Message framing's role in encouraging idle item recycling
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 1 February 2021
Issue publication date: 9 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of framing idle item recycling appeals as gains or losses on influencing consumers' idle item recycling intention by assessing the mediating role of perceived impact and the moderating role of product attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, three experiments were conducted to gather data. The assumed hypotheses were verified using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and bootstrap analysis.
Findings
Study 1 illustrated that loss-framed messages are more persuasive than gain-framed messages for less-involved consumers in idle item recycling, whereas message framing shows no significant difference in more-involved consumers' intention. Study 2 suggested that perceived impact tends to increase less-involved consumers' recycling intention when the message is framed as loss. Study 3 demonstrated that less-involved consumers would react to idle item recycling messages when they are strongly attached to a product. Further, gain-framed messages are more efficacious than loss-framed messages in influencing more-involved consumers' recycling intention when they are strongly attached to a product.
Originality/value
Previous research focuses on promoting waste recycling behavior initiated by local, city or national governments. This study provides some of the first evidence on the influence mechanism of message framing on consumers' idle item recycling intention and offers insights into companies to develop effective advertising strategies for idle item recycling management.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Liaoning Social Science Planning Fund Project (No. L20BGL028); the Project of Educational Department of Liaoning Provence (No. LJ2020JCW007); the National Social Science Found of China (No. 19BGL108). Furthermore, thanks to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the paper significantly.
Citation
Wu, Z., Guo, T. and Li, B. (2021), "Message framing's role in encouraging idle item recycling", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 33 No. 8, pp. 1758-1775. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-03-2020-0135
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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