Battle of the E-cowarriors: Differential effects of environmental appeals by influencers and organizations on youth's pro-environmental attitudes and behavior intentions

IF 9 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL

Computers in Human Behavior Pub Date : 2024-10-19 DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2024.108478

Heleen Dekoninck , Desiree Schmuck

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Environmental social media influencers (SMIs)—or ‘greenfluencers’—nowadays receive considerable scholarly and public attention. Yet, SMIs' persuasive power compared to institutional sources like environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) on social media remains uninvestigated. We address this gap with a pre-registered between-subjects experiment (N = 269) among 16-to-25-year-olds from Belgium using real SMIs and ENPOs. We find that both sources affect pro-environmental outcomes, but via different mechanisms and among different groups. ENPOs are perceived as more trustworthy, which translates to higher pro-environmental attitudes and behavior intentions. SMIs affect pro-environmental behavior intentions via wishful identification and perceived similarity—yet only among women with higher environmental concern. Both sources stimulate pro-environmental outcomes via perceptions of attainability. Finally, SMIs' effects on pro-environmental outcomes are not fully explained by these source perceptions, which points to the necessity to study additional mechanisms. Overall, our findings illuminate important boundary conditions and mechanisms of newfangled pro-environmental persuasion via social media.

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电子战士之战：影响者和组织的环保呼吁对青少年环保态度和行为意向的不同影响

环境社交媒体影响者（SMIs）--或称 "绿色影响者"--如今受到了学术界和公众的广泛关注。然而，与环境非营利组织（ENPOs）等机构来源相比，SMIs 在社交媒体上的说服力仍未得到研究。我们利用真实的 SMI 和 ENPO，对比利时 16-25 岁的青少年进行了一次预先登记的主体间实验（N = 269），以弥补这一空白。我们发现，这两种来源都会影响支持环保的结果，但通过不同的机制和不同的群体。ENPO 被认为更值得信赖，从而转化为更高的亲环境态度和行为意向。SMI 通过一厢情愿的认同和感知到的相似性来影响亲环境行为意向--但这只适用于对环境关注度较高的女性。这两个来源都通过可实现性的感知来刺激亲环境结果。最后，SMIs 对亲环境结果的影响并不能完全通过这些来源感知来解释，这说明有必要对其他机制进行研究。总之，我们的研究结果阐明了通过社交媒体进行新式亲环境劝说的重要边界条件和机制。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Computers in Human Behavior Multiple-

CiteScore

19.10

自引率

4.00%

发文量

381

审稿时长

40 days

期刊介绍： Computers in Human Behavior is a scholarly journal that explores the psychological aspects of computer use. It covers original theoretical works, research reports, literature reviews, and software and book reviews. The journal examines both the use of computers in psychology, psychiatry, and related fields, and the psychological impact of computer use on individuals, groups, and society. Articles discuss topics such as professional practice, training, research, human development, learning, cognition, personality, and social interactions. It focuses on human interactions with computers, considering the computer as a medium through which human behaviors are shaped and expressed. Professionals interested in the psychological aspects of computer use will find this journal valuable, even with limited knowledge of computers.