How Sustainability Influencers Drive Green Lifestyle Adoption on Social Media: The Process of Green Lifestyle Adoption Explained through the Lenses of the Minority Influence Model and Social Learning Theory

Social media permeated almost every aspect of our lives. As it enables consumer socialization through peer communication, it has the power to influence and encourage adopting behaviors that might contradict beliefs held by our offline reference group (or the majority). For instance, green lifestyle which promotes conservation and non-purchase behaviors stands in a stark contrast to the cult of consumption held by majority of people in many developed countries. This research asks how sustainability advocates on social media drive their followers to embrace the minority view i.e. green lifestyle. To map the process of green lifestyle adoption, we draw from real experiences of social media users. We examined netnographic data from over 8000 Facebook posts of green lifestyle advocates from the past 3 years, and interviewed their followers. To contribute to the existing body of knowledge, we identify the key elements of social media communication that drive green lifestyle adoption. By the two combing two seemingly contrasting theories, i.e. minority influence theory (MIT) and social learning theory (SLT), we provide a more complete picture of the process of green lifestyle adoption and reveal how both types of influence suggested by the theories, informational influence (II) and normative influence (NI), impact customers at different stages of new behavior adoption. We open the debate on how minority influence can be exerted in an online setting. This research offers a number of practical implications for social agents and policymakers that promote green behaviors.