Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
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Sustainable Cities and Society
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scs
The impact of different emotional appeals on the purchase intention for
green products: The moderating effects of green involvement and Confucian
cultures
MARK
⁎
Jianming Wang , Jing Bao, Congcong Wang, Longchang Wu
School of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics,18 Xueyuan Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, China
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords:
Experiment
Emotional green appeal
Purchase intention
Green involvement
Confucian cultures
By conducting field experiments with energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerators, data concerning
different emotional green appeals and consumers’ psychological responses were collected. Through the conditional process model analysis based on the data, the effects of different emotional green appeals on consumers’
attitude towards the advertisement, perceived value, and purchase intention were analyzed. This is not only the
first time that the moderating effect of Confucian cultures was verified but also the first study that includes the
admiring green appeal and the disdainful green appeal. Overall, part of the effects of the different emotional
green appeals have separate impacts on consumers’ attitude toward advertisement, perceived value, and green
purchase intention. Attitude and perceived value have significant mediating effect on the relationship between
emotional green appeals and purchase intention in the framework of admiration vs disdain. Green involvement
and Confucian culture are not qualified moderators in any situations. These conclusions provide important
implications for the promotion of enterprises’ green appeal advertisements.
1. Introduction
In consideration of global environmental issues generated mainly by
human activities (Dong, Deng, Li, & Huang, 2017), such as the greenhouse effect, water shortage, air pollution, noise pollution and species
extinction (Chen & Lee, 2015; Wang, Zhang, & Liu, 2016), becoming
more and more serious, it is important to reduce the negative impact of
human beings’ activities on the eco-environment. In addition, promoting consumers’ green purchase behavior is a very important way to
help such a reduction. Obviously, consumers with high environmental
awareness are more likely to buy green products and to pursue sustainable consumption patterns (Teng & Ow, 2014; Yunus & Rahman,
2014). To raise consumers’ environmental awareness, green appeal
advertisements play an important role. They are the advertisements
that can evoke audiences’ green purchase behaviors, and excellent ones
depend on a good understanding of how the mechanism of the appeal
information affects consumers’ purchasing decisions. Previous studies
have focused not only on different responses of consumers when they
are facing various green appeal advertisements (Xu, Arpan, & Chen,
2015) but also on the different effects of various green appeal advertisements (such as emotional versus functional appeals, green versus
non-green appeals, environmental benefit versus economic benefit
⁎
appeals, self-benefit versus other-benefit appeals, well-baby versus sickbaby appeals, assertive versus suggestive appeals, long-term versus
short-term appeals, etc. (Kronrod, Grinstein, & Wathieu, 2012; Ku, Kuo,
Wu, & Wu,
2012;
Matthes,
Wonneberger, & Schmuck,
2014;
Melody & Roxanne, 1999; Xu et al., 2015; Wang & Wu, 2015). However,
few studies have specifically studied emotional green appeal advertisements, which may evoke consumers’ green emotions. Therefore, this
study investigated the effectiveness of different emotional green appeals (the proud appeal, admiring appeal, guilty appeal, and disdainful
appeal) in influencing consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement,
perceived value, and purchase intention in an emerging country. It may
enrich studies on green appeal advertisement, provide some theoretical
references for enterprises’ green promotion strategies, and contribute to
the sustainable development of the entire society (Xu et al., 2015).
2. Literature review and model hypotheses
2.1. Direct effects
Successful advertising lies in discovering human emotions, be they
positive or negative, to leave people touched in some way
(Maheswarappa & Sivakumaran, 2017). This is also true for green
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sjwjm@zufe.edu.cn (J. Wang), 466629563@qq.com (J. Bao), 531582046@qq.com (C. Wang), 719305862@qq.com (L. Wu).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.06.001
Received 5 March 2017; Received in revised form 18 May 2017; Accepted 2 June 2017
Available online 08 June 2017
2210-6707/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
Dermody, & Urbye, 2014). Hence, we propose the following:
H3.1: The proud green appeal will be more effective than the guilty green
appeal in improving consumers’ purchase intention.
H3.2: The admiring green appeal will be more effective than the disdainful green appeal in improving consumers’ purchase intention.
promotion advertising. Based on previous studies, emotional green
appeals include four types: the proud appeal, admiring appeal, guilty
appeal, and disdainful appeal (Wang & Wu, 2015). Furthermore, the
first two are positive emotional appeals, while the rest are negative
(Carrus, Passafaro, & Bonnes, 2008; Ferguson & Branscombe, 2010;
Kaiser & Wilson, 2004). In addition, the proud appeal and the guilty
appeal are designed to stimulate the receivers’ emotions toward their
own “proper/improper” behavior, while the admiring appeal and the
disdainful appeal are designed to stimulate the receivers’ emotions toward other people’s “proper/improper” behavior. Extant studies have
already demonstrated that emotional feeling can promote sustainable
consumption behavior (Antonetti & Maklan, 2014; Chen & Lee, 2015;
Nameghi & Shadi, 2013). However, different types of emotions may
have disparate effects. According to Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build
model of positive emotions, positive emotions can promote individuals’
actions; specifically, positive emotional appeals bring people sensory
pleasure and happiness, which can lead them to accept the advertisement or love the brand (Fredrickson, 2001). In contrast, negative
emotional appeals influence people’s attitude by a complex process that
centers around the notions of motivated attention and motivated processing (Nabi, 1999). For example, people will evaluate the possibility
and degree of threat that negative appeals of advertisements may
suggest (Manrai, Manrai, & Ryans, 1997). However, the promotional
effects of negative emotional appeals are instable and even counterproductive (Bessarabova, Turner, Fink, & Blustein, 2015). Hence, we
propose the following:
H1.1: The proud green appeal will be more effective than the guilty green
appeal in influencing attitude towards the advertisement.
