Explaining consumer choice of low carbon footprint goods using the behavioral spillover effect in German-speaking countries

Penz, Elfriede and Hartl, Barbara and Hofmann, Eva ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7934-0128 (2019) Explaining consumer choice of low carbon footprint goods using the behavioral spillover effect in German-speaking countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 214. pp. 429-439. ISSN 0959-6526

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Abstract

The aim of the research was to investigate how to stimulate sustainable consumer behaviors that lead to a lowering of the carbon footprint. Because of environmental challenges at the individual and societal levels, researchers agree that behavioral change is necessary. We argue that when already performing a sustainable behavior, this behavior can spill over to other sustainable actions, even to more difficult ones. First, we studied whether a positive behavioral spillover occurs between product categories and whether the spillover effect depends on the ease or difficulty of the sustainable behavior. Second, we investigated whether high awareness of sustainability determines the spillover between categories. We conducted three online experiments in Central Europe, investigating whether spillover takes place between behaviors assigned to the same category (transport or food) or between behaviors assigned to different categories (transport or food). In all three studies participants had to make two independent decisions. In studies 1a (N=281) and 1b (N=195), the effect of the ease/difficulty of the behavior was tested. In study 2 (N=164), awareness of CO2 emission reducing effects was manipulated. Findings revealed a behavioral spillover between sustainable choices.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Sustainable consumer behavior, Behavioral spillover effect, Awareness
Divisions:	Departments > Marketing > Internationales Marketing Management Kompetenzzentren > Empirische Forschungsmethoden
Version of the Document:	Published
Depositing User:	Gertraud Novotny
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2019 14:04
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2019 15:10
Related URLs:	Publisher
FIDES Link:	https://bach.wu.ac.at/d/research/results/89638/
URI:	https://epub.wu.ac.at/id/eprint/6775

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