EMPOWERING SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR THROUGH THE ENHANCEMENT OF SUBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE
Date
2022
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Sustainability is undoubtedly one of the most urgent issues of the twenty-first century. Academics and practitioners alike have stressed the importance of sustainability-related education for the future. Surprisingly, the impact of knowledge about sustainability on pro-environmental behaviors has been rather mixed. This dissertation aims to shed light on the inconsistencies in relationships between environmental knowledge and the attitude and behaviors regarding sustainability reported in the literature. Specifically, the current research examines the role of subjective knowledge and its impact on consumer attitude toward the brand and intention to purchase green products. It also investigates the mediation effect of perceived consumer effectiveness and the moderating role of a time versus money construct on subjective knowledge. The results show that high (low) subjective knowledge increases (decreases) positive attitude toward the brand and intention to purchase utilitarian green products. The dissertation also finds initial evidence that the green hedonic (versus utilitarian) product category may serve as a boundary condition to the positive relationships between subjective knowledge, attitude toward the brand, and intention to purchase. Perceived consumer effectiveness mediates the main effect. Last, the interaction effect shows that participants in the high (versus low) subjective knowledge condition express less intention to purchase the utilitarian green product when thinking about time (versus money). An additional experiment is conducted beyond the initial hypotheses, exploring high versus low construal level as a potential alternative moderator. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation is one of the few to establish the causal relationships among subjective knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness and consumer choice within the sustainability domain. It also appears to be the first to examine the interaction effect between subjective knowledge and a time versus money mindset. Managerially, these studies provide alternative intervention tools to businesses, governments, and non-profits to encourage sustainable behaviors as it demonstrates that providing consumers with scientific facts, in isolation, may not be as effective in driving behavioral changes. Additional interventions that make people feel they are knowledgeable about the subject area are recommended with a caveat that the tool appears to work well with utilitarian as opposed to hedonic green products.
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Marketing, construal level, Consumer behavior, green product, hedonic and utilitarian, Sustainability, Time money construct
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99 pages
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