H1.2: The admiring green appeal will be more effective than the disdainful green appeal in influencing attitude towards the advertisement.
Consumers’ perceived value is the value that consumers estimate
based on the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of an aimed product (de
Medeiros, Ribeiro, & Cortimiglia, 2016). Zeithaml (Zeithaml, 1998)
believes that various consumers have different perceived values of a
given aimed product because of their personalized preferences and
cognition. Furthermore, some scholars suggest that consumers’ perceived value is significantly affected by emotion; that is, consumers’
perceived value will change along with their current emotional atmosphere (Mort, 2010). Advertising-induced emotional responses positively influence patrons’ perceived value (Hyuna, Kimb, & Lee, 2011).
In addition, the positive emotional appeals of advertisements are devoted to eliciting positive emotions, and these emotions are very likely
to lead to a positive evaluation (i.e., cognition) of an object (Hyuna
et al., 2011). Hence, we propose the following:
H2.1: The proud green appeal will be more effective than the guilty green
appeal in improving consumers’ perceived value.
H2.2: The admiring green appeal will be more effective than the disdainful green appeal in improving consumers’ perceived value.
It is common sense that consumers’ purchase intention can help
marketers to predict their actual purchase behavior. Therefore, consumers’ purchase intention is usually substituted for their actual purchase behavior in academic studies. Consumers’ emotions, which are
evoked by watching or experiencing emotional green appeal advertisements, have proved to be effective in promoting various green behavior intentions (Carrus et al., 2008; Harth, Leach, & Kessler, 2013;
Rees, Klug, & Bamberg, 2015). Some scholars have supposed that the
effect of emotional green appeals on consumers’ purchase intention is at
the extreme, as such an appeal suits an individual’s current emotional
needs (Tih, Chan, Ansary, & Ahmed, 2016). Furthermore, Meneses et al.
(Meneses, 2010) divided advertisements into rational and emotional
and at the same time classified consumers’ emotions into positive and
negative. It turned out that emotional resonance worked better than
theoretical knowledge in promoting consumers’ purchase intention;
furthermore, positive emotion is more effective than negative emotion.
A research conclusion regarding consumers’ ecological packaging behavior supported the same idea (Koenig-Lewis, Palmer,
2.2. Mediating effects
Many factors can impact consumers’ purchase intention, and the
attitudinal variables are regular aspects of extant green marketing
studies (Paço, Alves, Shiel, & Filho, 2013; Chen, Long, Niu,
Feng, & Yang, 2014; Fornara, Pattitoni, Mura, & Strazzera, 2016;
Meijer, Catacutan, Sileshi, & Nieuwenhuis, 2015). It is found that consumers’ green purchase behaviors depend greatly on their attitude towards the advertisement; they would not buy a brand whose advertising they dislike (Shrum, McCarty, & Lowrey, 1995). A positive
attitude can strengthen their purchase intention and maintain their
satisfaction with and loyalty to the enterprise (Uncles,
Dowling, & Hammond, 2003). Moreover, many scholars found that
consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement is the intermediary
variable between the advertisement appeal and the purchase intention
(Mitchell & Olson, 2000; Matthes et al., 2014), and Biel
(Biel & Bridgwater, 1990) suggested that an enterprise should know its
targeted consumers’ purchase intention after exposure to an advertisement so that the subsequent advertising strategy can be optimized.
Hence, we propose the following:
H4: Consumers’ positive attitude towards the advertisement will significantly mediate the influence of emotional green appeal type on their
purchase intention.
Many studies focus on the relationship between consumers’ perceived value and purchase intention, and most of their conclusions have
supported the idea that the former can impact the latter. Zeithaml’s
(Zeithaml, 1998) study explored consumers’ purchase behavior from a
psychological perspective and found that purchase intention will improve remarkably when the perceived benefits are greater than the
perceived cost. Eggert et al. (Eggert & Ulaga, 2002) admitted that many
factors can impact consumers’ purchase behavior; perceived value and
consumers’ satisfaction absolutely cannot be ignored. By investigating a
large pool of national restaurant patrons, scholars found that perceived
value can directly promote consumption intention (Hyuna et al., 2011).
In addition, the results of Wang et al. (Wang & Juan, 2016) indicated
that the effect of perceived service value on repetitive consumption
behavioral intention is statistically significant. Research on green consumption has also confirmed that consumers’ perceived value holds a
central position in the factors influencing their green purchase intention
(Yang & Zhou, 2006). Furthermore, the value can also directly promote
consumers’ green repurchase behavior (Lam, Lau, & Cheung, 2016).
Hence, we propose the following:
H5: Consumers’ perceived value will significantly mediate the influence
of emotional green appeal type on their purchase intention.
2.3. Moderating effects
Involvement can be defined as the extent to which the attitudinal
issue under consideration is of personal importance (Petty & Cacioppo,
1979). It is not only a factor which has been widely used to study
marketing and consumer behavior (Hu & Yu, 2007; Jin, 2009), but also
an important moderating variable in studying advertising effectiveness
(Braverman, 2008). Individuals with different involvement tend to
process information differently and this can influence the impact of
appeal/messages on behavior intention (Park, Lee, & Han, 2007;
Cornelis, Cauberghe, & De Pelsmacker, 2014). Extant research found
that a high level of involvement leads to cognitive information processing regarding issues of interest, whereas a low level of involvement
results in information processing through simple cues (Sohn & Lee,
2017). In other words, the higher consumers’ involvement, the more
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Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
these cultural characters may reinforce or inhibit the effect of different
type of green advertisements on consumers’ attitude, perceived value
and final purchase decision. Hence, we propose the following:
H7.1: Confucian culture moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on attitude towards the advertisement.
