Psychological determinants of sustainable consumer behavior: the role of guilt in sustainable fashion consumption

Abstract

The fashion industry’s environmental impact has spurred interest in sustainable fashion, emphasizing the need to address the attitude-behaviour gap in sustainable consumption and facilitate a broader adoption of sustainable fashion. The purpose of this research is to investigate how coupling environmental claims with emotional appeals of hope, pride, guilt, and shame, influences consumer purchase intentions in sustainable fashion. This research undertook a quantitative approach, building evidence in favor of the developed hypotheses using a survey based experimental design with 305 respondents. Data were analyzed through the use of ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Hayes’ mediation analyses. Results revealed mixed findings, as the emotional manipulation failed to induce significant differences in the intended emotions. Only the hope appeal showed a statistically significant impact on purchase intentions, albeit with limitations in attributing this to the intended emotional response. The findings highlight the complexity of isolating specific emotions and underscore the need for future research to explore their nuanced roles in promoting sustainable consumption.