How Social Labeling Enhances Pro-Environmental Intentions: Identity and Anticipated Guilt as Mediators

Abstract

Background Environmental problems caused by human beings are expected to worsen in the future. Pro-environmental actions often conflict with consumers’ preferences for convenience and cost-effectiveness. Thus, it is crucial to identify persuasive strategies that can effectively increase environmental intentions. Focus of the Article This study investigates the effectiveness of social labeling, a persuasive technique that induces compliance behaviors by using the values that target consumers can identify, in promoting pro-environmental intentions. Humans are inherently social beings and acutely respond to the persuasive messages that define them in the context of their social groups. The current research attempts to extend the social labeling theory by exploring how social labeling could trigger anticipated guilt when the labeled identity is not maintained. Research Question The current study asks how pro-environmental consumer identity and anticipated guilt can mediate the persuasive impact of social labeling as a marketing technique to enhance purchase intention of pro-environmental products and intentions of environmentally friendly behavior. Importance to the Social Marketing Field This study offers theoretical implications for social marketers by not only reexamining the previously identified mechanism of consumer self-identity but also highlighting the role of anticipated guilt that further explains the potential of social labeling techniques in the social marketing. The cognitive and emotional mechanisms identified in the current study can provide social marketers with distinctive and specific knowledge on promoting pro-environmental products and inducing environmental intentions. Method A single-factor online experiment was conducted ( N = 242). A survey question promoting participants’ self-perception of their past pro-environmental behaviors was presented first; then a campaign advertisement that had the social labeling (vs. control) message was presented. In the survey question, only those in the social labeling condition were led to believe that they conduct enough number of pro-environmental behaviors so that the follow-up labeling becomes more convincing among this experimental group. To mitigate the impact associated with a specific product type, we created fictional advertisements promoting two types of pro-environmental products: shampoo bar from a fictitious brand-named EDEN and toothbrush from another fictitious brand-named LAKEN. Results The findings revealed significant indirect effects of social labeling on pro-environmental intentions. Social labeling led to greater pro-environmental self-identity among consumers, and pro-environmental self-identity was positively related to intentions to purchase the advertised pro-environmental product and behave pro-environmentally after the ad exposure. In addition, pro-environmental self-identity was positively related to anticipated guilt, which was associated with greater intentions to purchase the advertised pro-environmental product and protect the environment. Recommendations for Research/Practice Our study supported that consumers intend to take pro-environmental actions to maintain self-identity consistent with social labeling and avoid the expected guilt in the case they fail to comply with internal standards for maintaining the pro-environmental identity. Therefore, social labeling strategies can be more impactful when they properly target audiences’ identity and feelings of responsibility. Limitations Our sample was limited to college students. Furthermore, our study’s self-report questionnaire highlights the need for methods to measure actual pro-environmental behavior and sustainability.

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