H7.2: Confucian culture moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on perceived value.
H7.3: Confucian culture moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on purchase intention.
Above all, emotional green appeals are independent variables.
Beyond that, attitude towards the advertisement, perceived value and
purchase intention are dependent variables (among which attitude towards the advertisement and perceived value are mediating variables,
and purchase intention is an outcome variable), and green involvement
and Confucian culture are moderating variables. The whole theoretical
model is shown in Fig. 1.
effortful their information processing (Shao, Baker, & Wagner, 2004).
Thus, involvement can affect the effect of the advertisement through
moderating the influence of advertising appeal on consumers’ various
psychological variables or behaviors. For example, a study of impulse
buying revealed that shopping involvement can moderate the relationship between consumers’ negative emotions and their consumption behavior (Sohn & Lee, 2017). In the research of risk information,
So, Jeong, & Hwang (2017) suggested the effect of information on respondents’ attitude was moderated by their involvement. Furthermore,
in the study of advertising effects, it is demonstrated that the level of
involvement can remarkably moderate the influence of type of advertisements on attitudes towards advertisement, brand attitudes and
purchase intentions (Park, Park, & Jeon, 2014). A research of internet
travel advertisement also support the above view, its result showed that
consumers’ product and situational involvement play a moderating role
in the relationships among advertising content design, attitude towards
the advertisement, brand attitude and purchase intention (Rasty,
Chou, & Feiz, 2013). In a green advertisement study of consumers’ response to different print advertisements for a green laundry detergent,
scholars found that, for those less involved with the environment, the
effects of type of green appeal on attitude toward the ad and purchase
intention are significantly different from those highly involved with the
environment (Melody & Roxanne, 1999). Hence, we propose the following:
H6.1: Green involvement moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on attitude towards the advertisement.
H6.2: Green involvement moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on perceived value.
H6.3: Green involvement moderates the influence of emotional green
appeal type on purchase intention.
Culture is a factor that emphasizes the multiple differences in the
structure and behavior of the market (Frías, Rodríguez, Alberto
Castañeda, Sabiote, & Buhalis, 2012). People’s psychological states and
behaviors are always moderated by culture. For example, it is found
that culture can affect the relationship between trait buying impulsiveness and impulsive buying behavior at the cultural grouping and
individual difference levels (Kacen & Lee, 2002). By probing the relationship between type of emotional appeal and advertisement’ effect
(i.e. participants’ generalized feelings, attitudes, and impressions),
scholars revealed that culture successfully played a moderating role in
the hypothesized model (Han & Ling, 2016). A study of advertising effectiveness also found that culture can moderate the effects of advertisements’ appeal type on subjects’ relevant attitudinal variables
(Zhang & Neelankavil, 1997). Zhang, Zhu, & Liu (2012) confirmed that
culture does have specific moderating effects on the relationships between motivational factors and mobile commerce adoption intention
through meta-analysis. Besides, the study of Kaba & Osei-Bryson (2013)
showed that the effects of motivations on the attitude of use of information and communication technology are significantly moderated
by culture.
Confucian culture is one kind of traditional culture and most popular in Eastern cultures. We focus on only three aspects, behavioridentity matching, herd behavior, and Mianzi,1 for the broad connotations of Confucian culture. These three kinds of values in Confucian
culture are most closely related to green purchase behavior, which all
think highly of other people’s view. Yang (1981)noted that Chinese
consumers think a great deal of how they are evaluated by other people,
especially those in the same social class. In addition, Easterners pay
great attention to Mianzi (Ho, 1976). For example, Chinese consumers
always want to improve their Mianzi, which means getting more respects or admiration (e.g. purchasing pro-environmental product), and
they will be very angry, embarrassed, and anxious when they lose
Mianzi (e.g. be laughed at for acts of environmental pollution). Thus,
1
3. Methodology
3.1. Experimental product
Based on the analysis of Chinese journals’ green appeal advertisements, it turns out that the number of advertisements for the household
appliance industry is the largest (Xing, 2007). Dai et al. (Dai, Wu,
Jing, & Tong, 2009) found that green appeal advertisements for the
secondary industries (e.g., household electrical appliances, automobiles) are the most frequent type in journals, on television, and in
other media. Otherwise, the advertisement expenditure of the household electrical appliances industry always tops the list, based on the
China advertising yearbook. What is more, the household electrical appliances industry correlates closely with civilians, and almost every
household has at least one refrigerator. In conclusion, we chose the
refrigerator as experimental product. To avoid trademark infringement
or other, unknown disturbances, we created a fake refrigerator brand
called Grennes as our experimental brand. We assumed that the refrigerator performs well in energy saving and environmental protection
(such as a high level of energy efficiency, a superefficient compressor,
efficient fluorine-free refrigeration, and only 1 kWh of electricity use
over 3 days).
3.2. Experimental material
Four video advertisements were made by the research team, which
present the emotional green appeals in the following order: the proud
appeal, guilty appeal, admiring appeal, and disdainful appeal. Before
we made the advertisements, a pilot research project was conducted.
