Feeling the green? Value orientation as a moderator of emotional response to green electricity

Framing effects on emotional responses in a green electricity choice are investigated in a survey of a random sample of 655 Swedish residents. The results show that overall more positive and less negative emotions are experienced for a promotion frame (“choosing green electricity and paying more”) than for a prevention frame (“not choosing green electricity and paying less”). Value orientation is shown to moderate the framing effect in that for the promotion frame, individuals with a self‐transcendence value orientation show the most positive and least negative emotion, whereas for the prevention frame, individuals with a self‐enhancement value orientation show the most positive and least negative emotion. Emotional responses are further shown to mediate the relationship between value orientation and intention to purchase eco‐labeled electricity.     

How does green advertising skepticism on social media affect consumer intention to purchase green products?

Underpinned by the stimulus–organism–response model, this study explores the underlying mechanism through which green advertising skepticism on social media affects consumer green purchase intention. It also investigates the boundary factors that moderate this indirect relationship. Performing structural equation modeling on data collected from an online survey on Sina Weibo, this study finds that green advertising skepticism on social media negatively affects green purchase intention through the mediation of perceived information utility. Moreover, interdependent self‐construal positively moderates, and independent self‐construal negatively moderates this indirect relationship. These findings suggest that truthful and consumer‐tailored green advertising is crucial to green product marketing.     

Financial and symbolic incentives promote ‘green’ charging choices

Electromobility can contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions if usage behavior is aligned with the increasing availability of renewable energy. To achieve this, smart navigation systems can be used to inform drivers of optimal charging times and locations. Yet, required flexibility may impart time penalties. We investigate the impact of financial and symbolic incentive schemes to counteract these additional costs. In a laboratory experiment with real-life time costs, we find that monetary and symbolic incentives are both effective in changing behavior towards ‘greener’ charging choices, while we find no significant statistical difference between them.     

Is “Σ” purple or green? Bistable grapheme-color synesthesia induced by ambiguous characters

People with grapheme-color synesthesia perceive specific colors when viewing different letters or numbers. Previous studies have suggested that synesthetic color experience can be bistable when induced by an ambiguous character. However, the exact relationship between processes underlying the identity of an alphanumeric character and the experience of the induced synesthetic color has not been examined. In the present study, we explored this by focusing on the temporal relation of inducer identification and color emergence using inducers whose identity could be rendered ambiguous upon rotation of the characters. Specifically, achromatic alphabetic letters (W/M) and digits (6/9) were presented at varying angles to 9 grapheme-color synesthetes. Results showed that grapheme identification and synesthetically perceived grapheme color covary with the orientation of the test stimulus and that synesthetes were slower naming the experienced color than identifying the character, particularly at intermediate angles where ambiguity was greatest.     

Can normal narcissism be managed to promote green product purchases? Investigating a counterintuitive proposition

Despite the presumed influence of narcissism as a prevalent consumer trait, the psychological construct was only recently linked to consumer theory. “Normal” narcissism is traditionally associated with negative effects on others. But narcissism is examined from a different perspective here. This study investigates how narcissistic traits may influence consumer tendencies to engage in “green” behaviors. Study 1 demonstrates that narcissists do not intrinsically value green behavior or its potential societal benefits. However, four integrated experiments—grounded in costly signaling theory and the realistic accuracy model—demonstrated that situational factors such as product visibility, purchase visibility, relative price, and message detection and utilization could be influential in motivating normal narcissists to act “green.”     

A ratio principle for a red/green and a yellow/blue channel?

There is strong empirical evidence that, under adaptation to another achromatic color stimulus, the lightness of an achromatic color stimulus depends on the ratio of the luminances of the two stimuli. In the present study, the suitability of this ratio principle is tested for two chromatic postreceptoral opponent channels. A Hering red/green channel and a non-Hering yellow/blue channel are specified as chromatic channels. The yellow/blue channel is defined by extrapolating the plane corresponding to unique green-white linearly to the reddish part of color space, using the plane’s surface as the channel’s equilibria. The experiment was run on an isoluminant plane, measured individually for each observer. Moving along an observer’s measured opponent axes, eight adaptation stimuli were selected for each channel and spanned the whole range of the channel’s coordinates. Red/green equilibria or yellow/blue equilibria were measured as excursions along the adaptation axes. For both presumed channels, the ratios of the equilibrium coordinates of test and adaptation stimuli were essentially constant. This supports the principle’s suitability. However, small asymmetries were found with respect to each channel’s opponent hues. The status of the proposed yellow/blue channel is discussed, as are conditions that might have favored the present findings.     

Should drivers be informed about the equipment of drivers with green light optimal speed advisory (GLOSA)?

