ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2016, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (12): 1829-1843.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2016.01829

• Conceptual Framework • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The psychological mechanism of green consumption based on moral identity theory

WU Bo1; LI Dongjin2; WANG Caiyu3   

  1. (1 Business School, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, Tianjin 300222, China) (2 Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China) (3 Department of Psychology, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang 464000, China)
  • Received:2016-03-02 Online:2016-12-15 Published:2016-12-15
  • Contact: WU Bo, E-mail: wubo212006@126.com

Abstract:

With the deterioration of the environment, people begin to pay attention to how to protect the natural environment which we depend on to survive. Consumers play an important role in protecting the environment. Although there have been many findings related to green consumption, research on psychological mechanism of green consumption is insufficient. Based on the social-cognitive perspective moral identity theory, we focus on psychological variables that influence green consumption. There are three aspects of contents to explore: (1) the mediation mechanism between moral identity and green consumption, and the boundary condition of the mediation mechanism; (2) factors that moderate the relationship between moral identity and green consumption; (3) different effects of the two dimensions of the self-importance of moral identity (internalization and symbolization) on green consumption. Theoretically, we enrich research in fields of moral identity and green consumption. Practically, we can provide feasible advice for the government and corporations on how to promote green consumption behavior of consumers.

Key words: moral identity, green consumption, altruism