Journal
JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS
Volume 94, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101752
Keywords
Systems thinking; Bio-based products; Bioeconomy; Pro-environmental behavior; Mediation analysis
Categories
Funding
- Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC), c/o Forschungszentrum Julich in Germany [313/323-400-002 13]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Systems thinking (ST) can activate consumer environmental awareness and influence consumer intentions to purchase bio-based products through the mediating role of ecological worldview and variables from the norm-activation model. The study aims to bridge gaps in understanding the relationship between ST and adoption of bio-based products, as well as how ST impacts environmental behavior.
Systems thinking (ST) represents an important cognitive paradigm for the transition towards a circular bioeconomy, as greater awareness of the environmental impact of fossil-based products may lead to a switch to sustainable alternatives produced from secondary biomass which is not used as feed or food. However, the relationship between ST and the adoption of bio-based products, as well as the general mechanism of how ST affects environmental behavior, is not yet well-understood. The present study therefore aims to close these research gaps by conducting a survey-based experiment with a ST-motivated treatment, in which participants are asked to list as many consequences of their consumption behavior as possible (N=446 US consumers). Our findings suggest that the treatment is able to slightly activate a ST perspective, along with indirectly affecting consumer intentions to buy bio-based products by means of ST. Subsequent mediation analyses further reveal that an ecological worldview as well as variables from the norm-activation model function as mediators of the relationship between ST and purchase intention.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available