RT Article
T1 Translating Environmental Ideologies into Action: The Amplifying Role of Commitment to Beliefs
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 153
IS 3
SP 839
OP 858
A1 Maxwell-Smith, Matthew A.
A1 Conway, Paul J.
A1 Wright, Joshua D.
A1 Olson, James M.
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2018
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785673327
AB 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.
K1 New Ecological Paradigm
K1 System-justification
K1 Political Ideology
K1 Environmental sustainability/conservation
K1 Commitment to beliefs
K1 Green marketing
DO 10.1007/s10551-016-3404-3