Encouraging Sustainable Consumer Behavior Through the Use of Persuasion Tactics

A pressing matter within the field of consumer behavior is the challenge of shifting consumption in a more sustainable direction to keep up with society’s environmental needs. Persuasion tactics are powerful tools for influencing consumers’ attitudes toward brands, and the purpose of this study is to investigate the most effective tactics in hopes of helping environmentally conscious companies appeal to consumers. Using an experimental design, 132 participants between the ages of 18-65 will be exposed to a mock clothing brand website, and randomly assigned into one of four conditions: the control group (standard environmental message), the social norm condition (reinforcing sustainable consumption as a social norm), the authority condition (reinforcing celebrity endorsement of sustainable consumption), or the combined condition (reinforcing both the social norm and authority stimuli). Participants will answer questions related to their perception of the sustainable clothing brand and their likelihood to purchase an item. It is predicted that there will be a significant main effect for both the social norm condition and authority condition, as well as a contrast effect for the combined condition. The findings from this research may give pivotal insight on the most effective persuasion tactics for guiding consumers to make more sustainable decisions