Norm-based loyalty model (NLM): Investigating delegates’ loyalty formation for environmentally responsible conventions

Abstract

The function of the normative process within an existing loyalty framework has rarely been tested in pro-environmental behavior studies. This research attempts to fill this gap by developing and testing the norm-based loyalty model (NLM), which more comprehensively explains delegates’ loyalty formation for environmentally responsible conventions. Our theoretical framework is comprised of the four-stage loyalty and norm activation models most prominent in marketing and pro-environmental behavior studies. Findings from the structural analysis supported the theoretical and empirical efficacy of the proposed NLM, and stressed the importance of normative, cognitive, and affective processes in generating conative and action loyalty. Moreover, metric-invariance test results indicated that pro-environmental factors (awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibility) fortified the impact of the moral factor on conative and behavioral loyalty. Overall, under the NLM, individuals’ loyalty-generation process was more thoroughly explicated. Implications of these results are presented.