"Approach"or"Avoidance":A Study of the Dual Pathway Effect and Mechanism of Awe on Green Brand Preferences
The Confucian concept of awe has a long history,and the survival wisdom of"harmony between heaven and man"has always been embedded in the spiritual core of the Chinese people.However,since the first industrial revolution,human activities have constantly touched the boundaries and bottom lines of natural ecology.Addressing climate change and the spread of unknown viruses is crucial to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the future of humanity.The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China points out that we should respect,adapt to,and protect nature,and emphasize the promotion of green,ecological,and sustainable development.It is particularly necessary to reiterate the traditional value concept of"having awe in our hearts and stopping at the limit".Cultivating green consumption awareness is particularly important.In consumption decisions,how to inspire consumers'awe,increase consumers'preference for green brands/products,is a problem that governments and enterprises urgently need to address.Therefore,it is worth further exploring and studying the intrinsic mechanism of how awe affects green consumption preferences,as well as the theoretical explanation mechanism behind it.Most of the existing research on awe and green consumption behavior is still limited to the premise that awe is a single whole,and focuses on the positive aspects of awe,rarely emphasizing the negative effects of awe on pro-environmental tendencies,and lacking a discussion of the dual valence of positive and negative aspects.Moreover,existing research on awe and green consumption has not reached consistent conclusions.This article examines whether,how,and under what circumstances"enhanced awe"and"threatened awe"affect consumers'preference for green brands.Through five laboratory experiments and one field experiment,it is found that different types of awe have a dual-path effect on consumers'preference for green brands.Specifically,compared to neutral conditions,consumers who are induced to enhance their sense of awe prefer green brands,as such awe inspires pro-social motivations in consumers.Consumers who are induced to experience threatening awe also exhibit a preference for green brands,as such awe is more likely to motivate consumers to form risk-aversion motivations.In addition,the dual-path effect is also moderated by the"stereotype content model"(perception of warmth vs.perception of competence).The theoretical contribution of this paper is reflected in the following aspects.First of all,this paper expands the research on the dual double characteristics of awe,and puts forward the dual perspectives of"enhanced awe"and"threatened awe"to make up for the inconsistent conclusions in the existing research on awe and promote the research on awe.Most of the existing studies on awe do not distinguish the double of awe,and focus on the positive side of awe,ignoring the negative impact of awe on downstream variables.In this study,the dual potency of awe is integrated,which provides a reference for future research on the results applicable to all types of awe based on the core characteristics of awe.Secondly,this study made up for the lack of natural factors to induce the sense of awe,and supplemented the experiment of unnatural factors(COVID-19 pandemic)to induce the sense of awe.More importantly,although green consumption has been paid attention to and copied by scholars since it was proposed,no scholars have yet tested the stability of the dual double of awe from the natural and unnatural awe inducement factors.Third,this study provides a new explanation mechanism for the study of green consumption.The introduction of"approach-avoidance"framework has enriched the double mediating variables of green consumption preference and proposed the possibility of a double path.The"stereotype content model"further expands the boundaries of the dual path effect and promotes the study of green consumption.
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