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

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

Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 114, issue C, 198-212

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.

Keywords: Eco-friendly products; Environmental protection; Psychological distance; Metaphorical effect; Heuristic processing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:114:y:2020:i:c:p:198-212

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.031

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