Role of green advertisement authenticity in determining customers' pro‐environmental behavior

• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Author: Kulwinder Kaur,Vikas Kumar,Amanjot Singh Syan,Yadvinder Parmar
• Date: 01 June 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12232

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Role of green advertisement authenticity in

determining customers' pro-environmental

behavior

Kulwinder Kaur

1

| Vikas Kumar

2

| Amanjot Singh Syan

2

|

Yadvinder Parmar

2

1

Indian Institute of Management Jammu,

Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

2

University Business School, Guru Nanak

Dev University, Amritsar, India

Correspondence

Vikas Kumar, University Business

School, Guru Nanak Dev University,

Amritsar (Punjab), India.

Email: vikaskumarpu@gmail.com

Abstract

The present study investigates the impact of advertise-

ment authenticity and the role of various latent vari-

ables in determining customers' pro-environmental

behavior. Data have been collected from 731 respon-

dents belonging to the North Indian region through a

convenience sampling technique. Structural equation

modeling technique has been employed to measure the

impact of identified dimensions on customers' pro-

environmental behavior. The study results validated

that pro-environmental behavior is significantly deter-

mined by advertisement authenticity, trustworthiness,

threat appeal, environmental threat appeals, and per-

ceived severity. The findings further provide substantial

insights that validate the use of threat appeal in green

advertising, thus enabling the advertisers, marketers,

and government agencies to develop robust and effec-

tive marketing strategies for promoting the use of eco-

friendly products.

KEYWORDS

authenticity, confirmatory factor analysis, environmental

threat appeals, green advertisement, pro-environmental

behavior, structural equation modeling

Received: 9 February 2020 Accepted: 25 February 2021

DOI: 10.1111/basr.12232

© 2021 W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University

Bus Soc Rev. 2021;126:135–154. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/basr 135

1|INTRODUCTION

Environmental concerns have pervaded the news and have positioned the environment as a

prominent topic which targets to mobilize the audience to engage themselves in pro-

environmental behavior (Chang et al., 2015; Craig et al., 2012; Shin & Ki, 2019; Wong

et al., 2014). McDaniel and Rylander (1993) argued that increasing environmental conscious-

ness makes it necessary for consumer marketers to respond to it and lead the way in ecological

programs (Marsden, 2000; Oberman, 2004; Saha & Darnton, 2005; Sandhu, 2010). For this, the

basic understanding of the concept of “green advertising”is essential for them. The concept of

green advertising is far more complicated than the extant marketing literature. According to

Haytko and Matulich (2008), the concept of green advertising emerged during the 1970s due

to the slump caused by swollen oil prices and the need to cope with environmental problems. It

is a way to respond to consumers' and regulators' concerns about the environment (Zinkhan &

Carlson, 1995). Green advertising is a marketing tool by which companies can represent their

environmental sensitivity and also gain a competitive advantage by using it as a differentiating

factor (Do Paço & Reis, 2012; Phau & Ong, 2007). Dangelico and Vocalelli (2017) stated that

green advertising is a part of the “promotion mix”of four Ps' of green marketing. Effective green

advertising should highlight the environmental benefits of products, enhance products'

green image, promotes a sustainable lifestyle, and lessens information asymmetry for green

products (D'Souza et al., 2006). According to D'Souza and Taghian (2005), green advertising

aims to create awareness among consumers and their favorable attitudes toward environmen-

tally friendly products.

The study is based on the existing theories like protection motivation theory (Craig

et al., 2012; Hartmann et al., 2016; Maddux & Rogers, 1983) and extended parallel processing

model (EPMM) (Mo et al., 2018; Witte, 1992). This study makes an empirical contribution by

testing a theoretical linkage between the constructs and determining the impact of environmen-

tal threat appeals, threat appeal advertisements, advertisement trustworthiness, and perceived

severity on advertisement authenticity and the intention to engage in pro-environmental behav-

ior. So growing attention and increasing focus toward eco-friendly products have put greater

light on the prospects of green advertisement in India. Hence, this research will enable the

researchers to know about customers' perception toward threat appeal in green advertising and

its influence on pro-environmental behavior. The findings of the study will contribute toward

green advertising literature and will expand initial insight into the use of threat appeal in a

green advertisement. As stated by Witte (1992), “threat appeal”in an advertisement is an exter-

nal stimulus variable (like an environmental or message cue) that exists whether a person

knows it or not. So, according to studies, if an individual holds a cognition that a threat exists,

then he or she perceives a threat (Chang et al., 2015; Grimmer & Woolley, 2014). Studies also

stated that fear or threat appeals had been defined in terms of the amount of fear aroused and

experienced by the audience (Hartmann et al., 2016; Malhotra et al., 2017). La Tour and

Tanner (2006) argued that research on fear appeals are only limited to the field of health.

Whereas Czarnecka and Mogaji (2019) and Mogaji and Danbury (2017) also examined the role

of fear appeals in loan advertising. It confirms that in the area of behavioral research, appeals

are now being considered an essential factor in influencing the customers. So it is of paramount

importance to understand the impact of fear arousals in the field of green advertising, which

will enable the stakeholders to develop a further understanding (Lu et al., 2015; Papadas

et al., 2017). Compared to other threat appeals, the examination of environment threat appeal

makes a specific research contribution because the environmental threat is singular in which a

136 KAUR ET AL.