To be Green Is to Live Forever: The Impact of Environmental Information Types on Green Consumption Behavior

Abstract

Environmental problems threaten human health and safety. Promoting green consumption has become a vital measure for alleviating environmental problems. How to promote the consumption of green products has also become an important issue for businesses. This paper argues that displaying damaged environmental information to consumers can stimulate their defense mechanism and promote green consumption behaviur. According to terror management theory (TMT), humans have a fundamental desire to live forever. This innate desire motivates people to take action against the threats of death. However, previous studies have reached mixed conclusions about how the threats of death affect pro-environmental behavior. Through three online between-subject experiments with Chinese consumers (N = 856), this research illustrates that compared with undamaged environmental information, showing damaged environmental information significantly motivates participants' green consumption behavior, and this effect is mediated by green consumption values. Additionally, when participants were reminded of their heroes, they consumed significantly more green products under the damaged environmental information condition. However, no effect was observed in the group with no hero reminders. The results of this research extend the application of the TMT and mortality salience in green consumption and provide practical suggestions for green product strategies and green policies.