Nudging green product adoption: leveraging context effects to ease trade-offs in online green buying

Nudging green product adoption: leveraging context effects to ease trade-offs in online green buying
Megha Bharti, Vivek Suneja
Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp.642-662

Extant literature on green consumption has consistently reported the phenomenon of “green gap,” i.e. the discrepancy between consumers’ pro-green values and actual green purchase behavior. One of the significant antecedents of the gap is the trade-off that consumers often experience between green attributes and conventional attributes (such as price, convenience or functional performance). This study aims to examine the potential role of trade-off-related context effects (particularly, compromise effect and asymmetric dominance effect) in nudging green product adoption.

Four between-subject experimental studies were conducted.

Across four experiments, the authors found that behavioral nudges leveraging the compromise and asymmetric dominance effects can be deployed to nudge online green choice behavior under three trade-off scenarios, i.e. trade-off with usage/procurement convenience (Study 1), trade-off with price (Study 2), trade-off with functional performance (Study 3). For generalizability of the findings and to cover for the lack of potential realism in studies, the authors replicated the experiment in a multi-attribute trade-off scenario (Study 4). Further, the authors found that under environmental benefit association, trade-off type moderated the efficacy of these context effects, i.e. context effects performed better in case of trade-off with usage convenience and price than with functional performance. Furthermore, these nudge interventions were found effective for the consumer segment identified as “green gappers.”

This research tackles a critical challenge unique to green consumption: the perceived trade-offs between green attributes and highly valued conventional features. Managers pushing green FMCG products can capitalize on such nudges to reduce consumer resistance toward high prices of such goods or associated inconveniences among “green gappers.” Given the recent significant shift toward online buying, the current investigation becomes highly relevant as such effects can be inexpensively deployed digitally.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explicitly examine consumer preferences across various green purchase trade-off scenarios. Given the negative correlation often observed between green and conventional attributes, it becomes crucial to undertake this investigation for green brands to achieve mass-market status. Additionally, this research pioneers the exploration of context effects as behavioral nudges for green product adoption. Unlike prior studies that have investigated context effects in domains where attributes with direct consumer benefits are predominant, green consumption presents a unique challenge – green attributes often lack immediate personal advantages and may involve trade-offs with highly valued conventional product features. This necessitates a focused investigation of context effects in this distinct area.

​Extant literature on green consumption has consistently reported the phenomenon of “green gap,” i.e. the discrepancy between consumers’ pro-green values and actual green purchase behavior. One of the significant antecedents of the gap is the trade-off that consumers often experience between green attributes and conventional attributes (such as price, convenience or functional performance). This study aims to examine the potential role of trade-off-related context effects (particularly, compromise effect and asymmetric dominance effect) in nudging green product adoption. Four between-subject experimental studies were conducted. Across four experiments, the authors found that behavioral nudges leveraging the compromise and asymmetric dominance effects can be deployed to nudge online green choice behavior under three trade-off scenarios, i.e. trade-off with usage/procurement convenience (Study 1), trade-off with price (Study 2), trade-off with functional performance (Study 3). For generalizability of the findings and to cover for the lack of potential realism in studies, the authors replicated the experiment in a multi-attribute trade-off scenario (Study 4). Further, the authors found that under environmental benefit association, trade-off type moderated the efficacy of these context effects, i.e. context effects performed better in case of trade-off with usage convenience and price than with functional performance. Furthermore, these nudge interventions were found effective for the consumer segment identified as “green gappers.” This research tackles a critical challenge unique to green consumption: the perceived trade-offs between green attributes and highly valued conventional features. Managers pushing green FMCG products can capitalize on such nudges to reduce consumer resistance toward high prices of such goods or associated inconveniences among “green gappers.” Given the recent significant shift toward online buying, the current investigation becomes highly relevant as such effects can be inexpensively deployed digitally. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explicitly examine consumer preferences across various green purchase trade-off scenarios. Given the negative correlation often observed between green and conventional attributes, it becomes crucial to undertake this investigation for green brands to achieve mass-market status. Additionally, this research pioneers the exploration of context effects as behavioral nudges for green product adoption. Unlike prior studies that have investigated context effects in domains where attributes with direct consumer benefits are predominant, green consumption presents a unique challenge – green attributes often lack immediate personal advantages and may involve trade-offs with highly valued conventional product features. This necessitates a focused investigation of context effects in this distinct area. Read More