The Effect of Consumer versus Industry Effectiveness on Willingness to Reduce Waste and Reuse Products

The goal of the study is to assess the influence of consumer versus industry effectiveness states, generated by message frames when providing information to consumers, on their behavioural intentions to reduce waste and reuse products. A pre-study identifies appraisal-based emotions depending on whether either industries or consumers were framed as more effective in reducing waste. Three experimental studies were conducted in the USA and Brazil to test the downstream effects of such communication. The studies showed that informed states of industry (versus consumer) effectiveness increased anger which in turn had a positive effect on behavioural intentions to reduce waste and reuse products (Studies 1-3). The relationship was stronger for individuals with low (versus high) concern for immediate consequences (Study 3). Policymakers may concentrate on informing consumers that their actions may not be sufficient as of today and that higher determination is needed to protect the environment.