The interplay between endorser social status and normative appeals on the endorsement effectiveness of pro-environmental behaviors

PLoS One. 2019 Jan 15;14(1):e0210699. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210699. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Employing message endorser is a popular strategy in encouraging consumers to protect the environment. This research explores how the social status of endorsers and the forms of normative messages can influence the effectiveness of endorsement for pro-environmental behaviors. Drawing on the focus theory of normative conduct and the match-up hypothesis, the authors propose that the effects of endorser social status on consumers' responses to green advertising are contingent on whether the normative messages is framed as injunctive norms or descriptive norms. In three experiments, the results indicate that participants show more positive attitudes toward the advertisement and higher intentions to act environmentally friendly when endorsers with high social status are presented in combination with injunctive norm appeals. In contrast, ordinary consumer endorsers produce stronger impact on attitudes and behavioral intentions when descriptive norm appeals are used. These findings show that marketers using endorsers to promote pro-environmental behaviors should develop normative message accordingly.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Consumer Behavior
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Marketing
  • Social Environment*
  • Social Norms
  • Social Perception

Grants and funding

The study was support by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71402010), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department of China (Grant No. 17B019), and the Research Fund of Hunan Modern Enterprise Management Research Center of China (Grant No. 17qgzd07) credited to the first author, and was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 15BGL164) credited to the second author. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.