IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i18p10161-d633246.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pulling on Heartstrings: Three Studies of the Effectiveness of Emotionally Framed Communication to Encourage Workplace Pro-Environmental Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Sally V. Russell

    (Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK)

  • Neal M. Ashkanasy

    (UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia)

Abstract

We investigated whether the emotional framing of climate change communication can influence workplace pro-environmental behavior. In three quasi-experimental studies, we examined whether emotional displays in climate change communication affected participants’ subsequent workplace pro-environmental behavior. In Studies 1 and 2, undergraduate and master’s students viewed a fictional news video about climate change, where the newsreader displayed one of five emotions: sadness, fear, anger, contentment, and hope. The dependent variable was recycling behavior following the viewing. In Study 3, office employees viewed the same news videos online; the dependent variable was requesting further information to increase pro-environmental behavior in the workplace. The results from all three studies show that displayed emotion significantly affected pro-environmental behavior and that sadness, in particular, resulted in significantly less workplace pro-environmental behavior. These results indicate the need to study the effect of discrete emotions, rather than assuming that emotions of the same valence have similar effects. The results also underscore the importance of using experimental designs in advancing the field. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for research, theory, and practice of emotionally framed communication of sustainability messages.

Suggested Citation

  • Sally V. Russell & Neal M. Ashkanasy, 2021. "Pulling on Heartstrings: Three Studies of the Effectiveness of Emotionally Framed Communication to Encourage Workplace Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10161-:d:633246
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10161/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10161/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2020. "Positive affect and pro-environmental behavior: A preregistered experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Paul C. Stern, 2012. "Fear and hope in climate messages," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 572-573, August.
    4. Daniel A. Chapman & Brian Lickel & Ezra M. Markowitz, 2017. "Reassessing emotion in climate change communication," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(12), pages 850-852, December.
    5. Stuart Soroka & Patrick Fournier & Lilach Nir, 2019. "Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psychophysiological reactions to news," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(38), pages 18888-18892, September.
    6. Ezra M. Markowitz & Azim F. Shariff, 2012. "Climate change and moral judgement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 243-247, April.
    7. Sander van der Linden, 2015. "Intrinsic motivation and pro-environmental behaviour," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(7), pages 612-613, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Phu Nguyen-Van & Anne Stenger & Tuyen Tiet, 2021. "Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Odou, Philippe & Schill, Marie, 2020. "How anticipated emotions shape behavioral intentions to fight climate change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 243-253.
    3. Nur Sabrina Mohamed Ali Khan & Mageswary Karpudewan & Nagaletchimee Annamalai, 2020. "Moving Beyond the One-Size-Fits-All Model in Describing the Climate Conserving Behaviors of Malaysian Secondary Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Hoffmann, Christin & Hoppe, Julia Amelie & Ziemann, Niklas, 2022. "Faster, harder, greener? Empirical evidence on the role of the individual Pace of Life for productivity and pro-environmental behavior," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Saeed Gholamrezai & Vahid Aliabadi & Pouria Ataei, 2021. "Understanding the pro-environmental behavior among green poultry farmers: Application of behavioral theories," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16100-16118, November.
    6. Susanne Stoll-Kleemann & Philipp Franikowski & Susanne Nicolai, 2023. "Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess Moral Disengagement in High-Carbon Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    7. Ropret Homar, Aja & Knežević Cvelbar, Ljubica, 2021. "The effects of framing on environmental decisions: A systematic literature review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    8. Janis L Dickinson & Poppy McLeod & Robert Bloomfield & Shorna Allred, 2016. "Which Moral Foundations Predict Willingness to Make Lifestyle Changes to Avert Climate Change in the USA?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-11, October.
    9. Philippe Odou & Marie Schill, 2020. "How anticipated emotions shape behavioral intentions to fight climate change," Post-Print hal-02929920, HAL.
    10. Dianru Zhang & Chi Zhang & Li Wang, 2023. "Preventing Moral Crisis and Promoting Sustainable Development in Enterprises: A Study of Managers’ Moral Decision-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, July.
    11. Xingping Cao & Junlin Qiu & Leyu Wang & Gefen Zhou, 2022. "An Integrative Model of Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior Based on the Dual Path of Rational Planning and Embodied Emotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Nathaniel Geiger & Anagha Gore & Claire V. Squire & Shahzeen Z. Attari, 2021. "Investigating similarities and differences in individual reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-20, July.
    13. Nadine Strauß, 2021. "Communicating Sustainable Responsible Investments as Financial Advisors: Engaging Private Investors with Strategic Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Liam F. Beiser-McGrath & Robert A. Huber, 2018. "Assessing the relative importance of psychological and demographic factors for predicting climate and environmental attitudes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 335-347, August.
    15. Lagomarsino, Maria & Lemarié, Linda & Puntiroli, Michael, 2020. "When saving the planet is worth more than avoiding destruction: The importance of message framing when speaking to egoistic individuals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 162-176.
    16. Lidia Aguiar-Castillo & Alberto Clavijo-Rodriguez & Petra De Saa-Perez & Rafael Perez-Jimenez, 2019. "Gamification as An Approach to Promote Tourist Recycling Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, April.
    17. Barbara Culiberg & Hichang Cho & Mateja Kos Koklic & Vesna Zabkar, 2023. "The Role of Moral Foundations, Anticipated Guilt and Personal Responsibility in Predicting Anti-consumption for Environmental Reasons," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(2), pages 465-481, January.
    18. Marc O. Williams & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Geoffrey Haddock & Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost, 2021. "A Grounded Theory of Pro-Nature Behaviour: From Moral Concern to Sustained Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    20. Tran Huy Phuong & Thanh Trung Hieu, 2015. "Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Undergraduate Students in Vietnam: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(8), pages 46-55, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10161-:d:633246. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.