A Call for Sustainable Living: Leveraging Cognitive Factors to Improve Sustainability Communication
Loading...
Date
2021-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The majority of Ohio State undergraduate students do not consistently use reusable bags in daily activities despite the effort from sustainability-related initiatives. Tackling this issue requires a consistent communication approach that effectively motivates the use of reusable bags and other pro-environmental behaviors. Past research had suggested the use of graphics that elicit negative affect to be effective in persuasive communication. Furthermore, information credibility, which can be directly influenced by shared group membership, is suggested to moderate the positive relationship between climate change information and risk perception. Based on the prior research, we designed sustainability campaigns that varied in graphics and sources and measured the risk perception of plastic bags and intention to reusable bag use before and after the exposure to the campaign. We hypothesized that, compared to positive graphics, negative graphics would elicit more negative affect, lead to higher risk perception, and enhance the intention to use reusable bags. We also expected shared-group membership to enhance the campaign's credibility and increase the efficacy of sustainability campaigns in promoting reusable bag use. We found that negative graphics elicited more negative affect and led the campaigns to be more credible, but shared-group membership did not enhance the credibility of the campaigns. The effects of shared-group membership and graphics interacted in an unexpected way in that the Ohio State campaign with positive graphics worked the best in promoting reusable bag use. However, the exposure to the campaigns did not increase the risk perception. This study provided a framework that pairs locally sourced campaigns with positive visuals for effective sustainability communication and campaign design.
Description
Keywords
risk, behavior, affect, sustainability, decision-making