Whatever people say I am, that's what I am: Social labeling as a social marketing tool

Abstract

In this paper, we present a procedure to apply the social labeling technique as a social marketing tool. Four studies indicate that communicating a social label, following an environmentally friendly behavior that is not motivated by pro-environmental concerns, leads consumers to re-attribute that behavior as representing their own environmental concern. Subsequently, they are likely to act upon their resulting self-perception as an environmentally friendly person. Social labeling is more successful when cognitive resources are distracted, either at the moment of processing the label or at the moment of making decisions related to the content of the label.

Does green consumerism increase the acceptance of wind power?

“…A thorough statistical analysis of this research found that the foot-in-the door phenomenon, although replicable, is weak and not nearly as robust as often assumed (Beaman et al, 1983). However, recent research suggests that a foot-in-the-door effect exists, but that it is contingent on the initial, small action being perceived as ''diagnostic of a pro-environmental disposition'' (Cornelissen et al, 2007;Cornelissen et al, 2008).…”

“…An important issue discussed in the reviewed literature is that, because many pro-environmental behaviours are common, socially mandated, or provide private side-benefits, individuals may no longer consider these behaviours as particularly pro-environmental. In these cases, the reviewed literature suggests that the likelihood of spillover to more impactful pro-environmental behaviours may be enhanced by messaging that such common or motivationally ambiguous behaviours are indeed pro-environmental (Cornelissen et al, 2007;Cornelissen et al, 2008;Evans et al, In press). Consistent with this, recent goal-priming research shows that when people think about a motivationally ambiguous behaviour in environmental terms, environmental goals are made more accessible in the person's mind and are therefore more likely to guide the person's behaviour in other environmentally relevant situations (Evans et al, In press).…”

An Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-environmental Behaviour: The role of values, situational factors and goals

“…Besides values, environmental self-identity appeared to be influenced by previous environmental actions: the environmental self-identity is stronger among those who did engage in pro-environmental actions, and weaker among those who did engage in environmentally-harmful actions (Van der Werff et al, 2013a). Interestingly, experimental studies showed that the environmental self-identity could be strengthened by reminding people of previous pro-environmental actions, especially when these previous actions clearly signal that one is a pro-environmental person (e.g., when the behaviour is unique or difficult), while it was weakened when people were reminded of previous environmentally-harmful actions (Cornelissen, Dewitte, Warlop, & Yzerbyt, 2007;Cornelissen, Warlop, & Dewitte, 2008;Van der Werff et al, 2013a. However, in such cases values still predict the environmental self-identity, suggesting that environmental self-identity can be changed to some extent only.…”

Saving electricity – For the money or the environment? Risks of limiting pro-environmental spillover when using monetary framing

“…Previous research suggests that the framing of pro-environmental behaviour is one of the key factors that can trigger spillover (Cornelissen, Dewitte, Warlop, & Yzerbyt, 2007;Cornelissen, Pandelaere, Warlop, & Dewitte, 2008;Evans et al, 2013). It was shown that monetary framing can limit positive spillover effects (Evans et al, 2013).…”