Do Green Products Make Us Better People?

[musicman]

Abstract:

Consumer choices not only reflect price and quality preferences but also social and moral values as witnessed in the remarkable growth of the global market for organic and environmentally friendly products. Building on recent research on behavioral priming and moral regulation, we find that mere exposure to green products and the purchase of them lead to markedly different behavioral consequences. In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green than conventional products. However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products. Together, the studies show that consumption is more tightly connected to our social and ethical behaviors in directions and domains other than previously thought.

Nina Mazar

University of Toronto - Joseph L. Rotman School of Management

Chen-Bo Zhong

University of Toronto

full study

[Porchman]

Abstract:

Consumer choices not only reflect price and quality preferences but also social and moral values as witnessed in the remarkable growth of the global market for organic and environmentally friendly products. Building on recent research on behavioral priming and moral regulation, we find that mere exposure to green products and the purchase of them lead to markedly different behavioral consequences. In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green than conventional products. However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products. Together, the studies show that consumption is more tightly connected to our social and ethical behaviors in directions and domains other than previously thought.

Nina Mazar

University of Toronto - Joseph L. Rotman School of Management

Chen-Bo Zhong

University of Toronto

full study

Some interesting experiments in this study. It's amazing that people will purposely flunk tests. They see the box with all the dots alligned to one side. Yet they choose to ignore that, and determine something else for personal benefit.

[AtticaFlinch]

A fifteen page abstract? Or, is that the entire article? Either way, I'm not sober enough to absorb the entire thing right now, any of it really.

I'll be blunt here, and perhaps a bit coarse, but the more veggies I eat, the more I pass gas. There may be less methane passed into the environment by cows dues to my veggie eating, but does the increase in my gassiness offset that? Is eating vegetables a good thing for the environment?

I'll read the entire thing later, but one line, the line you highlighted in the abstract stands out: However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products.

I wonder if the authors of the paper proved direct causation, or if the finding merely reflected that environmentally aware people were more willing to admit to their cheating and stealing than those not as concerned about the planet. The very concept seems dubious, so I'll be very critical of the methodology... when I can make sense of the words.

[IronTiger]

Part of me wonders if the whole "green" craze was dreamed up by marketers entirely to sell more products at a cheaper cost to themselves. (case in point: flimsier water bottles)

[TheNiche]

Part of me wonders if the whole "green" craze was dreamed up by marketers entirely to sell more products at a cheaper cost to themselves. (case in point: flimsier water bottles)

The "green" movement has certainly been co-opted as an excuse to cut production costs. No doubt about that.

[ricco67]

Part of me wonders if the whole "green" craze was dreamed up by marketers entirely to sell more products at a cheaper cost to themselves. (case in point: flimsier water bottles)

People and businesses will only be green if it makes sense from a financial sense or it doesn't cause some real personal hardship.

A true green movement won't happen otherwise.