Coral Safe or Skin Safe?: Risk Information Behaviors and Green Purchase Decisions

Abstract

Coral bleaching threatens coral safety and the marine environment. Coral-safe sunscreens are encouraged as a green product to protect coral reefs by many U.S. states and other nations. This study cited key variables from the planned risk information seeking and processing (PRISM) model to explore the connection between risk information behaviors and pro-environmental purchase decisions. We surveyed a sample of 409 U.S. respondents, and employed structural equation modeling for analysis. Results showed that both information seeking and processing were precursors to consumers’ product information seeking during purchasing, thereby impacting the purchase intent of coral-safe sunscreens. Systematic processing is also directly related to the purchase intent. Implications are further discussed.

Keywords:

• Coral-Safe Sunscreens
• Green Purchase
• Information Processing
• Information Seeking

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

IRB Approval Information

This study received IRB approval (Protocol number 2019-11-0047) from The University of Texas at Austin Office of Research Support & Compliance.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2024.2366218

Additional information

Funding

This work was performed with support from the University of Texas Microelectronics Research Center, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (grant ECCS-2025227).

Notes on contributors

Wan Wang

Wan Wang (Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department at North Dakota State University. Her research focuses on environmental, health, and science-related risk communication, with a particular emphasis on behaviors related to risk information, such as seeking, sharing, and processing.

Patrick Jamar

Patrick Jamar (Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications at Texas A&M University. He studies new media and technology’s intersection with environmental and risk communication, examining attitudes, behavioral intentions, and perceptions.

Zhengyu Zhang

Zhengyu Zhang (Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Western Washington University. Her research focuses on interpersonal and health communication, exploring the associations between communication patterns and information processing in relation to physical, mental, and relational health well-being.