How does consumers' face consciousness influence green self-efficacy and consumption behavior, and how does electronic and social media persuasion moderate these relationships?

Encouraging green consumption has become a topic of immense interest in terms of Chinese dual carbon (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality) goals. We used impression and expectation management theories to examine the intermediate mechanism of how consumers' face consciousness formulates green consumption behavior, the mediating effect of green self-efficacy, and the moderating effect of media persuasion. We conducted this study in East China, collected data from 382 green consumers, and utilized hierarchical regression for data analysis. We concluded that (1) both dimensions of face consciousness (i.e., gaining face and avoiding losing face) helped escalate green consumption behavior; 2) consumers with high face consciousness have higher green consumption behavior than those with low face consciousness; (3) media persuasion increases consumers' green consumption behavior; and (4) media persuasion negatively moderates the association between face consciousness and green self-efficacy, which means that media persuasion can reduce consumer green self-efficacy with both dimensions of face consciousness. Therefore, electronic, and social media need to control the frequency and intensity of reporting environment-related negative news. Moreover, the government and enterprises need to stimulate consumers' sense of face, improve their sense of green self-efficacy, and encourage them to adopt green products to achieve dual carbon goals.