New Paper on Backfire Effects of Social Influences on Sustainable Consumption

08.02.2022

The paper "The Backfire Effect of Sustainable Social Cues. New Evidence on Social Moral Licensing" by Wassili Lasarov, Robert Mai and Stefan Hoffmann has recently been published by Ecological Economics (IF = 5.39). This paper examines the intriguing notion that although aimed at a positive response, providing positive examples may backfire such that consumers abstain from performing the desired action. More specifically, particularly the more sustainably consuming individuals are demotivated by sustainable social cues. The effect is shown to occur in both lab conditions and a natural environment.

(Ein Post von der Professur für Marketing)