Abstract
The inconsistency between pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, known as the “attitude-behaviour” gap, is exceptionally pronounced in scenarios associated with “green” choice. The current literature offers numerous explanations for the reasons behind the “attitude-behaviour” gap, however, the generalisability of these explanations is complex. In addition, the answer to the question of whether the gap occurs between attitudes and intentions, or intentions and behaviours is also unknown. In this study, we propose the moral dimension as a generalisable driver of the “attitude-behaviour” gap and investigate its effectiveness in predicting attitudes, pro-environmental intentions and subsequent behaviours. We do so by using Hunt–Vitell’s moral philosophy-based framework of ethical decision-making, which conceptualises morality as the central decision-making parameter. The results from 557 US MTurk participants revealed that the manipulation of moral dimensions, specifically deontology and teleology, impacted ethical evaluation of presented dilemmas, however, failed to translate into subsequent intentions and behaviours. This finding suggests (i) that the moral dimension has an effect in shaping attitudes toward environmental issues, and (ii) that gap occurs between attitudes and intentions rather than intentions and behaviours. Further investigation of what strengthens and/or overrides the effects of the moral dimension would help understand the reasons why moral attitudes do not always translate into subsequent intentions and behaviours in the pro-environmental domain.
Highlights
In recent years, climate change has come into focus leading consumers to make “green” choices that could potentially reverse their impact upon the environment
The study by Donald et al (2014), who found that moral norms were more strongly associated with attitudes but not intentions and behaviours, was done either online or in-person using a sample of 827 United Kingdom drivers (Mage = 41 years; age range 17– 78 years) and the pro-environmental behaviour of interest was transport use
The study by Pakpour et al (2014), who included moral obligation rather than moral norms, found that morality was associated with intentions and behaviours more strongly than it was associated with attitudes was done in-person using a sample of 1782 Iranian participants and the choice of pro-environmental behaviour was recycling
Summary
Climate change has come into focus leading consumers to make “green” choices that could potentially reverse their impact upon the environment. This new reality created within the consumer’s mindset the notion that a “green” choice is an ethical choice, since “green” purchasing protects the environment (Lu et al, 2015). The precise reasons why positive attitude toward pro-environmental behaviour does not often translate to subsequent actions are unclear (Grimmer and Miles, 2017) and lead to a common debate of the drivers of the “attitude-behaviour” gap (Auger and Devinney, 2007; Carrington et al, 2010)
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