IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v10y2020i1p2158244020914576.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temporal Distance and Descriptive Norms on Environmental Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Construal-Level Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Hee Sun Park
  • Ezgi Ulusoy
  • Soe Yoon Choi
  • Hye Eun Lee

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has beset sustainable consumption. Although many countries are increasingly taking pro-environmental stances, most countries continue to have a low recycling rate and a high littering rate. This study examines the effect of temporal distance as a part of Construal-Level Theory and descriptive norms on pro- and contra-environmental behaviors (i.e., recycling and littering) cross-culturally. Participants were recruited from the United States and South Korea, and randomly assigned to one of five versions of the survey. Findings indicated stronger intention to recycle for the distant future (only 3-year) and no significant difference for littering. Americans showed higher likelihood to recycle than Koreans while Koreans showed higher likelihood to litter when temporal distance was disregarded. Situational descriptive norms showed significant differences cross-culturally, but the interaction of culture and time distance was not visible. Theoretical implications for Construal-Level Theory research and practical implications for environmental policymakers in encouraging pro-environmental behaviors are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hee Sun Park & Ezgi Ulusoy & Soe Yoon Choi & Hye Eun Lee, 2020. "Temporal Distance and Descriptive Norms on Environmental Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Construal-Level Theory," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:2158244020914576
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244020914576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244020914576
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244020914576?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marie Schill & Deirdre Shaw, 2016. "Recycling today, sustainability tomorrow: Effects of psychological distance on behavioural practice," Post-Print hal-02054322, HAL.
    2. Chen, Ming-Yi, 2016. "Consumer response to health product communication: The role of perceived product efficacy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3251-3260.
    3. Noah J. Goldstein & Robert B. Cialdini & Vladas Griskevicius, 2008. "A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 472-482, March.
    4. Schill, Marie & Shaw, Deirdre, 2016. "Recycling today, sustainability tomorrow: Effects of psychological distance on behavioural practice," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 349-362.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Selma Saracevic & Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, 2021. "The Impact of Social Norms on Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review of The Role of Culture and Self-Construal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Lu, Teng & Liang, Dapeng & Hong, Mei, 2024. "Shaping future generosity: The role of injunctive social norms in intertemporal pro-social giving," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Virginia S. Harrison & Michail Vafeiadis & Joseph Bober, 2022. "Greening Professional Sport: How Communicating the Fit, Proximity, and Impact of Sustainability Efforts Affects Fan Perceptions and Supportive Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, March.

    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. Wang, Xiaozhen & Zheng, Ying & Jiang, Zihao & Tao, Ziyang, 2021. "Influence mechanism of subsidy policy on household photovoltaic purchase intention under an urban-rural divide in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    2. David V. Boivin & Olivier Boiral, 2022. "So Close, Yet So Far Away: Exploring the Role of Psychological Distance from Climate Change on Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Yuanxin Zhang & Liujun Xu & Wei Wu & Zaijing Gong & Hashem Izadi Moud & Zhihua Luo, 2021. "Ascertaining the Inconsistency of AEC Students’ Perceptions and Behaviors Regarding Sustainability by Mixed Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Müller, Monika & Huber, Christian & Messner, Martin, 2019. "Meaningful work at a distance: A case study in a hospital," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 719-729.
    5. Craig, C.A. & Feng, S. & Gilbertz, S., 2019. "Water crisis, drought, and climate change in the southeast United States," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Jesús Manuel López-Bonilla & María del Carmen Reyes-Rodríguez & Luis Miguel López-Bonilla, 2019. "Interactions and Relationships between Personal Factors in Pro-Environmental Golf Tourist Behaviour: A Gender Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Han, Nah Ray & Baek, Tae Hyun & Yoon, Sukki & Kim, Yeonshin, 2019. "Is that coffee mug smiling at me? How anthropomorphism impacts the effectiveness of desirability vs. feasibility appeals in sustainability advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 352-361.
    8. Andrew Mzembe, 2021. "The psychological distance and construal level perspectives of sustainable value creation in SMEs," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 465-478, March.
    9. Melissa Nursey-Bray & Robert Palmer & Bridie Meyer-Mclean & Thomas Wanner & Cris Birzer, 2019. "The Fear of Not Flying: Achieving Sustainable Academic Plane Travel in Higher Education Based on Insights from South Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Jesús Manuel López-Bonilla & María Del Carmen Reyes-Rodríguez & Luis Miguel López-Bonilla, 2018. "The Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours of European Golf Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, June.
    11. Jiang, Kan & Mo, Silan & Qin, Meilian, 2024. "Descriptive or injunctive? The effect of sustainable normative appeals and advertising orientations on environmentally responsible consumption behavior in a collective action perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Vicky-Lauren Bekoum Essokolo & Elisabeth Robinot, 2022. "«Let’s Go Deep into the Game to Save Our Planet!» How an Immersive and Educational Video Game Reduces Psychological Distance and Raises Awareness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, May.
    13. Alpízar, Francisco & Martinsson, Peter, 2010. "Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Tell Me Who to Follow! - Field Experiment Evidence on Voluntary Donations," Working Papers in Economics 452, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    14. Nathaniel Geiger, 2022. "Perceptions of Self-Motives and Environmental Activists’ Motives for Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-12, August.
    15. Ajla Cosic & Hana Cosic & Sebastian Ille, 2018. "Can nudges affect students' green behaviour? A field experiment," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 2(1), pages 107-111, March.
    16. Sarah Verdonk & Keri Chiveralls & Drew Dawson, 2017. "Getting Wasted at WOMADelaide: The Effect of Signage on Waste Disposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Wang, Le & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Li, Han, 2022. "Envy or conformity? An empirical investigation of peer influence on the purchase of non-functional items in mobile free-to-play games," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 308-324.
    18. Bartels, Lara & Kesternich, Martin, 2022. "Motivate the crowd or crowd- them out? The impact of local government spending on the voluntary provision of a green public good," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-040, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Gwen-Jiro Clochard & Guillaume Hollard & Julia Wirtz, 2022. "More effort or better technologies? On the effect of relative performance feedback," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 22/767, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    20. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.

    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:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:1:p:2158244020914576. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.