Previous research demonstrated that green light optimal speed advisory (GLOSA) affects driving behavior at signalized intersections: On the one hand, drivers assisted with GLOSA show more energy-efficient and eco-friendly driving. Following unequipped vehicles’ drivers (UVDs) also adapt their driving behavior to the assisted one. On the other hand, safety issues can be found in encounters with UVDs who also perceive assisted driving behavior negatively. Therefore, in a multi-driver simulator study (N = 60 participants sorted in groups of n = 2 UVDs), we tested whether informing UVDs about the GLOSA of an assisted driver results in more behavioral adaptation of UVDs to the assisted driving behavior, less safety issues, and less frustration of UVDs. Two UVDs followed a lead vehicle driven by a confederate. The confederate was equipped with GLOSA and knew when traffic lights switched from green to red and, consequently, slowed down when approaching a green traffic light. The degree of information UVDs received was manipulated: The group “no information” did not receive any information. The group “information” knew about the equipment of the assisted confederate with GLOSA and the group “detailed information” received additional information about its functionality and benefit. Results show that UVDs of the group “detailed information” adapted their driving behavior to the assisted driver. However, these UVDs also showed smaller minimum time-to-collision (TTC) values indicating safety issues. Results are discussed and implications made with regard to providing information to UVDs and to further investigate these challenges in the context of autonomous vehicles.     

“Doing Good” versus “Being Good”: The interplay between pride appeals and regulatory-focused messages in green advertising

Many consumers feel proud of making green choices, which is of crucial relevance to explaining environmentally responsible behaviors. However, compared to other self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, little research attention has been paid to the role of pride in green consumerism. Through conducting two online experimental surveys, this research examined what features of a message induce the two facets of the emotion pride—authentic and hubristic—and how pride appeals interact with message frames having different regulatory foci. In Study 1, participants revealed more favorable eco-friendly attitudes and intentions when hubristic pride appeals were combined with promotion-focused messages (detailing the positive benefits of using the green product), and when authentic pride appeals were matched with prevention-focused messages (emphasizing the negative consequences averted by using the green product). Study 2 replicated and supported the proposed matching hypotheses while including a control condition. Findings of this research will add to a growing body of literature on pride as a discrete emotion and its carryover effects on persuasion while providing guidelines to help practitioners design green advertising campaigns.     

Flattery will get you somewhere,sometimes? The effect of flattery and hotel segments on a hotel guests' green behavior

Considering the importance of the hotel guests' behavioral support for the hotels' green corporate social responsibility (CSR), this research examined the persuasive power of flattery in promoting guests' green behaviors. Study 1 revealed that a flattery message significantly increased the hotel guests' towel reuse intentions during their stay and this effect was mediated by their perceptions of the hotel's CSR motives. Study 2 further showed that a feeling of guilt served as another key mediator in the relationship between a flattery message and the guests' responses (i.e., perceived CSR motives, hotel image, attitudes toward a hotel, towel reuse intentions), which was moderated by hotel segment (economy vs. mid-priced vs. luxury). This research provides meaningful insights into the understanding of the consumers' pro-environmental decisions in the service consumption context and explains the underlying cognitive process. Moreover, this research offers an empirical message strategy by hotel segments to effectively promote the hotel guests' green behavior and achieve successful marketing outcomes.     

Measurement and comparative analysis of driver’s perception–reaction time to green phase at the intersections with and without a countdown timer

This paper proposes a method based on digital image processing for measuring drivers’ perception–reaction time (PRT) to the green phase. The detection of the onset of a green signal was based on the RGB color model. The detection of the start of the vehicle was based on the frame difference. The driver’s perception–reaction time was equal to the difference between the frame of the onset of the green signal and the frame of the start of the vehicle divided by the video frame rate. Drivers’ PRT with and without a countdown timer were comparatively analyzed. First, the means and variances of drivers’ PRT with a timer and without a timer were compared. Second, Normal, Lognormal, Gamma and Weibull distributions were used to fit the PRT data. Third, the fuzzy c-means clustering was utilized for PRT classification and comparison. The results show that the method for measuring drivers’ PRT based on digital image processing was effective. The drivers’ PRT was decreased from 2.12 s to 1.48 s with countdown signals. Weibull distribution appeared to best fit the PRT with No-Timer and Lognormal distribution appeared to best fit the PRT with Timer. The PRT data were classified into three groups: “Fast”, “Moderate” and “Slow”. Clustering centers without Timer were 1.16 s, 2.47 s and 3.98 s respectively. Clustering centers with Timer were 0.95 s, 1.64 s and 2.70 s respectively. The clustering centers can be regarded as reference values of drivers’ starting response for microscopic traffic simulation software.     

Looking at anything that is green when hearing “frog”: How object surface colour and stored object colour knowledge influence language-mediated overt attention

Three eye-tracking experiments investigated the influence of stored colour knowledge, perceived surface colour, and conceptual category of visual objects on language-mediated overt attention. Participants heard spoken target words whose concepts are associated with a diagnostic colour (e.g., “spinach”; spinach is typically green) while their eye movements were monitored to (a) objects associated with a diagnostic colour but presented in black and white (e.g., a black-and-white line drawing of a frog), (b) objects associated with a diagnostic colour but presented in an appropriate but atypical colour (e.g., a colour photograph of a yellow frog), and (c) objects not associated with a diagnostic colour but presented in the diagnostic colour of the target concept (e.g., a green blouse; blouses are not typically green). We observed that colour-mediated shifts in overt attention are primarily due to the perceived surface attributes of the visual objects rather than stored knowledge about the typical colour of the object. In addition our data reveal that conceptual category information is the primary determinant of overt attention if both conceptual category and surface colour competitors are copresent in the visual environment.