We randomly recruited five groups of respondents, with 10 respondents
(5 females and 5 males) in each group. Each respondent was asked 2
questions: 1) talk about your first impression of the background, slogans, and cartoon images of pride, guilt, admiration, and disdain; 2)
describe, in sequence, the effect of pride, guilt, admiration, or disdain
on your behavior. Based on these investigation results, the experimental
advertisements (consisting of text and pictures) were made using
PowerPoint. Then, we turned the PPT files into videos, using Ulead
video studio 8. At the end, we employed professional dubbing staff to
dub the videos (the text contents of the advertisements are shown in
Appendix B).
Before the formal experiment, we conducted another pilot test to
ensure the effectiveness of these video advertisements. One hundred
twenty randomly sampled respondents were asked to watch them.
Every thirty respondents watched only one of these advertisements and
then answered the following questions: 1) If I purchase this energysaving and environment-friendly refrigerator, I will be proud of myself;
2) If I do not choose this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, I will feel guilty; 3) If others purchase this energy-saving and
environment-friendly refrigerator, I will admire them; 4) If others do
Mianzi means ‘face’, although not exactly.
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Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
Fig. 1. Research model. Notes: Solid lines depict the influential
effects, and dashed lines depict the moderating effects.
Green involvement
Admiring appeal
Guilty appeal
Disdainful appeal
H6
Emotional green appeal type
Proud appeal
Attitude towards
advertisement
H1
H4
Purchase
H3
intention
H2
Perceived value
H5
H7
Confucian cultures
3.4. Sample
not choose this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, I
will disdain them. The results show that the mean score of the proud
appeal group (question 1) is significantly higher than that of the other
groups (p < 0.000). The effectiveness of the other three advertisements is also demonstrated.
The field experiments were performed in Hangzhou, People’s
Republic of China, from June to August 2015. Hangzhou is a large city
in Eastern Asia; its total area is 16,596 square kilometers, and it has a
resident population of 9.018 million (2015). Hangzhou had a GDP of
1,005.358 billion RMB yuan (approximately US$146.18 billion) in
2015 and a per capita GDP amounting to 112,268 RMB yuan (approximately US$16, 324). Hangzhou represents the developed, prosperous cities of emerging countries.
A random sampling method was used to ensure better representation. The field experiments occurred mainly in the Xiasha Higher
Education Park of Hangzhou, where there are plentiful well-educated
and patient subjects. There were 400 sample respondents, who were
divided into 4 groups, with 100 respondents in each group. Because
young people are more capable of understanding the study and more
willing to participate in the experiments, the age of most of the respondents was under 34 (96.6%), and the groups were approximately
half men and half women. In addition, 41.8% of the respondents had
bachelor’s degrees, 38% had postgraduate degrees, and the education of
the rest was at a level below the bachelor’s degree. The demographic
characteristics of the respondents are shown in Table 1.
3.3. Measurement
We used a five-point Likert scale to complete the survey
(1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The variables used to
measure each construct were derived mainly from previous studies and
adjusted to Eastern cultures. The questionnaire included items that
measured attitude towards the advertisement, perceived value, purchase intention, green involvement, and Confucian culture. Key background information from the respondents was also included.
The attitude toward the green advertisement (appeal) included
three items based on Tang and Wang (Tang, Wang, & Lu, 2014): 1) This
green appeal is very impressive; 2) This green appeal is attractive; 3) I
love this green appeal.
The three items for perceived value were based on Sun and Zhang
(2015): 1) Choosing this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator can help in ecological environment improvement; 2)
Choosing this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator can
help me in obtaining admiration; 3) Choosing this energy-saving and
environment-friendly refrigerator can help me in building a positive
image.
A three-item scale developed to measure purchase intention was
derived from Wang and Wu (Wang & Wu, 2016): 1) I will collect and
comprehend information about this energy-saving and environmentfriendly refrigerator; 2) I will purchase this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator when I need to buy a refrigerator; 3)
This advertisement prompts me to purchase this energy-saving and
environment-friendly refrigerator.
Green involvement was measured with 3 items adapted from Souza
and Taghian (Souza & Taghian, 2005): 1) I am concerned about environmental issues; 2) I pay close attention to green appeal information;
3) I keep a watchful eye on new and popular green products.
For the Confucian culture, we consulted the findings obtained by
Zhang (Zhang, 2005): 1) An individual’s behavior should match his/her
status; 2) An individual’s clothing should match his/her status; 3) I will
not tell my family when I lose Mianzi; 4) I do not like to be blamed at
work; 5) I believe the teacher’s instruction is very important; 6) I will
mainly consider the advice of the people around me when I am making
purchasing decisions.
4. Results
4.1. Manipulation checks
A manipulation check was conducted by comparing the mean scores
of the four questions in 3.2. For question 1 (proud), the results of the
one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the mean score of
the proud appeal group was significantly higher than that of the other
groups (Mpride = 3.92, SDpride = 1.032; Mother = 3.22, SDother =
1.293; F = 23.931, P < 0.000); For question 2 (guilty), the mean score
of the guilty appeal group was significantly higher than that of the other
groups (Mguilty = 3.84, SDguilty = 1.080; Mother = 2.31, SDother =
1.110; F = 144.488, P < 0.000); For question 3 (admiring), the mean
score of the admiring appeal group was significantly higher than that of
the other groups (Madmiring = 3.77, SDadmiring = 1.110; Mother = 3.12,
SDother = 1.186; F = 23.568, P < 0.000). For question 4 (disdainful),
the mean score of the disdainful appeal group is significantly higher
than that of the other groups (Mdisdainful = 3.28, SDdisdainful =
1.349; Mother = 2.05, SDother = 1.082; F = 85.142, P < 0.000). Thus,
the manipulations of different emotional green appeals were successful.
