How Downward Comparisons Impact Pro‐Environmental Consumption
Mediating Roles of Self‐Evaluations and Self‐Awareness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21337474 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yiwen Wang (0000-0002-6879-8974, School of Economics and Management Fuzhou University Fuzhou China, corresponding author), Geying Liang (0009-0004-1983-3050, School of Economics and Management Fuzhou University Fuzhou China), Jianwei Lin (0000-0001-5712-1581, School of Basic Education Putian University Putian China), Jie Zheng (0009-0002-7853-6721, Center for Economic Research Shandong University Jinan China), Jaimie W Lien (0000-0002-9974-3212, Center for Economic Research Shandong University Jinan China, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | e70115-e70115 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7594 • E-ISSN: 1464-066X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ijop.70115 |
| PMID | 41044900 |
| OpenAlex | W4414822745 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 49 |
Previous studies show that people often feel more capable of prosocial behaviours after downward comparisons. However, there is limited research on how downward comparisons affect pro‐environmental consumption. We conducted two online experiments to investigate the impact of downward comparisons on pro‐environmental consumption under temporal (Study 1) and social (Study 2) comparisons in China. The results show that downward temporal comparison positively affected preferences for pro‐environmental products. Downward social comparison increased both preferences and the willingness to pay for pro‐environmental products. In terms of the mechanism, the temporal comparison effect was accounted for by self‐evaluations and private self‐awareness. Meanwhile, self‐evaluations and both private and public self‐awareness accounted for the social comparison effect. These findings underscore the importance of downward temporal and social comparisons on pro‐environmental consumption within the cultural context of China. Our study establishes links between downward comparisons and pro‐environmental consumption within the framework of the internal/external model and self‐image/product‐image congruity theory. The findings also have significant implications for designing tailored strategies aimed at incentivising pro‐environmental consumption
Affect (linguistics) · Consumption (sociology) · Context (archaeology) · Prosocial behavior · Social comparison theory · Social environment · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Sustainability in Business
The Core Self‐evaluations Scale
Social Facilitation
Lost in translation
Temporal comparison theory.
Going green
G*Power 3
Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning
Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera
Public and private self-consciousness
Comparisons Across Dimensions, People, and Time
Development and Validation of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale
The impacts of academic stress on college students' problematic smartphone use and Internet gaming disorder under the background of neijuan
Does Involution Cause Anxiety? An Empirical Study from Chinese Universities
Eat to avoid negative self-awareness
Global and local possible selves
Self-directed attention and the comparison of self with standards
Verbal and Math Self-Concepts
A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
Assimilating and Differentiating
Business of involution
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |