The green side of materialism in emerging BRIC and developed markets: The moderating role of global cultural identity

Drawing on cultural identity theory, global consumer culture theory, and sustainability research, we examine the green side of materialism in emerging BRIC markets and developed (U.S. and Australian) markets. We assess the moderating effect of global cultural identity on the relationship between materialism and environmentally friendly tendencies using three different conceptualizations and measures of global cultural identity the lifestyle and brand dimensions of global consumption orientation and global connectedness. In emerging markets, we observe strong positive effects of materialism on the concern for environmentally friendly products, the willingness to pay extra for environmentally friendly products, perceptions of global companies as environmentally friendly, and the likelihood to engage in environmentally friendly tendencies for the global segment across all three conceptualizations of global cultural identity; in addition, for individuals with a glocal cultural identity, we observe a significant positive relationship between materialism and these measures of environmentally friendly tendencies. In developed markets, significant effects are observed only for the global segment, but specific effects depend on the conceptualization of a global cultural identity. Therefore, our results indicate that multinational companies focused on combining materialistic appeals with their green positioning in the emerging markets must carefully target consumers with a strong global cultural identity. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.