Leading the Way: Motivating Environmental Action through Perceived Marketplace Influence

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Business Research

Abstract

This research explores the perceived marketplace influence (PMI) belief and its role in explaining behavior. Across three studies, we show PMI to be distinct from other efficacy-based constructs and a powerful predictor of pro-environmental and socially-motivated behavior. Specifically, consumers are motivated to act when they believe their behavior influences other marketplace actors. We develop a ten-item scale for PMI and display its predictive and incremental validity in explaining environmental behavior before showing its power to translate environmental concern into corresponding behavior. We then find that PMI predicts social environmentalism and environmental citizenship behaviors, and that these effects are attenuated by consumer skepticism of marketing. While complementing existing efficacy-related beliefs with its explicit marketplace focus, PMI provides an important tool for marketers operating in environmental and prosocial niches by allowing them to understand and target the consumers most likely to adopt their products or attempt to recruit others in environmentally-motivated efforts.

Pages

79-89

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.05.028

Volume

79

Publication Date

2017

Keywords

perceived marketplace influence, marketplace beliefs, efficacy beliefs, environmental behavior, prosocial behavior, consumer empowerment

Disciplines

Marketing

Comments

Use the link above to view this item in the Foley Center Library catalog.

This item is included in the Center for Climate, Society, & the Environment's Faculty Publications Bibliography.

Find more Climate Studies works by Gonzaga University faculty at the bibliography's home here.

ISSN

0148-2963

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