An empirical analysis of the moderating effect of consumer skepticism between social value orientations and green advertising effectiveness

Purpose The purpose of this study is to add a reliable factor that can contribute theoretically and methodologically to explain prosocial and proself behaviors. The study also signifies that green advertising approaches enable the consumer to develop an intention for green purchases. The basic idea is to investigate consumer social orientations and align them with green advertising initiatives to elicit the desired response as green purchase to manifest environmentally conscious behavior. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on data collection through questionnaires. Data is analyzed through structural equation modeling to assess the relationship of constructs. Findings The results of the study are empirically drawn through the measurement of relationships among consumer skepticism and the effectiveness of green advertising initiatives. Mediation of proself and prosocial orientation exists for public self-awareness but does not exist for benefit distance. Consumer skepticism moderates the relationship between prosocial orientation and green advertising effectiveness (GAE) but has no moderation between proself orientation and GAE. Originality/value The limitation of conventional prosocial theory does not explain the environmental behaviors driven by proself orientations. Hence, the addition of factors such as public awareness and social benefit distance coupled with signaling theory with foundations on theory of planned behavior and norm activation model to explain environmental conservation add an element of originality to the existing literature. Contribution to Impact The contribution of this study is the incorporation of social orientations as the antecedent for consumer behavior in an environmental context particularly as a response to green advertising initiatives to purchase green products. The use of theory of planned behavior in conjunction with the norm activation model and signaling theory adds to the literary bank.