IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p1680-d496673.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promoting Water Conservation Based on the Matching Effect of Regulatory Focus and Emotion

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaomei Wang

    (School of Media Studies and Humanities, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Lin Zhang

    (School of Media Studies and Humanities, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Xiaoyu Jiang

    (School of Media Studies and Humanities, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Jia Wang

    (School of Media Studies and Humanities, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China)

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effects of regulatory focus and emotions on water-saving information dissemination. The findings revealed that when water-saving information is framed with a prevention focus, sad emotion fosters more active willingness to engage with the information dissemination than cheerful emotion. However, a promotion focus coupled with cheerfulness is slightly more persuasive than a promotion focus coupled with sadness. Furthermore, compared to the individuals in the nonfit group of emotions who had a regulatory focus, the individuals in the fit group formed a more favorable water-saving attitude and demonstrated a slightly higher willingness to disseminate water-saving information. This article is the first to contribute to exploring the dissemination of water-saving information from the perspective of the interactive effect of individual cognitive motivation and emotion.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaomei Wang & Lin Zhang & Xiaoyu Jiang & Jia Wang, 2021. "Promoting Water Conservation Based on the Matching Effect of Regulatory Focus and Emotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1680-:d:496673
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1680/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1680/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pham, Michel Tuan & Avnet, Tamar, 2009. "Contingent reliance on the affect heuristic as a function of regulatory focus," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 267-278, March.
    2. Holler, Marianne & Hoelzl, Erik & Kirchler, Erich & Leder, Susanne & Mannetti, Lucia, 2008. "Framing of information on the use of public finances, regulatory fit of recipients and tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 597-611, August.
    3. Poels, Karolien & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2008. "Hope and self-regulatory goals applied to an advertising context: Promoting prevention stimulates goal-directed behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 1030-1040, October.
    4. Rui (Juliet) Zhu & Joan Meyers-Levy, 2007. "Exploring the Cognitive Mechanism that Underlies Regulatory Focus Effects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(1), pages 89-96, April.
    5. Aparna A. Labroo & Vanessa M. Patrick, 2009. "Psychological Distancing: Why Happiness Helps You See the Big Picture," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(5), pages 800-809, October.
    6. Jaekwon Chung, 2020. "Effect of Quality Uncertainty, Regulatory Focus, and Promotional Strategies on Perceived Savings for Sustainable Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Prashant Malaviya & Brian Sternthal, 2009. "Parity Product Features Can Enhance or Dilute Brand Evaluation: The Influence of Goal Orientation and Presentation Format," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 112-121, June.
    8. Pham, Michel Tuan & Avnet, Tamar, 2004. "Ideals and Oughts and the Reliance on Affect versus Substance in Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 503-518, March.
    9. Guy Hutton & Claire Chase, 2016. "The Knowledge Base for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Targets on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-35, May.
    10. Aaker, Jennifer L & Lee, Angela Y, 2001. ""I" Seek Pleasures and "We" Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals in Information Processing and Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 33-49, June.
    11. Brockner, Joel & Higgins, E. Tory, 2001. "Regulatory Focus Theory: Implications for the Study of Emotions at Work," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 35-66, September.
    12. Jiewen Hong & Angela Y. Lee, 2010. "Feeling Mixed but Not Torn: The Moderating Role of Construal Level in Mixed Emotions Appeals," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(3), pages 456-472, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florack, Arnd & Keller, Johannes & Palcu, Johanna, 2013. "Regulatory focus in economic contexts," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 127-137.
    2. Ashraf, Abdul R. & Thongpapanl, Narongsak (Tek), 2015. "Connecting with and Converting Shoppers into Customers: Investigating the Role of Regulatory Fit in the Online Customer's Decision-making Process," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 13-25.
    3. Leder, Susanne & Mannetti, Lucia & Hölzl, Erik & Kirchler, Erich, 2010. "Regulatory fit effects on perceived fiscal exchange and tax compliance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 271-277, April.
    4. Adams, Leen & Faseur, Tineke & Geuens, Maggie, 2010. "The Influence of the Self-Regulatory Focus on the Effectiveness of Stop-Smoking Campaigns for Young Smokers," Working Papers 2010/38, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    5. Lucia Mannetti & Ambra Brizi & Mauro Giacomantonio & E Tory Higgins, 2013. "Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-1, October.
    6. Cheng, Yin-Hui & Yen, HsiuJu Rebecca & Chuang, Shih-Chieh & Chang, Chia-Jung, 2013. "Product option framing under the influence of a promotion versus prevention focus," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 402-413.
    7. Das, Gopal & Mukherjee, Amaradri & Smith, Ronn J., 2018. "The Perfect Fit: The Moderating Role of Selling Cues on Hedonic and Utilitarian Product Types," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 203-216.
    8. Li, Andrew & Evans, Joel & Christian, Michael S. & Gilliland, Stephen W. & Kausel, Edgar E. & Stein, Jordan H., 2011. "The effects of managerial regulatory fit priming on reactions to explanations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 268-282, July.
    9. Sunaga, Tsutomu & Meng, Yan & Zhuang, Xuhong, 2020. "Interactions between instrumental timbre and consumers’ regulatory focus," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Yu, Xi & Huang, Huiling & Liu, Stephanie Q. & Lu, Zhi, 2020. "Signaling authenticity of ethnic cuisines via handwriting," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Sun, Jin & Keh, Hean Tat & Lee, Angela Y., 2019. "Shaping consumer preference using alignable attributes: The roles of regulatory orientation and construal level," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 151-168.
    12. Kirsten Cowan & Atefeh Yazdanparast, 2021. "Consequences of Moral Transgressions: How Regulatory Focus Orientation Motivates or Hinders Moral Decoupling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 115-132, April.
    13. Zhang, Jason Q. & Craciun, Georgiana & Shin, Dongwoo, 2010. "When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1336-1341, December.
    14. Sengupta, Atri & Deb, Soumya Guha & Mittal, Shashank, 2021. "The underlying motivational process behind portfolio diversification choice decisions of individual investors: An experimental design," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    15. Zheng, Chundong & Liu, Xinru & Liu, Shuqin, 2024. "How to make busy individuals donate more? The matching effect of charitable appeals and busyness on willingness to donate," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Luo, Yong (Eddie) & Wong, Veronica & Chou, Ting-Jui, 2016. "The role of product newness in activating consumer regulatory goals," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 600-611.
    17. Chung-Chau Chang & Bo-Chi Lin & Shin-Shin Chang, 2011. "The relative advantages of benefit overlap versus category similarity in brand extension evaluation: The moderating role of self-regulatory focus," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 391-404, November.
    18. Aaker, Jennifer L. & Lee, Angela Y., 2006. "Understanding Regulatory Fit," Research Papers 1910, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    19. Som, Anirban & Lee, Yih Hwai, 2012. "The joint effects of choice assortment and regulatory focus on choice behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 202-209.
    20. Heitz-Spahn, Sandrine & Belaud, Lydie & Ferrandi, Jean-Marc, 2024. "A regulatory focus theory approach to understanding cross-channel free-riding behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1680-:d:496673. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.