Process and outcome frames in firms’ environmental posts and consumer engagement

Abstract

As firms face pressure to communicate about their environmental sustainability, effective messaging remains a challenge. Drawing on mental simulation theory, this research positions firms (rather than consumers) as mental simulation agents and examines how firms can effectively use process (e.g., “We deployed electric vehicles”) versus outcome (e.g., “We reduced our carbon footprint by 50%”) frames in their digital communication to increase consumer engagement with environmental posts (likes, shares, comments) and with firms (purchase intentions, investments). Across seven studies (four online experiments, a field experiment, secondary data comprising 12,311 environmental X posts by 110 U.S firms, and 533 crowdfunding eco-projects), we demonstrate that both frames increase engagement via distinct mechanisms, but using them jointly may backfire due to incongruence. When firms combine warmth expressions with process (but not outcome) frames, the effect on engagement is amplified. The use of competence expressions strengthens the effect on engagement with the post of both process and outcome frames, but only the effect of outcome frames on engagement with the firm.