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Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
Table 1
Description of respondents’ characteristics.
Proud appeal
Guilty appeal
Admiring appeal
Disdainful appeal
Total
Percent
Gender
1. Male
2. Female
41
59
54
46
45
55
66
34
206
194
51.5%
48.5%
Age
1. Less than 24
2. 25–34
3. 35–44
4. 45–54
5. over 55
48
25
5
0
2
29
66
3
2
0
43
56
0
0
1
63
36
0
0
1
183
203
8
2
4
45.8%
50.8%
2.0%
0.4%
1.0%
Education
1. Junior middle school or below
2. Senior middle school
3. Technical college
4. University (Undergraduate)
5. University (Postgraduate)
6
5
6
50
33
9
5
17
36
33
2
1
6
33
58
3
2
19
48
28
20
13
48
167
152
5.0%
3.2%
12.0%
41.8%
38.0%
Monthly Income*
1. Less than ¥2, 200 (Less than approximately US$ 320)
2. ¥2, 201 ∼ ¥4, 400 (approximately US$ 321 ∼ US$ 640)
3. ¥4, 401 ∼ ¥6, 600 (approximately US$ 641 ∼ US$ 960)
4. ¥6, 601 ∼ ¥8, 800 (approximately US$ 961 ∼ US$ 1, 280)
5. Over ¥8, 801 (over approximately US$ 1, 281)
24
25
15
2
4
18
32
22
8
9
22
12
9
6
2
22
18
11
2
4
86
87
57
18
19
32.2%
32.6%
21.3%
6.7%
7.2%
Note: 133 respondents (33%) did not fill in the item “monthly income”.
Table 2
Correlations among variables and their descriptive statistics.
Attitude
Value
Intention
Involvement
Confucian
Mean
S.E.
α
Attitude
Value
Intention
Involvement
Confucian
4.37
3.57
3.31
3.65
3.53
0.87
1.34
1.26
1.21
0.80
0.83
0.90
0.80
0.81
0.86
1
0.33***
0.43***
0.25***
0.06
1
0.38***
0.1*
0.08*
1
0.2***
0.13**
1
0.04
1
Note: S.E. = Standard error, α = Cronbach's alpha, Attitude = Attitude towards the advertisement, Value = Perceived value, Intention = Purchase intention, Involvement = Green
involvement, Confucian = Confucian culture; *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 (One-tailed).
4.2. Discriminant validity
Table 3
Rotated component matrix.
Table 2 not only displays the correlations between each pair of attitude towards the advertisement, perceived value, purchase intention,
green involvement, and Confucian culture,2 but also shows the mean
value, standard error and Cronbach’s alpha of these variables. As can be
seen in this table, all of the Cronbach’s alpha are larger than 0.7, which
means the measurement of this study is reliable (DeVellis, 1991).
Then, a Principle Component Analysis was conducted to demonstrate the discriminant validity of the measures in this study. All the
items of variables mentioned above were organized into 5 components.
The result of rotated component matrix was delineated in Table 2.
When reviewing the table, we see that the component scores fit the
anticipated condition. In other words, the discriminant validity of these
variables is good (Table 3).
Component
Att1
Att2
Att3
Pvalue1
Pvalue2
Pvalue3
Intention1
Intention2
Intention3
Involve1
Involve2
Involve3
Conf1
Conf2
Conf3
conf4
Conf5
Conf6
4.3. Direct and mediating effects of emotional green appeal
To test the hypotheses in the theoretical model, we need to transform emotional green appeals into dummy variables (Raykov &
Marcoulides, 2010). In the model of comparing the proud (admiring)
green appeal and guilty (disdainful) green appeal, we transform the
former into 1 while changing the latter into 0. Then we applied PROCESS 2.16 (Hayes, 2013; Hayes, Montoya, & Rockwood, 2017) to analyze the survey data in the framework of theoretical model. The PROCESS output was reorganized into Tables 4 and 5 show the path
coefficients between variables of the model, while Table 5 displays the
direct and indirect effect of green appeal (pride vs guilt; admiration vs
1
2
3
4
5
0.10
−0.10
−0.02
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.13
0.01
0.01
−0.02
0.73
0.74
0.78
0.79
0.76
0.76
0.09
0.10
0.20
0.87
0.89
0.90
0.15
0.17
0.15
0.03
−0.01
0.06
0.02
0.07
−0.02
−0.02
0.07
0.01
0.00
0.20
0.12
0.04
0.02
0.03
0.06
0.13
0.06
0.89
0.88
0.88
−0.08
0.00
0.06
0.01
0.05
−0.03
0.24
0.06
0.22
0.16
0.17
0.14
0.82
0.78
0.83
0.10
0.07
0.07
0.13
0.12
−0.05
0.03
−0.02
0.02
0.80
0.79
0.80
0.15
0.11
0.12
0.15
0.25
0.13
0.10
0.12
0.07
−0.08
−0.05
0.00
0.01
0.07
0.03
Note: Extraction method is principal component analysis; Rotation method is Varimax
with Kaiser Normalization; All the bold values are statistically significant at .01 level.
disdain) on green purchase intention. Based on Table 4, it can be found
that all the coefficients are significant except −0.04 which is the
coefficient of the path between green appeal and attitude towards the
advertisement. Therefore, H1.1 is dismissed. According to the coefficients, we can conclude that the promotional effect of pride appeal on
purchase intention is better than that of guilt appeal. However, the
guilty green appeal is more effective than the pride green appeal in
2
All the items of Confucian culture load on one factor well in the confirmatory factor
analysis (Software: Amos 22.0).
