Why go green? To save this planet, or to advocate your ego?

Abstract

The premise on which the present research proceeds is that the persuasive impact of an environmental message depends on both regulatory focus and construal level. Research indicates that people often focus more on information that is relevant to them. Hence they will attend more on information that fits with their self-regulatory orientations. When one’s regulatory orientation is sustained during goal pursuit, participants are more persuaded (Cesario, Grant, & Higgins, 2004), express higher brand affinity (Aaker & Lee, 2001), and engaged more in advertisement (Wang & Lee, 2006). Results of four studies show that 1) regulatory fit between regulatory focus and construal level of benefits can be induced 2) more favorable sustainable product evaluations and persuasion are likely to occur when people’s self-regulatory orientations and their construal level of benefits fit with one another 3) the effect of self-regulatory goal depend on construal level of benefits 4) involvement mediates the effect of fit between regulatory focus and construal level on evaluations. The overall pattern of findings, which is consistent across multiple operationalizations of regulatory focus (picture prime and advertisement message frame) converges to demonstrate that more favorable product evaluations and persuasion occurs when the level of construal fits one’s accessible regulatory focus, however, these effects are prominent only when individuals construe sustainable products’ benefits closely.