Research on influence factors for green consumption has greatly advanced in recent years. However, little research has explored the effect of consumers’ environmental responsibility on green consumption and how this effect was mediated by environmental concern and moderated by price sensitivity, especially when consumers simultaneously pay close attention to environmental and personal interests. This study investigates the impact of environmental responsibility on green consumption via the mediation of environmental concern and the moderation of price sensitivity. The questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from 680 Chinese consumers via an online questionnaire. The empirical results reveal that environmental responsibility can promote environmental concern and enhance green consumption. Specifically, environmental responsibility has a positive impact on environmental concern and also has different positive effects on green consumption intention. Environmental concern positively affects green consumption intention and plays a partial mediation role in the relationship between environmental responsibility and green consumption intention. Price sensitivity plays a negative moderation role in the relationship among environmental responsibility, environmental concern and green consumption intention. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings were discussed.

Environmental problems, especially in the case of water and air pollution, are the harmful result of the overconsumption of fossil fuels as well as various forms of industrial sewage water discharge. Recently, growing environmentally friendly purchasing behaviour of consumers has become regarded as an effective method for alleviating such environmental problems. Due to concerns regarding the natural environment, consumers have increasingly begun to exhibit favourable attitudes towards environmentally friendly products, and as a result, are more likely to purchase “green” products. However, green purchasing behaviour of consumers varies across different nations and cultures. This study aims to reveal how Chinese cultural values (specifically, the Doctrine of the Mean) influence green purchasing intention of Chinese consumers. As the lifestyles of consumers will be deeply affected by their cultural values, this study examines the mediating effects of the four dimensions of Chinese lifestyle have on consumers. At the same time, environmental knowledge is considered as a moderating variable in order to investigate the relationship between the Doctrine of the Mean and green purchasing intention. The study’s data were collected from Chinese consumers. Empirical results reveal that such Chinese cultural values are positively associated with green purchasing intention, and that three dimensions of consumer lifestyle (namely leadership, cost consciousness and development consciousness), are all found to play mediating roles in the relationship between the Doctrine of the Mean and green purchasing intention in Chinese consumers. The moderating effects of environmental knowledge are exhibited in the influence of leadership as well as development consciousness on green purchasing intention. The study’s findings have theoretical implications for understanding green purchasing intention as well as behaviour of Chinese consumers further. The study’s findings also present practical implications for how to promote green purchasing intention in Chinese consumers better.

Purpose This study aims to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework to investigate how green brand positioning strategies positively impact consumer response. It focusses on uncovering the causal mechanism in which such effect is mediated by brand stereotypes. Additionally, it outlines the moderating role of construal level in this formation process. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the hypotheses. Study 1 tests the positive influence of green brand positioning on consumer response. Study 2 tests the dual mediating effect of warmth and competence in the relationship between green brand positioning and consumer response. Study 3 further examines the moderating role of construal level in the effects of green brand positioning on brand stereotypes. Findings The findings reveal that green emotional positioning strategies are predominantly stereotyped as warm while green functional positioning strategies are predominantly stereotyped as competent. Both warm and competent mediate the effects of green brand positioning on consumer response. Furthermore, a congruency between green emotional positioning and high-level construal, as well as the match between green functional positioning and low-level construal, leads to more warmth and competence perception. Originality/value This study contributes to green brand management literature by proposing a brand stereotype-based mechanism to explain how green brand positioning strategies trigger consumers’ stereotyping process, leading to positive consumer response. This study also identifies the construal level as a moderating variable that impacts consumers’ warmth and competence perceptions towards two kinds of green brand positioning strategies. Managerially, the findings of this study provide managerial ideas for developing green branding strategies.

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.

As environmental issues receive global attention, sustainable development has gradually become a crucial element of business strategies. A considerable number of enterprises have practiced green innovations and introduced green products to the market. A key issue in realizing the sustainability of business strategies is to motivate consumers to purchase green products through effective green advertising strategies. When promoting green products, corporates commonly face a crucial decision that which type of appeals should be employed to enhance the effectiveness of green advertising strategies. Based on the Theory of Self‐regulation and Theory of Self‐congruency, this study aims to propose and examine a conceptual model to uncover how advertising appeals affect the green purchase intention of consumers with different subjective feelings of busyness. Four experimental studies were conducted, and the results reveal that the other‐benefiting appeal stimulates higher self‐image congruency of subjectively busy consumers and therefore boosts green purchase intention. The self‐benefiting appeal activates functional congruency of consumers with low subjective busyness, thus increasing purchase intention. Furthermore, only in the context of high environmental accountability could the other‐benefiting appeal induce higher green purchase intention of subjectively busy consumers. Managerially, the findings guide practitioners on employing advertising appeals reasonably to maximize the effectiveness of green advertising strategies by considering consumers' subjective busyness.

Although environmental issues have attracted public attention, there are still many people unwilling to make behavioral changes to solve the problem, which makes promoting pro-environmental behavior become an interesting research topic. This study discusses the influence of air quality on the pro-environmental behavior of Chinese residents from the perspective of spatial distance, providing a theoretical basis and practical application for improving pro-environmental behavior. Through three experiments, this study reveals that air pollution within the local spatial distance could make residents more willing to conduct pro-environmental behavior. In addition, we also find that air pollution within local spatial distance would stimulate residents' environmental affection and promote them to conduct pro-environmental behavior. That is, environmental affection plays a mediating role in the interactive effect of air quality and spatial distance on pro-environmental behavior.

Existing studies show the role of empathy with nature in improving attitudes toward the environment. This article demonstrates that induced empathy with nature can improve environmental behaviours and commitments. We find that environmental commitment and behaviour are positively affected by empathy with nature and establish a causal model between empathy with nature and pro‐environmental behaviour. We further investigate the relationship between self‐construal (interdependent or independent), empathy with nature (existing or non‐existing) and pro‐environmental behaviour. The results indicate that participants who have empathy with nature display stronger pro‐environmental behaviour, particularly in the private domain. Commitment to the environment plays a mediating role in this relationship and self‐construal plays a moderating role. Specifically, for individuals with interdependent self‐construal, empathy with nature promotes pro‐environmental behaviour, whereas for individuals with independent self‐construal, empathy with nature has no statistically significant effect on pro‐environmental behaviour.

Based on the construal level theory (CLT), this study discusses the effects of congruence between image proximity and product type on advertising attitude and product attitude from the perspective of spatial distance and investigates the mediating role of mental imagery. Data are collected using two laboratory experiments and one online experiment. A two-way ANOVA is used to test the interaction between image proximity and product type, and a bootstrap analysis is used to test the mediating role of mental imagery. The result shows that: (1) For search products, compared with full-length shots, the close-up shots of environmental information can enable consumers to generate more positive advertising attitude and product attitude. For experience products, the full-length shots of environmental information can enable consumers to generate more positive advertising attitude and product attitude than the close-up shots. (2) The congruence effect of image proximity and product type has an impact on advertising attitude and product attitude through mental imagery. This research uses different kinds of image proximity to express environmental information about green products and tries to interpret the effectiveness of green advertisements from a new perspective.