36
Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
proved to be false.
To make the abstract mathematical representation of the relationship between the moderators (green involvement and Confucian culture) and the direct and indirect effect more intuitive, Figs. 2 and 3
visualize conditional direct and indirect effects.
Conditional indirect effect of X on Y was generated by (a1i + a3iW)
* bi while conditional direct effect was computed by c1′ + c3′W (Hayes,
2013). Based on the slopes of the lines in all four images, it is not hard
to know that direct and indirect effect can barely influenced by any of
these two moderators.
Table 4
Path coefficients in the theoretical model.
Path
Coefficient
S.E.
t
Sig.
LLCI
ULCI
0.03
0.04
0.03
0.06
0.04
−1.45
−2.98
−7.88
7.88
5.12
0.15
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
−0.09
−0.21
−0.32
0.37
0.13
0.01
−0.04
−0.19
0.61
0.29
Admiration vs Disdain (admiration = 1 disdain = 0)
Appeal
→ Attitude
0.52
0.12 4.48
Value
0.76
0.18 4.15
Intention 1.50
0.12 12.06
Attitude → Intention 0.28
0.07 3.78
Value
→ Intention 0.11
0.04 2.30
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.02
0.29
0.40
1.25
0.13
0.02
0.74
1.13
1.74
0.42
0.20
Pride vs Guilt (pride = 1 guilt = 0)
Appeal
→ Attitude
−0.04
Value
−0.13
Intention −0.25
Attitude → Intention 0.49
Value
→ Intention 0.21
5. Discussion
The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model that
conveys the “emotional green appeal–attitude towards the advertisement” and “perceived value–purchase intention” paths while green
involvement and Confucian culture play the moderating roles. It is the
first time that admiring green appeal, disdainful green appeal and the
moderating effects of Confucian culture have been studied through field
experiments. The experiments were made in a large city in an emerging
country, and the complex relationships among consumers’ psychological variables were analyzed based on the experimental data.
In this study, we found that the guilty green appeal is more effective
than the proud one in promoting green purchase intention. This finding
is contrary to the conclusion of Meneses et al. (Meneses, 2010). This
phenomenon also happens in adding consumers’ perceived value.
However, there is no significant difference between proud and guilty
appeal when we try to improve respondents’ attitude toward the green
advertisement.
We discovered that the admiring green appeal is more effective than
the disdainful one in improving corresponding attitude, perceived value
and purchase intention. The admiring green appeal expresses a positive
image of others’ green purchasing behavior and can lead people (including the person who is admiring) to purchase green products. In
contrast, the disdainful green appeal expresses an unpleasant feeling
when others do not purchase green products. The preference of chasing
admiration lead to a more significant effect than merely instinct escaping disdain, the former one can be more active.
Both attitude toward advertisement and perceived value have positive effects on purchase intention. This is consistent with the conclusion of Spears and Singh (Spears & Singh, 2004). Most scholars believe that the psychological responses to appeals can predict purchase
behavior because a good mental image can first make consumers interested in the product and then make them purchase it. However, these
two variables can be qualified mediators only in the framework of admiring appeal vs disdainful appeal. That is, the differences between the
effects of proud and guilty appeal on the mediators above cannot be
effectively delivered to purchase intention.
Finally, both green involvement and Confucian culture have no
significant moderating effects on all the expected paths (emotional
green appeals – attitude towards the advertisement, emotional green
appeals – perceived value, and emotional green appeals – purchase
intention) in the theoretical model. As a matter of fact, some of previous
studies also found that consumers’ degree of green involvement didn’t
work on the effect of various types of green advertisement appeals
(Matthes et al., 2014). The most pivotal reason may be the conceptualization and measurements of green involvement and Confucian
culture. The constructs build on explicit statements about the expected
concepts and these statements do not tap emotions. There are two types
of attitudes, which are explicit and implicit attitudes
(Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006), as well as two types of demands,
which are apparent and potential demand. The measurements may not
fit the implicit attitude and real demand, which the latter can effectively reflect the perceived value. Therefore, the theoretically reasonable moderating effects are not supported by our empirical study for the
unsuitable measurements.
Note: S.E. = Standard error, Sig. = Significance, LLCI = Lower limit of the confidence
interval, ULCI = Upper limit of the confidence interval; Appeal = Emotional green appeal
of
advertisement,
Attitude = Attitude
towards
the
advertisement,
Value = Perceived value, Intention = Purchase intention; The standard error of indirect
effect was calculated through bootstrap; The number of bootstrap samples for bias corrected bootstrap confidence intervals is 10000; Level of confidence for all confidence
intervals in output is 95%.
Table 5
Indirect effect of emotional green appeal on green purchase intention.
Mediator
Effect
S.E.
LLCI
ULCI
Pride vs Guilt (pride = 1 guilt = 0)
Involve
Confucian
Total
−0.00
−0.00
−0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
−0.02
−0.01
−0.02
0.01
0.01
0.01
Admiration vs Disdain
(admiration = 1 disdain = 0)
Attitude
Value
Total
0.14
0.08
0.23
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.01
0.13
0.24
0.21
0.37
Note: The standard error of indirect effect was calculated through bootstrap; The number
of bootstrap samples for bias corrected bootstrap confidence intervals is 10000; Level of
confidence for all confidence intervals in this table is 95%; Involvement = Green involvement, Confucian = Confucian culture; S.E. = Standard error, LLCI = Lower limit of
the confidence interval, ULCI = Upper limit of the confidence interval.
improving consumers’ perceived value. Thus, H2.1 is invalid while H3.1
is supported. In addition, because all the coefficients in the model
(admiration vs disdain) are positive, H1.2, H2.2, and H3.2 are all accepted.
