Translating Environmental Ideologies into Action: The Amplifying Role of Commitment to Beliefs

Consumers do not always follow their ideological beliefs about the need to engage in environmentally friendly (EF) consumption. We propose that Commitment to Beliefs (CTB)—the general tendency to follow one’s value-based beliefs—can help identify who is most likely to follow their environmental ideo...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Maxwell-Smith, Matthew A. (Author) ; Conway, Paul J. (Author) ; Wright, Joshua D. (Author) ; Olson, James M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2018
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2018, Volume: 153, Issue: 3, Pages: 839-858
Further subjects:B Commitment to beliefs
B System-justification
B conservation / Environmental sustainability
B New Ecological Paradigm
B Political Ideology
B Green marketing
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Consumers do not always follow their ideological beliefs about the need to engage in environmentally friendly (EF) consumption. We propose that Commitment to Beliefs (CTB)—the general tendency to follow one’s value-based beliefs—can help identify who is most likely to follow their environmental ideologies. We predicted that CTB would amplify the effect of beliefs prescribing environmental stewardship (e.g., new ecological paradigm), or neglect (e.g., economic system-justification), on corresponding intentions, behavior, and purchasing decisions. In two studies, CTB amplified the positive and negative effects of relevant EF ideologies on EF purchase decisions (Study 1), and consumption and conservation attitudes, intentions, as well as future behavior (Study 2). In each study, only people with higher levels of CTB demonstrated the most ideologically consistent consumption and conservation intentions and behavior. These findings clarify who is most likely to align their decisions and lifestyles according to their sustainable consumption ideologies. The amplification effect of CTB, and the CTB variable itself, present new contributions to consumer behavior research and the domains of sustainable or ethical consumption in particular and offer wide-ranging potential for marketing practitioners and researchers.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3404-3