The power of personal losses: How the loss-gain frame influences public green participation intentions

Abstract

Despite the growing public awareness of environmental issues, a common gap between attitude and behavior persists. Effectively promoting public participation in pro-environmental actions remains a critical challenge in enhancing environmental governance. This research focuses on the gain-loss framing of green appeals and develops a research model to investigate the influence of different framing types (personal loss vs. collective gain) on the public's intention to engage in green behavior. Through four experiments, including both field and laboratory studies, the research demonstrates that framing green appeals in terms of personal losses is more likely to foster a higher intention to engage in green behavior than framing them in terms of collective gains. The underlying mechanism of this effect is that emphasizing personal losses strengthens the public's sense of psychological empowerment, thereby increasing their sense of green self-accountability, which, in turn, boosts their intentions to participate in green behaviors. However, this effect is moderated by individuals' green self-efficacy. The higher an individual's green self-efficacy, the weaker the impact of the gain-loss framing on their psychological empowerment.