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  • Wang, Haizhong
  • Shen, Manqiong
  • (Amy) Song, Yiping
  • Phau, Ian

Abstract

With the deterioration of the human living environment, the consumption of eco-friendly products has received increasing attention, specifically with regard to morality. Given the positive metaphorical associations between morality and up-position, up-displayed eco-friendly products can enhance consumers’ positive responses to such products. More importantly, we find that the up-position enhancement effect depends on consumers’ psychological distance from environmental issues. The results from five studies (Studies 1a, 1b, 1c, 2, and 3) demonstrate that when consumers perceive a far psychological distance from environmental issues, up-displaying eco-friendly products can enhance their processing fluency for product information, resulting in more positive product evaluations and higher purchase intentions. However, the enhancement effect of up-displaying eco-friendly products is attenuated when consumers perceive environmental issues as proximal to them. The present findings theoretically contribute to dual-processing models and construal level theory and provide practical benefits to companies’ marketing strategies of eco-friendly products.

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  • Wang, Haizhong & Shen, Manqiong & (Amy) Song, Yiping & Phau, Ian, 2020. "Do up-displayed eco-friendly products always perform better? The moderating role of psychological distance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 198-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:114:y:2020:i:c:p:198-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.031
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    Cited by:

    1. Basso, Frédéric & Bouillé, Julien & Troiville, Julien, 2021. "Are you up for fair-trade products? Vertical dimension as a metaphorical representation of virtuous consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 508-518.
    2. Basso, Frédéric & Bouillé, Julien & Troiville, Julien, 2021. "Are you up for fair-trade products? Vertical dimension as a metaphorical representation of virtuous consumption," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111511, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Xingyuan Wang & Yaming Wang & Yi Wang, 2021. "The Influence of Infectious Disease Cues on Purchase Intention for Environmentally Friendly Products," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-18, August.

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