Self or others? The interaction effect between benefit appeals and message sidedness on green consumption

Purpose This study aims to investigate how the effectiveness of green advertising can be improved by matching benefit appeals (self vs other) and message sidedness (one-sided vs two-sided) in consumer evaluations of green products. Design/methodology/approach Four scenario experiments and one field experiment were conducted to investigate the interaction effects of benefit appeals and message sidedness on green consumption. It aims to verify the psychological mechanisms that promote green consumption when benefit appeals and message sidedness are matched and to explore the persuasiveness of this matching on consumers with different power states engaging in green consumption. Findings Studies 1 and 4 provide evidence that when advertising conveys self-benefit appeals (vs other-benefit appeals), two-sided messages (vs one-sided messages) positively promote green consumption. Importantly, Study 2 concluded that perceived manipulative intent was the psychological mechanism underlying the interaction effects of green advertising benefit appeals and message sidedness. Studies 3 and 5 confirm that the power state plays a moderating role in these effects. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the growing research on green marketing, especially green advertising, and advances the theoretical knowledge of how to match benefit appeal with message sidedness to promote green consumption effectively. Practical implications This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of consumer evaluations of green products under the influence of benefit appeals and message sidedness. The match between benefit appeal and message sidedness can promote green consumption. These findings can help marketers and policymakers promote green consumption by designing advertisements that match benefit appeal with message sidedness. When considering the power state’s impact, marketers should consider consumers’ high- or low-power states when selecting appropriate advertisement designs. Alternatively, they can manipulate the power state to optimise the effectiveness of advertisements. Originality/value Although previous research has focused on the difference in persuasiveness between self-benefit and other appeals, little is known about how to match green benefit appeals and message sidedness to heighten the persuasiveness of green advertising to consumers. Therefore, in this study, this paper attempts to fill this research gap by exploring how green benefit appeals and message sidedness match and how green advertising may produce better persuasion effects on green consumption.