Cause I'll Feel Good! An Investigation into the Effects of Anticipated Emotions and Personal Moral Norms on Consumer Pro-Environmental Behavior

ABSTRACT

Anticipated emotions and moral norms have previously been found to influence consumer adoption of pro-environmental products in different ways. However norms and emotions have seldom been combined in order to understand their relations in motivating consumers to adopt sustainable products. Despite the environmental benefits of sustainable products, consumer adoption is slow to take off. Utilizing data from an online survey (N = 576), this study finds that anticipated emotions directly influence consumer adoption and the effect of moral norms is mediated by the anticipated emotions. This study extends the norm activation model and implies communicating positive emotions for promoting sustainable products.

KEYWORDS:

• anticipated emotion
• ascription of responsibility
• attitude
• consumer pro-environmental behavior
• personal moral norm

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support from AB Svensk Bilprovning that made data collection possible.