Impact of the anti-consumption lifestyle on brand attitudes via green advertising: The moderating effect of message types

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how anti-consumption lifestyles affect the brand attitude through the benefits (utilitarian environmental and warm glow) of green advertising. It has been confirmed that the message types used in the advertising can influence the evaluation of brand attitudes, depending on whether the focus is on promotion or prevention. Respondents were gathered from 265 South Korean consumers. The survey data were regressed and the research hypothesis was verified using the Process Model. As a result, the anti-consumption lifestyle positively affects the brand attitude of green advertising through warm glow (βindirect = .073) and utilitarian environmental benefit (βindirect = .217). These results revealed that the anti-consumption lifestyle can influence brand attitude through warm glow and utilitarian environmental benefit. In particular, when the moderating effect of message types is verified, the warm glow can have a more positive effect on brand attitudes through a promotion-focused message (β = .1559, p = .05), and the utilitarian environmental benefit can have a more positive effect on brand attitudes through a prevention-focused message (β = –.226, p = .024). In conclusion, this study can provide insight into the lifestyle of target customers of eco-friendly advertisements and message types used in advertisements. AcknowledgmentThis work was supported by the Kyonggi University Research Grant 2019.

Keywords

• anti-consumption
• green marketing
• regulatory fit
• South Korea
• utilitarian benefit
• warm glow