This study examines whether consumers’ purchase intentions are influenced by the type of green marketing communications message to which they are exposed, and whether this effect is moderated by their level of environmental involvement (EI), measured across cognitive, affective and behavioural attitude components. A sample of university students (N ¼ 171) were exposed to one of three print advertisements showing a typical ad for the product, an ad promoting a personal benefit to product purchase and an ad promoting a pure environmental benefit. Results revealed no difference in purchase intention across the three types of advertisement; however, it was found that participants’ level of environmental affect moderated the effect of the advertisements on purchase intention. Participants with higher environmental affect showed greater purchase intention when exposed to the pure environmental advertisement; those with a lower level of affect showed greater purchase intention when exposed to the personal environmental advertisement. Implications for the meaning and measurement of EI are discussed, as well as for marketers of green products.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	consumer behaviour; green policy; marketing communications; advertising effectiveness
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Marketing
Research Field:	Marketing Communications
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Management and Productivity
Objective Field:	Marketing
Author:	Grimmer, MR (Professor Martin Grimmer)
ID Code:	93268
Year Published:	2014
Deposited By:	Tasmanian School of Business and Economics
Deposited On:	2014-07-23
Last Modified:	2015-04-28
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