As shown in Table 5, there is no significant indirect effects of green
appeal on purchase intention in the model of pride vs guilt while the
mediating effect of involvement and Confucian are both significant in
the model of admiration vs disdain. Thus, H4 and H5 are supported
only when we compared the effects of admiring appeal and disdainful
appeal on green purchase intention.
4.4. Moderating effects
In this section, we introduced moderators, which are green involvement and Confucian culture, into analytical model, which is
known as conditional process model (Hayes, 2013; Hayes,
Montoya, & Rockwood, 2017). To test the moderating effects of these
new variables on “emotional green appeals–attitude towards the advertisement”, “emotional green appeals–perceived value”, and “emotional green appeals–purchase intention”, PROCESS (Hayes, 2015) was
applied. The results are displayed in Table 6 (pride vs guilt) and Table 7
(admiration vs disdain). Table 6 shows coefficients a31, a32 and c3′ are
not significant under all circumstances. It turns out that significant
moderating effects of green involvement or Confucian culture on the
excepted paths above do not exist (p < 0.01). That is H6.1, H6.2, and
H6.3 are all dismissed.
It is easy to recognize that coefficients a31, a32 and c3′ are not significant either in Table 7, which means H7.1, H7.2, and H7.3 are also
37
Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
Table 6
Model coefficients for the conditional process model (pride vs guilt).
Moderator
Antecedent
M1
M2
Coe.
S.E.
p
Y
Coe.
S.E.
p
Coe.
S.E.
p
Inv.
X
M1
M2
W
X*W
a11
–
–
a21
a31
−0.04
–
–
0.18
0.00
0.09
–
–
0.05
0.02
0.65
–
–
0.00
0.95
a12
–
–
a22
a32
−0.23
–
–
0.04
0.03
0.14
–
–
0.08
0.03
0.09
–
–
0.61
0.39
c1′
b1
b2
c2′
c3′
−0.13
0.46
0.21
0.15
−0.03
0.10
0.06
0.04
0.06
0.03
0.21
0.00
0.00
0.02
0.21
Conf.
X
M1
M2
W
X*W
a11
–
–
a21
a31
−0.24
–
–
−0.11
0.06
0.12
–
–
0.09
0.03
0.04
–
–
0.19
0.08
a12
–
–
a22
a32
−0.00
–
–
0.19
−0.03
0.18
–
–
0.13
0.15
0.99
–
–
0.16
0.51
c1′
b1
b2
c2′
c3′
−0.29
0.49
0.20
0.13
0.01
0.15
0.06
0.04
0.10
0.04
0.04
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.82
Note: M1 = Attitude towards the advertisement, M2 = Perceived value, Y = Purchase intention, X = Emotional green appeal of advertisement, Inv. = Green involvement,
Table 7
Model coefficients for the conditional process model (admiration vs disdain).
Moderator
Antecedent
M1
M2
Coe.
S.E.
p
Y
Coe.
S.E.
p
Coe.
S.E.
p
Inv.
X
M1
M2
W
X*W
a11
–
–
a21
a31
0.55
–
–
0.23
−0.07
0.19
–
–
0.06
0.05
0.00
–
–
0.00
0.15
a12
–
–
a22
a32
0.70
–
–
0.15
−0.07
0.30
–
–
0.10
0.08
0.02
–
–
0.13
0.34
c1′
b1
b2
c2′
c3′
0.35
0.36
0.19
−0.03
0.09
0.23
0.06
0.04
0.08
0.06
0.13
0.00
0.00
0.70
0.13
Conf.
X
M1
M2
W
X*W
a11
–
–
a21
a31
0.56
–
–
0.07
−0.07
0.26
–
–
0.09
0.07
0.03
–
–
0.46
0.34
a12
–
–
a22
a32
0.18
–
–
0.04
0.07
0.40
–
–
0.14
0.11
0.66
–
–
0.77
0.51
c1′
b1
b2
c2′
c3′
0.73
0.39
0.18
0.16
−0.01
0.30
0.06
0.04
0.11
0.08
0.02
0.00
0.00
0.13
0.91
Note: M1 = Attitude towards the advertisement, M2 = Perceived value, Y = Purchase intention, X = Emotional green appeal of advertisement, Inv. = Green involvement,
Fig. 3. visual representations of the conditional indirect and direct effects of green appeal (admiration
vs disdain) on green purchase intention.
38
Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
6. Conclusion
quick, deeper and learn fast, which means they can adjust their attitude
and behavior quickly. The former character is restricting factors while
the latter one is beneficial factor in the green purchase promotion. So,
this paradoxical phenomenon can inhibit the generalization of the study
results. Secondly, proud and admiring appeals were associated with a
fine environment while guilty and disdainful appeals were associated
with a polluted environment. There may be more emotions, other than
these four emotions above, might have been elicited, it will affect reliability of the conclusion. Thirdly, we overlooked the brand effect
which may be brought into this study by the advertisement, this may
influence the accuracy of analysis. Finally, scholars often refer to the
intention–actual behavior gap of green consumerism, which is expressing behavior intention is one thing; actual practice it is another. So,
there would be many unknown blocks between intention and effective
behavior, this phenomenon can also reduce the practical utility.
In short, part of the effects of the different emotional green appeals
have separate impacts on consumers’ attitude toward advertisement,
perceived value, and green purchase intention. Attitude and perceived
value have significant mediating effect on the relationship between
emotional green appeals and purchase intention in the framework of
admiration vs disdain. Green involvement and Confucian culture are
not qualified moderators in any situations.
