scholarly journals The Relative Importance of Values, Social Norms, and Enjoyment-Based Motivation in Explaining Pro-Environmental Product Purchasing Behavior in Apparel Domain

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Insook Ahn ◽  
Soo Kim ◽  
Munyoung Kim

Changing consumption behavior can offer co-benefits in reduction of environmental issues and encouraging improvements to environmentally friendly or sustainable production. We propose a novel value-social norm-enjoyment-based motivation (VSE) model and test the factors that influence individual pro-environmental apparel purchasing behavior. Data were obtained from 353 college students in Korea and analyzed by using SEM. Our results show that individuals who endorse bio-altruistic values who engage in eco-friendly environmental behavior in apparel domain are influenced by descriptive norms and injunctive norms. Further, enjoyment-based motivation was found to be a key mediator among bio-altruistic value, descriptive norms, and injunctive norms on pro-environmental purchasing behavior. However, injunctive norms do not directly influence purchasing behavior, but rather, are integrated to enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, then indirectly affect purchasing behavior.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanda Ge ◽  
Guanghua Sheng ◽  
Hongli Zhang

Social norms are important social factors that affect individual behavioral change. Using social norms to promote green consumption is receiving increasing attention. However, due to the different formation processes and mechanisms of the behavioral influence of the different types of social norms, using social norms to promote green consumption often has social norm conflict situations (injunctive norms + negative descriptive norms). Thus, it is difficult to attain the maximum utility of social norms. The present research found that social norm conflict weakens the role of injunctive norms in promoting green consumption. Specifically, negative descriptive norms weaken the role of injunctive norms in promoting green consumption. Alienation, which manifests through powerlessness and meaninglessness, plays a mediating role in the relationship between social norm conflict and green consumption. Self-affirmation moderates the mediating role of alienation between social norm conflicts and green consumption. Self-affirmation reduces the alienation caused by social norm conflict, thereby alleviating the weakening effect of social norm conflict on green consumption.


2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Cialdini

It is widely recognized that communications that activate social norms can be effective in producing societally beneficial conduct. Not so well recognized are the circumstances under which normative information can backfire to produce the opposite of what a communicator intends. There is an understandable, but misguided, tendency to try to mobilize action against a problem by depicting it as regrettably frequent. Information campaigns emphasize that alcohol and drug use is intolerably high, that adolescent suicide rates are alarming, and—most relevant to this article—that rampant polluters are spoiling the environment. Although these claims may be both true and well intentioned, the campaigns' creators have missed something critically important: Within the statement “Many people are doing this undesirable thing” lurks the powerful and undercutting normative message “Many people are doing this.” Only by aligning descriptive norms (what people typically do) with injunctive norms (what people typically approve or disapprove) can one optimize the power of normative appeals. Communicators who fail to recognize the distinction between these two types of norms imperil their persuasive efforts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Ann Schmidtke ◽  
Peter G Nightingale ◽  
Katharine Reeves ◽  
Suzy Gallier ◽  
Ivo Vlaev ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of reminder letters informed by social normative theory (a type of ‘nudge theory’) on uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination by front-line hospital staff.DesignIndividually randomised controlled trial.SettingA large acute care hospital in England.ParticipantsFront-line staff employed by the hospital (n=7540) were randomly allocated to one of four reminder types in a factorial design.InterventionsThe standard letter included only general information directing the staff to take up the vaccine. A second letter highlighted a type of social norm based on peer comparisons. A third letter highlighted a type of social norm based on an appeal to authority. A fourth letter included a combination of the social norms.Main outcome measureThe proportion of hospital staff vaccinated on-site.ResultsVaccine coverage was 43% (812/1885) in the standard letter group, 43% (818/1885) in the descriptive norms group, 43% (814/1885) in the injunctive norms group and 43% (812/1885) in the combination group. There were no statistically significant effects of either norm or the interaction. The OR for the descriptive norms factor is 1.01 (0.89–1.15) in the absence of the injunctive norms factor and 1.00 (0.88–1.13) in its presence. The OR for the injunctive norms factor is 1.00 (0.88–1.14) in the absence of the descriptive norms factor and 0.99 (0.87–1.12) in its presence.ConclusionsWe find no evidence that the uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccination is affected by reminders using social norms to motivate uptake.


Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1842
Author(s):  
Edward Shih-Tse Wang

Because beer is one of the most common alcoholic beverages consumed in the world, this research adopted an expanded theory of planned behavior (TPB) perspective to understand why beer consumers purchase beer. This study investigated the effects of injunctive norms, descriptive norms, attitude, and perceived behavioral control on alcohol identity and purchase intention. The possible mediating role of alcohol identity was also investigated. This study was conducted in Taiwan, and a total of 452 beer consumers participated in the survey. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship among the study variables. The results revealed that alcohol identity positively influences purchase intention, and attitude positively affects alcohol identity and purchase intention. In addition, injunctive norms have a positive influence on alcohol identity, and descriptive norms positively affect purchase intention. In particular, perceived behavioral control has a negative influence on alcohol identity but has a positive influence on purchase intention. This study also found that alcohol identity mediates the attitude–purchase intention relationship. By examining the consumption behavior of beer consumers from the TPB perspective, this study contributed to an understanding of beer consumption behavior.


2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tavis J. Glassman ◽  
Robert E. Braun

High-risk drinking, the consumption of 5 or more drinks on one occasion, constitutes a serious public health issue among young adults, particularly college students. In an attempt to address this issue in a cost-effective manner, many universities have implemented social marketing interventions sometimes utilizing social norm theory and in other cases using more traditional strategies. However, some practitioners, school officials, and even researchers incorrectly use the terms social marketing and social norms marketing, interchangeably. Social marketing influences health behavior through the use of marketing principles, such as the use of the 4Ps (product, price, placement, and promotion) to increase knowledge, change attitudes, and motivate individual or societal change. Conversely, social norms represents a specific theory which can be applied using social marketing principles. Social norm interventions are designed to correct peoples' misconceptions concerning the prevalence of a particular behavior. Theorists assert that by providing accurate information concerning the prevalence of the behavior of interest people will alter their behavior to fit the“norm.” Using social marketing approaches with or without social norms theory represents a promising cost-effective strategy for addressing high-risk drinking among college students. However, failing to understand and appreciate the conceptual underpinnings of how these two concepts relate to one another may result in ineffective interventions and conclusions concerning the efficacy of social marketing and/or social norms theory.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan T. Morgan ◽  
Anna Filippova

Open online communities rely on social norms for behavior regulation, group cohesion, and sustainability. Research on the role of social norms online has mainly focused on one source of influence at a time, making it difficult to separate different normative influences and understand their interactions. In this study, we use the Focus Theory to examine interactions between several sources of normative influence in a Wikipedia sub-community: local descriptive norms, local injunctive norms, and norms imported from similar sub- communities. We find that exposure to injunctive norms has a stronger effect than descriptive norms, that the likelihood of performing a behavior is higher when both injunctive and descriptive norms are congruent, and that conflicting social norms may negatively impact pro-normative behavior. We contextualize these findings through member interviews, and discuss their implications for both future research on normative influence in online groups and the design of systems that support open collaboration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5371
Author(s):  
Sanne Raghoebar ◽  
Ellen Van Kleef ◽  
Emely De Vet

Increasing the relative availability of plant-based (versus animal source) foods seems promising in shifting consumption, but it remains unknown how and under what circumstances this happens. We performed two availability manipulations including different foods. The impact on food choice, social norm perceptions about what others do (descriptive) or approve of (injunctive), and salience was assessed. Non-vegetarian participants were visually (Study 1, n = 184) or physically (Study 2, n = 276) exposed to (a) four plant-based and two animal source foods or (b) vice versa. Participants chose one food item, either hypothetically (Study 1) or actually (Study 2), and reported the perceived social norms and salience of plant-based and animal source foods. The results showed no direct effects on food choice, injunctive norms, or salience. An increased proportion of plant-based (versus animal source) foods was interpreted in Study 1 as plant-based foods being less often chosen by others, whereas in Study 2, these foods were interpreted as being more often chosen (marginally significant), while animal source foods were interpreted as being less often chosen. The results suggest that a higher availability of plant-based foods influences descriptive norms, but future research should examine aspects potentially contributing to the contradictory normative interpretations (e.g., norm salience).


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511878962
Author(s):  
Stephanie B. Linek ◽  
Anika Ostermaier-Grabow

There is an ongoing discussion if and how students and lecturers should interact with each other on social networks. In this article, we present an empirical study on the so-called netiquette for Facebook contacts between students and their lecturers (hereinafter called SL-contacts). In addition, we investigated the subjective perception of the majority’s behavior. This enabled a comparison between two different kinds of social norms: the injunctive norms (netiquette) and the descriptive norms (majority). Database was an online survey with 2,849 participants (2,550 students and 299 lecturers). SL-contacts were quite rare in our sample and usually initiated by students. Our results showed that the appropriateness of SL-contacts depends on the individual case. In addition, we found that injunctive and descriptive norms are in line with each other. Overall, our results indicate that there is a common ground of understanding, and SL-contacts are less critical than they might appear.


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