Exploitation of mortality salience in communication on climate change

Hussein Akil (), Philippe Robert-Demontrond () and Julien Bouillé
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Hussein Akil: CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Philippe Robert-Demontrond: CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Julien Bouillé: CIAPHS - Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Analyse des Processus Humains et Sociaux [Rennes] - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2

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Abstract: This research focuses on the effectiveness of anxiety-inducing communication for mobilizing consumers against climate change. Based on terror management theory (TMT), we show that this register can be counterproductive in generating consumer choices that run counter to pro-environmental logics. In particular, we report the results of an experiment (N = 132) testing the influence of the type of communication (anxiogenic vs informative) on consumer choices (pro-materialistic vs pro-environmental). The results reveal that people's consumption choices depend on their cultural worldviews (i.e. materialistic vs environmentalist) and the type of communication used. The effectiveness of communication strategies on climate change is then discussed in terms of people's cultural worldview.

Keywords: climate change; materialism; mortality salience; terror management theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01-11
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Published in Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), 2018, 33 (1), pp.2-29. ⟨10.1177/2051570717745839⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01746032

DOI: 10.1177/2051570717745839

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