Abstract
We investigated whether the emotional framing of climate change communication can influence workplace pro-environmental behavior. In three quasi-experimental studies, we examined whether emotional displays in climate change communication affected participants’ subsequent workplace pro-environmental behavior. In Studies 1 and 2, undergraduate and master’s students viewed a fictional news video about climate change, where the newsreader displayed one of five emotions: sadness, fear, anger, contentment, and hope. The dependent variable was recycling behavior following the viewing. In Study 3, office employees viewed the same news videos online; the dependent variable was requesting further information to increase pro-environmental behavior in the workplace. The results from all three studies show that displayed emotion significantly affected pro-environmental behavior and that sadness, in particular, resulted in significantly less workplace pro-environmental behavior. These results indicate the need to study the effect of discrete emotions, rather than assuming that emotions of the same valence have similar effects. The results also underscore the importance of using experimental designs in advancing the field. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for research, theory, and practice of emotionally framed communication of sustainability messages.
Highlights
Considering the totality of this research, we argue that the effect of emotional arousal on pro-environmental behavior will be more pronounced for negative emotions than for positive emotions
We found no support for Hypothesis 2 insofar as fear did not result in more recycling behavior than in the written control condition group, χ2 (1, n = 96) = 0.00, ns, or the audio
We found no support for Hypothesis 4; anger did not result in more recycling behavior than in the written control condition group, χ2 (1, n = 96) = 0.00, ns, or the audio–visual control condition group, χ2 (1, n = 84) = 2.20, ns
Summary
Increasing evidence shows that wicked problems like climate change often evoke strong emotional reactions including fear, anxiety, and, in some cases, depression about the future [2,3,4]. Some researchers have begun to investigate emotions as they relate to climate change communication [5,6], climate change perceptions [7], and motivation to act [8,9]. The use of negative emotions is common, with fear and anxiety featuring prominently [5,6,7,10,11]; positive emotions, such as hope, are used less commonly [5,6,12]. This work clearly shows that emotions are strongly related to pro-environmental behavior, yet an understanding of the causal relationships is lacking [6,7]
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