IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01630909.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Using descriptive norm appeals effectively to promote green behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Leïla Elgaaied-Gambier

    (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Elisa Monnot

    (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Fanny Reniou

    (IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12)

Abstract

Considering that descriptive norm appeals are only effective when they are framed positively, this research investigates the efficacy of such norms in a context in which the prevalent behavior is not environmentally friendly. Using an infomercial promoting purchasing of non-overpackaged products, three studies attempt to manipulate the presence and valence of a descriptive norm, an endorser's presence, and his or her profile. The findings show that triggering a positive descriptive norm results in the adoption of pro-environmental behavior, even when this norm does not reflect the behavior of the majority, provided that consumers perceive the ad as credible. Ad credibility influences intention to avoid overpackaging and, in turn, is influenced by a descriptive norm and a celebrity endorser's profile. The presence of a typical-consumer testimonial, however, influences behavioral intention directly, and the profile of this non-famous endorser influences ad credibility and intention through identification.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Leïla Elgaaied-Gambier & Elisa Monnot & Fanny Reniou, 2018. "Using descriptive norm appeals effectively to promote green behavior," Post-Print hal-01630909, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01630909
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01630909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-01630909/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Aaker & Kathleen D. Vohs & Cassie Mogilner, 2010. "Nonprofits Are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 224-237, August.
    2. Vladimir Melnyk & Erica Herpen & Arnout Fischer & Hans Trijp, 2013. "Regulatory fit effects for injunctive versus descriptive social norms: Evidence from the promotion of sustainable products," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 191-203, June.
    3. Grimmer, Martin & Kilburn, Ashley P. & Miles, Morgan P., 2016. "The effect of purchase situation on realized pro-environmental consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1582-1586.
    4. He, Yi & Chen, Qimei & Alden, Dana L., 2012. "Consumption in the public eye: The influence of social presence on service experience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 302-310.
    5. Leila Elgaaïed-Gambier, 2016. "Who Buys Overpackaged Grocery Products and Why? Understanding Consumers’ Reactions to Overpackaging in the Food Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 683-698, June.
    6. Aaker, Jennifer & Vohs, Kathleen D. & Mogilner, Cassie, 2010. "Non-profits Are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter," Research Papers 2047, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    7. Kilbourne, William & Pickett, Gregory, 2008. "How materialism affects environmental beliefs, concern, and environmentally responsible behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 885-893, September.
    8. Nathalie Fleck & Géraldine Michel & Valérie Zeitoun, 2014. "Brand Personification through the Use of Spokespeople: An Exploratory Study of Ordinary Employees, CEOs, and Celebrities Featured in Advertising," Post-Print halshs-01897868, HAL.
    9. Huber, Frank & Meyer, Frederik & Vogel, Johannes & Weihrauch, Andrea & Hamprecht, Julia, 2013. "Endorser age and stereotypes: Consequences on brand age," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 207-215.
    10. Lafferty, Barbara A. & Goldsmith, Ronald E., 1999. "Corporate Credibility's Role in Consumers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions When a High versus a Low Credibility Endorser Is Used in the Ad," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 109-116, February.
    11. Elisa Monnot & Béatrice Parguel & Fanny Reniou, 2015. "Consumer responses to elimination of overpackaging on private label products," Post-Print hal-01644780, HAL.
    12. Kim, Sang-Hoon & Park, Hyun Jung, 2011. "Effects of social influence on consumers' voluntary adoption of innovations prompted by others," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(11), pages 1190-1194.
    13. repec:dau:papers:123456789/14053 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Fransen, Marieke L. & Smeesters, Dirk & Fennis, Bob M., 2011. "The role of social presence in mortality salience effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 29-33, January.
    15. Granovetter, Mark & Soong, Roland, 1986. "Threshold models of interpersonal effects in consumer demand," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 83-99, March.
    16. Elisa Monnot & Fanny Reniou & Béatrice Parguel, 2014. "Consumer responses to elimination of overpackaging on private label products," Working Papers halshs-01076408, HAL.
    17. Noah J. Goldstein & Robert B. Cialdini & Vladas Griskevicius, 2008. "A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 472-482, March.
