Nature-love and sustainable consumption behaviors: does the construal level of psychological distance matter?

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the importance of emotional variables in shaping individuals' consumption behavior, nature-love still needs to be addressed concerning various aspects of sustainable consumption behavior (SCB). Considering the dimensions of nature-love, this study aims to investigate the effect of passion-for-nature, intimacy-with-nature and commitment-to-nature on SCB. Furthermore, this study aims to incorporate the construal levels of psychological distance (PD) as a moderating variable between the tested variables to add a more in-depth understanding.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from a sample of 311 individuals from Egypt using the snowball sampling method and the ten-time rule technique. The data was analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The findings indicate that passion-for-nature and intimacy-with-nature have a significant positive effect on green purchasing, reusability and recycling. On the other hand, commitment-to-nature has a significant positive effect on both green purchasing and reusability. Additionally, a high PD acts as a moderator between the relationships tested. The findings have been discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to integrate PD as a moderator between the relationships tested. Additionally, this paper is the first empirical research investigating these relationships in developing economies.

Citation

Elsotouhy, M.M., Ghonim, M.A., Khalifa, N. and Khashan, M.A. (2023), "Nature-love and sustainable consumption behaviors: does the construal level of psychological distance matter?", EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-03-2023-0091