Environmental Protection or Self-Interest? The Public Accountability Moderates the Effects of Materialism and Advertising Appeals on the Pro-Environmental Behavior

Min Tan,1,2 Mei Li,1,2 Hui’e Li,1,2 Jin Li,1,2 You Chang,1,2 Guanfei Zhang,1,2 Yiping Zhong1,2 1Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, People’s Republic of China; 2Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Changsha, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yiping Zhong, Department of Psychology, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 731-88872112, Email ypzhong@hunnu.edu.cnBackground: Previous studies have examined the negative effects of materialism, which refers to the importance of possessing material wealth and image, on the pro-environmental behavior. Recently, a study found that highly materialistic individuals showed more pro-environmental behaviors involving self-benefit (vs other-benefit) appeals. However, previous studies ignored the role of public accountability.Purpose: This study aimed to explore the relationship between advertising appeals and the pro-environmental behavior of materialistic individuals in public (vs private) situations.Methods: This study used the material values scale to measure the materialistic extent and employed different advertising pictures. Meanwhile, Study 1(N=593) used the public cue, and Study 2 (N=622) used the eye cue to manipulate public accountability. Environmental donation was an indicator of the pro-environmental behavior.Results: Studies 1 and 2 found that the pro-environmental behavior of participants low in materialism was significantly higher than that of participants high in materialism involving other-benefit appeals, while this difference was not significant for pro-environmental behavior involving self-benefit appeals in the private situation. Participants with low and high materialism were not significantly different in the pro-environmental behavior involving self-benefit and other-benefit appeals in the public situation.Conclusion: The relationship between materialism and pro-environmental behavior involving self-benefit and other-benefit appeals can be moderated by the public accountability. In the private context, self-benefit appeals led materialistic people to engage in more pro-environmental behavior, while in the public context, the effectiveness of self-benefit and other-benefit appeals on the pro-environmental behavior of materialistic individuals was similar.Keywords: materialism, pro-environmental behavior, advertising appeals, public situation, private situation, social exchange theory