    18. Goldberg, Marvin E & Hartwick, Jon, 1990. "The Effects of Advertiser Reputation and Extremity of Advertising Claim on Advertising Effectiveness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(2), pages 172-179, September.
    19. Kahle, Lynn R & Homer, Pamela M, 1985. "Physical Attractiveness of the Celebrity Endorser: A Social Adaptation Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(4), pages 954-961, March.
    20. Cotte, June & Coulter, Robin A. & Moore, Melissa, 2005. "Enhancing or disrupting guilt: the role of ad credibility and perceived manipulative intent," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 361-368, March.
    21. Minton, Ann P. & Rose, Randall L., 1997. "The Effects of Environmental Concern on Environmentally Friendly Consumer Behavior: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 37-48, September.
    22. Dang, Shuo & Chu, Liangyong, 2016. "Evaluation framework and verification for sustainable container management as reusable packaging," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1949-1955.
    23. Deirdre Shaw & Robert McMaster & Terry Newholm, 2016. "Care and Commitment in Ethical Consumption: An Exploration of the ‘Attitude–Behaviour Gap’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 251-265, June.
    24. Bearden, William O & Etzel, Michael J, 1982. "Reference Group Influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(2), pages 183-194, September.
    25. Kavanoor, Sukumar & Grewal, Dhruv & Blodgett, Jeff, 1997. "Ads promoting OTC medications: The effect of ad format and credibility on beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 219-227, November.
    26. Wind, Yoram, 1976. "Preference of Relevant Others and Individual Choice Models," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 3(1), pages 50-57, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kavvouris, Christos & Chrysochou, Polymeros & Thøgersen, John, 2020. "“Be Careful What You Say”: The role of psychological reactance on the impact of pro-environmental normative appeals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 257-265.
    2. Gary J. Pickering & Kaylee Schoen & Marta Botta, 2021. "Lifestyle decisions and climate mitigation: current action and behavioural intent of youth," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 1-27, August.
    3. Anne Hamby & Cristel Russell, 2022. "How does ambivalence affect young consumers’ response to risky products?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 841-863, July.
    4. Elisabeth H.M. Temme & Reina E. Vellinga & Henri de Ruiter & Susanna Kugelberg & Mirjam van de Kamp & Anna Milford & Roberta Alessandrini & Fabio Bartolini & Alberto Sanz-Cobena & Adrian Leip, 2020. "Demand-Side Food Policies for Public and Planetary Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Carla Mingolla & Liselot Hudders & Veroline Cauberghe, 2020. "Framing Descriptive Norms as Self-Benefit Versus Environmental Benefit: Self-Construal’s Moderating Impact in Promoting Smart Energy Devices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Lundheim, Sigurd Hilmo & Vesely, Stepan & Nayum, Alim & Klöckner, Christian A., 2021. "From vague interest to strong intentions to install solar panels on private homes in the North – An analysis of psychological drivers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 455-463.
    7. Ho, Thong Quoc & Nie, Zihan & Alpizar, Francisco & Carlsson, Fredrik & Nam, Pham Khanh, 2022. "Celebrity endorsement in promoting pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 68-86.
    8. Nhat Quang Le & Magne Supphellen & Richard P. Bagozzi, 2021. "Effects of negative social information on the willingness to support charities: the moderating role of regulatory focus," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 111-122, March.
    9. Tussyadiah, Iis & Miller, Graham, 2019. "Nudged by a robot: Responses to agency and feedback," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Vu, Ha Thu & Tran, Duc & Goto, Daisaku & Kawata, Keisuke, 2020. "Does experience sharing affect farmers’ pro-environmental behavior? A randomized controlled trial in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    11. Shanmugavel, Nagarajan & Balakrishnan, Janarthanan, 2023. "Influence of pro-environmental behaviour towards behavioural intention of electric vehicles," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Guojie Xie & Lijuan Huang & Chrysostomos Apostolidis & Zuqing Huang & Weiwei Cai & Guokai Li, 2021. "Assessing Consumer Preference for Overpackaging Solutions in E-Commerce," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-21, July.
    13. Dula Etana & Denyse J. R. M. Snelder & Cornelia F. A. van Wesenbeeck & Tjard de Cock Buning, 2020. "Dynamics of Smallholder Farmers’ Livelihood Adaptation Decision-Making in Central Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-26, June.
    14. Dalman, M. Deniz & Chatterjee, Subimal & Min, Junhong, 2020. "Negative word of mouth for a failed innovation from higher/lower equity brands: Moderating roles of opinion leadership and consumer testimonials," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Jiaqi Liu & Zhenping Zhang & Jiayin Qi & Hong Wu & Manyi Chen, 2019. "Understanding the Impact of Opinion Leaders’ Characteristics on Online Group Knowledge-Sharing Engagement from In-Group and Out-Group Perspectives: Evidence from a Chinese Online Knowledge-Sharing Com," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-28, August.

