Men can be green! Resource concern explains gender differences in green consumption

Existing literature consistently finds that women engage in green consumption more than men. Most studies explain this gender gap from a female-oriented perspective, such as focusing on women's prosocial tendencies, while paying limited attention to the unique drivers of men's behavior. Drawing on evolutionary psychology and the fundamental motivational framework, we introduce resource concern as a novel explanation mechanism, proposing that men's lower engagement in green consumption stems from their heightened resource concern. Across five mixed-methods studies, we demonstrate that resource concern mediates the gender difference in green consumption, even after controlling for established mechanisms (i.e., green consumption values, trait empathy, gender identity threat). Furthermore, this gender difference narrows when resource concern is alleviated, either directly or by framing consumption in public (vs. private) contexts. These findings offer a new perspective for understanding the gender difference in green consumption and provide actionable insights for encouraging sustainable behaviors, especially among men.