Currently, not only do enterprises exert themselves to promote their
green products but also the government’s budget allocation for promoting environmentally friendly consumption has increased (Lee,
Kang, & Shin., 2017). This research provides several implications for
marketing strategy creators that may improve the promotion effect.
Admiring appeal is noteworthy in green promotion strategies. Based
on the results of this study, admiring green appeal can promote consumers’ purchase intention more effectively than disdainful one. If
admiration is embedded in the green appeals, these emotions can satisfy
consumers’ need for such feelings; thus, consumers’ attitude toward
green appeals and perceived value of the product are successfully improved, and purchase intention is promoted. Furthermore, enterprises
should attach importance to consumers’ attitudes toward green appeals
and perceived value of green products. There are numerous factors that
may affect consumers’ willingness to purchase. However, attitude towards the advertisement is the most straightforward reflection of the
quality of green appeal information; this can help enterprises seek appropriate advertising ideas that are in accord with consumers’ psychological state, thus improving the advertising effect. For perceived
value, enterprises should search the fields to which consumers pay the
most attention. All in all, it is worthwhile to study how to target consumers’ attitude toward green appeals and perceived value of green
products, impress them with suitable green cartoons and attractive
green pictures, and then reach the goal of promoting green products.
Several notable research limitations qualify these practical implications. Firstly, most of the samples are young and well-educated
civilians. These people are more ego than others, but they also think
Author Contributions
Jianming Wang and Longchang Wu conceived and designed the
article framework and the questionnaire. Jing Bao and Congcong Wang
collected and analyzed the data. Jing Bao and Jianming Wang wrote
this paper. Congcong Wang made modifications. Longchang Wu contributed to using the analysis software tool.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
This study is supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and
Social Science Program of China (Grant No. 17NDJC026Z), the
Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
Y15G030053) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
71673238). We thank the anonymous reviewers for the numerous
helpful comments and suggestions.
Appendix A. Item list of variables
Attitude toward the green advertisement (appeal)
1) This green appeal is very impressive; 2) This green appeal is attractive; 3) I love this green appeal.
Perceived value
1) Choosing this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator can help in ecological environment improvement; 2) Choosing this energysaving and environment-friendly refrigerator can help me in obtaining admiration; 3) Choosing this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator can help me in building a positive image.
Purchase intention
1) I will collect and comprehend information about this energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator; 2) I will purchase this energysaving and environment-friendly refrigerator when I need to buy a refrigerator; 3) This advertisement prompts me to purchase this energy-saving and
environment-friendly refrigerator.
Green involvement
1) I am concerned about environmental issues; 2) I pay close attention to green appeal information; 3) I keep a watchful eye on new and popular
green products.
Confucian culture
1) An individual’s behavior should match his/her status; 2) An individual’s clothing should match his/her status; 3) I will not tell my family when
I lose Mianzi; 4) I do not like to be blamed at work; 5) I believe the teacher’s instruction is very important; 6) I will mainly consider the advice of the
people around me when I am making purchasing decisions.
39
Sustainable Cities and Society 34 (2017) 32–42
J. Wang et al.
Appendix B. Advertisement of emotional green appeal
Types of advertisement
Contents
Advertisement with the proud
green appeal
Blue sky, white clouds, green homes, clear water, pleasant climate, rich resources. All of this needs
protection through the daily consumption behavior of each of us.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, energy efficiency level 1; I’m proud of my
purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, superefficient air compressor; I’m proud
of my purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, efficient fluorine-free refrigeration; I’m
proud of my purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, only 1 kwh every 3 days; I’m proud of my
purchase.
I purchased the Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator; I have energy-saving talent
and am an environmental guardian; I’m proud of myself.
Advertisement with the guilty
The air is filled with haze, the rivers are polluted, the eco-environment is destroyed, the climate is warming,
green appeal
the glaciers are melting, and energy is depleting. All of this occurs when our daily purchases neglect the
preciousness of the eco-environment.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, energy efficiency level 1; I feel guilty for
not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, superefficient air compressor; I feel guilty
for not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, efficient fluorine-free refrigeration; I feel
guilty for not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, only 1 kwh every 3 days; I feel guilty for
not buying it.
I do not buy the Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator; I’m in the slow lane of energy
saving and environmental protection; I feel very guilty.
Advertisement with the admiring Blue sky, white clouds, green homes, clear water, pleasant climate, rich resources. All of this needs
green appeal
protection through the daily consumption behavior of each of us.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, energy efficiency level 1; I admire his
purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, superefficient air compressor; I admire his
purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, efficient fluorine-free refrigeration; I
admire his purchase.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, only 1 kwh every 3 days; I admire his
purchase.
He purchased the Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator; he has energy-saving talent
and is an environmental guardian; I admire him.
Advertisement with the disdainful The air is filled with haze, the rivers are polluted, the eco-environment is destroyed, the climate is warming,
green appeal
the glaciers are melting, and energy is depleting. All of this occurs when our daily purchases neglect the
preciousness of the eco-environment.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, energy efficiency level 1; I disdain him for
not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, efficient fluorine-free refrigeration; I
disdain him for not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, efficient fluorine-free refrigeration; I
disdain him for not buying it.
The Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator, only 1 kwh every 3 days; I disdain him for
not buying it.
He did not buy the Grennes energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerator; he is in the slow lane of
energy-saving and environmental protection; I feel very disdainful.
Note: This table illustrates just the text of advertisements. In the actual study, the advertisements were shown in video form (including animated
images and animated text).
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