Abstract
Materialism, a way of life characterized by pursuing possessions, image, and status, has always been looked upon as self-interested and unkind. Previous studies have widely verified that materialism has a negative impact on individuals’ pro-environmental behaviors. The present research focused on whether the public (versus private) nature of a decision context will make materialists behave in more eco-friendly ways. In Study 1, the behavioral decision context (public vs. private) was manipulated to examine whether the relationship between materialism and pro-environmental behaviors would vary as a function of the situation. In Study 2, we manipulated materialism and contexts simultaneously to verify the hypothesis again. Findings in the two studies consistently revealed that public versus private contexts played a moderating role between materialism and pro-environmental behaviors. That is, in private, individuals with higher levels of materialism were less eco-friendly than those with lower levels of materialism, but the negative effect disappeared in public. We concluded with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the research findings.
Highlights
With economic development, individuals are increasingly pursuing the ownership of material wealth and economic success
We aimed to explore the moderating role of public versus private contexts between materialism and pro-environmental behaviors based on the impression management theory
A significant materialism × context interaction emerged (B = −0.50, SE = 0.23, t = −2.14, p = 0.033, 95%CI = [−0.96, −0.04], ΔR2 = 0.020), which means that the effect of materialism on deforestation rate was moderated by the public versus private contexts
Summary
Individuals are increasingly pursuing the ownership of material wealth and economic success. This growing, prevalent value is described as materialism by researchers (Richins, 2004; Kasser, 2016). Materialism and Less Eco-Unfriendly Behaviors serious environmental problems have prompted researchers’ concern regarding how to promote humans’ beneficial coexistence with the environment. Considering the negative effect of materialism on pro-environmental behaviors, it is worth noting how to motivate materialists to be environmentally friendly. We aimed to explore the moderating role of public versus private contexts between materialism and pro-environmental behaviors based on the impression management theory
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