    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. Matthew B. Lunde, 2018. "Sustainability in marketing: a systematic review unifying 20 years of theoretical and substantive contributions (1997–2016)," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 8(3), pages 85-110, December.
    2. Chen Pang & Jie Zhou & Xiaofen Ji, 2022. "The Effects of Chinese Consumers’ Brand Green Stereotypes on Purchasing Intention toward Upcycled Clothing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Tran, Trang P., 2017. "Personalized ads on Facebook: An effective marketing tool for online marketers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 230-242.
    4. Elisa Monnot & Fanny Reniou & Béatrice Parguel & Leila Elgaaied-Gambier, 2019. "“Thinking Outside the Packaging Box”: Should Brands Consider Store Shelf Context When Eliminating Overpackaging?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 355-370, January.
    5. Leonardo M. Raimundo & João F. Proença, 2023. "The Influence of Sustainability on Psychological Ownership in Services Based on Temporary Access," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-35, July.
    6. Carlson, Jeffrey R. & Kukar-Kinney, Monika, 2018. "Investigating discounting of discounts in an online context: The mediating effect of discount credibility and moderating effect of online daily deal promotions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 153-160.
    7. Champniss, Guy & Wilson, Hugh N. & Macdonald, Emma K. & Dimitriu, Radu, 2016. "No I won't, but yes we will: Driving sustainability-related donations through social identity effects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 317-326.
    8. Rakesh Kumar & Vibhuti Tripathi, 2022. "Green Advertising: Examining the Role of Celebrity’s Credibility Using SEM Approach," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 23(2), pages 440-459, April.
    9. Murphy Patrick J. & Pollack Jeff & Nagy Brian & Rutherford Matthew & Coombes Susan, 2019. "Risk Tolerance, Legitimacy, and Perspective: Navigating Biases in Social Enterprise Evaluations," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 9(4), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Claudia Townsend & Darren DahlEditor & Page MoreauAssociate Editor, 2017. "The Price of Beauty: Differential Effects of Design Elements with and without Cost Implications in Nonprofit Donor Solicitations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 794-815.
    11. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    12. Sohyun Bae, 2021. "Holding an entity mind-set deters consumption of recycled content products: the role of perceived product quality," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 18(4), pages 553-571, December.
    13. Rai, Tage S. & Diermeier, Daniel, 2015. "Corporations are Cyborgs: Organizations elicit anger but not sympathy when they can think but cannot feel," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 18-26.
    14. Fischer, Greg & Karlan, Dean & McConnell, Margaret & Raffler, Pia, 2019. "Short-term subsidies and seller type: A health products experiment in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 110-124.
    15. Gonçalves, Helena Martins & Lourenço, Tiago Ferreira & Silva, Graça Miranda, 2016. "Green buying behavior and the theory of consumption values: A fuzzy-set approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1484-1491.
    16. Ramendra Pratap Singh & Neelotpaul Banerjee, 2018. "Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Credibility on Brand Attitude, Advertisement Attitude and Purchase Intention," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(6), pages 1622-1639, December.
    17. Ki, Chung-Wha (Chloe) & Cuevas, Leslie M. & Chong, Sze Man & Lim, Heejin, 2020. "Influencer marketing: Social media influencers as human brands attaching to followers and yielding positive marketing results by fulfilling needs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    18. Petschnig, Martin & Heidenreich, Sven & Spieth, Patrick, 2014. "Innovative alternatives take action – Investigating determinants of alternative fuel vehicle adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.
    19. João M. Lopes & Sofia Gomes & Tiago Trancoso, 2023. "The Dark Side of Green Marketing: How Greenwashing Affects Circular Consumption?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, July.
    20. Leary, R. Bret & Vann, Richard J. & Mittelstaedt, John D. & Murphy, Patrick E. & Sherry,, John F., 2014. "Changing the marketplace one behavior at a time: Perceived marketplace influence and sustainable consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1953-1958.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hal:journl:hal-01630909. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.