What You Think People Do Supersedes Environmentalist Beliefs When Making Sustainable Purchases

Sustainable consumption is a key factor for human well-being and environmental health. Nevertheless, preferences for sustainable consumption are influenced by social groups. In a Brazilian sample, we experimentally test how emphasizing various subjective social norms affects participants' choices for publicly visible and privately consumed sustainable products (i.e., shoes and shampoo, respectively), as well as how personal traits and normative beliefs predict that choice. Descriptive and peer injunctive norm emphasis increased willingness to buy privately consumed goods, but effects on publicly consumed product choices depended on the order of presentation. Regression analyses show descriptive norm beliefs and self-efficacy explain unique variance in purchase behaviour. Product visibility also interacts with social norm salience to affect buying—suggesting that beliefs about what one's social group actually does have a prioritized influence on purchases, perhaps through influencing environmental beliefs. Nevertheless, people who were prompted to buy a publicly visible good first (clothing) increased sustainable purchasing overall (including privately consumed goods). This evidence challenges traditional assumptions about an individual's pro-environmental choices, highlighting the need for a broader perspective on one's social context.