PurposeThis study identifies the impact of supermarket environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) on consumers’ loyalty towards their supermarket. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R), this study demonstrates how positive and negative emotions mediate the relationships between consumers’ perceptions of ECSR and consumers’ attitudes towards their supermarket. This study draws from cultural theory and works on sustainability and examines the moderating effect of the cultural context on these relationships.Design/methodology/approachA supermarket intercept survey was conducted among 327 consumers in France and 444 consumers in Morocco. The proposed model was analysed using Amos 22.FindingsECSR’s impact on consumer loyalty varies across cultural contexts through the mediation of positive and negative emotions. The study also indicates how consumers’ levels of environmentalism moderate the direct effect of supermarket ECSR on consumers’ attitudes towards the supermarket.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the S-O-R and cultural theories, this study demonstrates how the dimensions of the cultural context moderate the direct and indirect effects of ECSR on consumers’ loyalty towards their supermarket. Specifically, favourable perceptions of supermarket ECSR have an ambivalent impact on consumers’ attitudes through the mediation of negative emotions, such as shame, in more collectivist, low uncertainty avoidance and short-term oriented countries.Practical implicationsTailored recommendations for supermarket managers interested in ECSR and operating in an international context are provided.Social implicationsThis research highlights the varying impacts of environmental actions in international retailing.Originality/valueUsing the S-O-R and cultural theories, this study reveals nuances to existing knowledge on the role of consumers’ emotions in international retailing. It reveals the salience of negative emotions after the perception of a positively valenced stimulus across distinct cultural contexts.
Much research has reported an attitude-behaviour gap in ecological behaviours. This research seeks to contribute important insights to this literature through a study that uses construal level theory (CLT) to understand the role and impact of psychological distance in explaining sustainable and recycling behaviours. Using a qualitative approach, the research found that consistency between mental construal and all dimensions of psychological distance was pertinent to recycling and sustainable behaviours. While theoretically CLT suggests there should be consistency across psychological distance dimensions and mental construal, there is limited research that explores all distance dimensions. Further, highlighted was the need for a near distance perspective to move individuals to behavioural action. Contrary to previous research, this served to facilitate rather than inhibit behavioural action. Finally, the results suggest that where sustainable behaviours are facilitated and/or required engagement in behaviour can be increased. These findings are important for public policy by highlighting the need to represent recycling behaviour in terms of temporal, spatial, social and hypothetical closeness. IntroductionResearch has consistently revealed widespread awareness and concern for ecological issues in a consumer context (e.g., Kilbourne & Beckmann, 1998;Polonsky, Vocino, Grau, Garma, & Ferdous, 2012;Rondinelli & Berry, 2000;Szekely & Knirsch, 2005;Steger, 2000;Van Wijk & Persoon, 2006). However, researchers are also challenged by the gap between ecological attitudes and corresponding behaviour (e.g., Carrigan & Attalla, 2001;Moraes, Carrigan & Szmigin, 2012;Papaoikonomou, Ryan, & Ginieis, 2011;Young, Hwang, McDonald, & Oates, 2010) across a range of sustainable behaviours, including recycling (e.g., Kok & Siero, 1985;Nigbur, Evanthia, & Uzzell, 2010).Sustainability and recycling behaviour are interrelated, with recycling viewed as a key issue in sustainability (Fuller, Allen, & Glaser, 1996) and dominantly as a proenvironmental consumer behaviour (e.g., Barr & Gilg, 2005;Steg & Vlek, 2009;Welfens, Nordmann, & Seibt, 2015). As such, we understand recycling, among others, as a behaviour that may offer one fruitful pathway to a more sustainable consumer society. The Brundtland report defines sustainability as "a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (Brundtland Report, 1987, 1). Here we find a discourse which seeks to motivate individuals' consumption via future-oriented arguments, where some present inconvenience is associated with long-term benefits to others.Recycling is part of this discourse. Recycling "involves systematically converting specific types of waste into useful resources by breaking down objects into their 3 constituent parts, which are then reused" (Brosius, Fernandez, & Cherrier, 2013, 288).Engaging in recycling now should have future benefits. Questioned, however, is the extent to which this "future-for-...
This research offers insights into children's agency in the context of recycling behaviors by exploring how children's agency might be enacted in various settings (e.g., family, school, neighborhood). Using a series of child-centered methods, the authors observe children's recycling behaviors at school and at home and investigate their behaviors using role-playing games and a verbalization phase that captures the children's understanding of recycling and their varying degrees of agency around recycling. The findings suggest that personal (knowledge, concern), environmental (family microenvironment, encouragement, spatial organization, physical accessibility to recycling bins), and behavioral (past experiences) factors can facilitate or constrain children's consumer agency. In particular, their level of agency varies according to each child's specific microenvironment within the family, the location where the recycling takes place (private versus public spaces), and communication patterns within the family. From these findings, we provide several recommendations for public policymakers and business managers.
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