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Is It Benefiting Me or the Environment? How Context Nudges Green Product Choices

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Megha Bharti
Megha Bharti
Megha Bharti
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Vivek Suneja
Vivek Suneja
Vivek Suneja
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Green attribute trade‐offs have been identified as one of the significant antecedents of the green gap phenomenon (i.e., the discrepancy between pro‐green attitudes and purchase behavior of green products) in literature. This paper focuses on the strategic role of trade‐off‐related context effects (i.e., compromise effect and asymmetric dominance effect) as behavioral nudges in green marketing. We suggest that the benefit association of green attributes can influence the scope of these two context effects. We use three studies with experimental design to illustrate the said effect across three trade‐off scenarios, a range of product categories, and a diverse set of samples. Study 1 (307 participants), Study 2 (312 participants), and Study 3 (259 participants) investigated the hypotheses for trade‐offs between green attributes and other conventional product attributes, particularly price, functional performance, and usage/procurement convenience, respectively. The results reveal that when green attributes are associated with user‐benefit, the target green option performs better as a compromise option than as an asymmetrically dominant option, whereas when the green attributes are associated with environmental‐benefit, the target green option performs better as an asymmetrically dominant option than as a compromise option. Further, this difference in efficacy under environmental‐benefit association is less pronounced for individuals high on interdependent self‐construal. Additionally, we find that under the environmental‐benefit association, an independent self‐construal attenuates the efficacy of the compromise effect.
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International Journal of Consumer Studies, 2024; 48:e13102
https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.13102
International Journal of Consumer Studies
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Is It Benefiting Me or the Environment? How Context
Nudges Green Product Choices
MeghaBharti1 | VivekSuneja2
1XLRI- Xavier School of Management, Delhi- NCR campus, Delhi, India | 2FMS- Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Correspondence: Megha Bharti (meghabharti@xlri.ac.in)
Received: 9 August 2023 | Revised: 16 August 202 4 | Accepted: 21 October 2024
Funding: This work was supported by Xavier School of Management (XLRG2308).
Keywords: asymmetric dominance effect| compromise effect| context effects| green benefit association| green consumption| green nudges|
green trade- offs| self- construal
ABSTRACT
Green attribute trade- offs have been identified as one of the significant antecedents of the green gap phenomenon (i.e., the
discrepancy between pro- green attitudes and purchase behavior of green products) in literature. This paper focuses on the stra-
tegic role of trade- off- related context effects (i.e., compromise effect and asymmetric dominance effect) as behavioral nudges in
green marketing. We suggest that the benefit association of green attributes can influence the scope of these two context effects.
We use three studies with experimental design to illustrate the said effect across three trade- off scenarios, a range of product
categories, and a diverse set of samples. Study 1 (307 participants), Study 2 (312 participants), and Study 3 (259 participants) in-
vestigated the hypotheses for trade- offs between green attributes and other conventional product attributes, particularly price,
functional performance, and usage/procurement convenience, respectively. The results reveal that when green attributes are as-
sociated with user- benefit, the target green option performs better as a compromise option than as an asymmetrically dominant
option, whereas when the green attributes are associated with environmental- benefit, the target green option performs better
as an asymmetrically dominant option than as a compromise option. Further, this difference in efficacy under environmental-
benefit association is less pronounced for individuals high on interdependent self- construal. Additionally, we find that under the
environmental- benefit association, an independent self- construal attenuates the efficacy of the compromise effect.
1 | Introduction
In recent years, there has been a notable surge in the emer-
gence of new green and sustainable brands (Statista 2022).
Simultaneously, established brands for durable and nondurable
consumer goods are actively venturing into eco- friendly initia-
tives, offering greener alternatives within their product port-
folios. For instance, Colgate is set to launch toothpaste tablets
with plastic- free reusable packaging by 2025 (Corra2022); Tide
launched Tide Purecelan, which offers 75% chemical- free for-
mula as a green alternative to their regular synthetic detergent;
Samsung launched BESPOKE wind- free air conditioner to lower
environmental impact and increase energy efficiency.
Noting this trend, in the past few decades, academic research-
ers and policymakers have focused on shaping a favorable con-
sumer attitude toward such green products. Existing research,
polls, and surveys worldwide have consistently shown an over-
whelmingly positive consumer attitude toward such products
(Business Wire2021; Sharma, Aswal, and Paul 2023; Kumar,
Prakash, and Kumar2021). Despite such statistics, more recent
research suggests that only a few consumers follow through
with their pro- green values and invest in green consumption
(Falcão and Roseira 2022). This discrepancy is well acknowl-
edged in literature and has been termed the green gap phe-
nomenon (ElHaffar, Durif, and Dubé 2020; Essiz etal. 2023;
Sharma2021).
© 2024 J ohn Wiley & Sons Ltd .
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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