Understanding religious influence through elevation on green advertising effectiveness among Muslims: an examination from the UAE and the USA

ABSTRACT Given the growth of green advertising due to increasing environmental concerns, as well as the scarce religious advertising research on Muslims, this research investigates religious and cultural effects on Muslims’ purchase intentions when reacting to green advertising. The results from two experimental studies show that Islamic religious appeals exert a moderated mediation effect on Muslims’ intentions to purchase green products. Specifically, a self-transcendent emotion – elevation – conditionally mediated the effects of religious appeals via the moderation of individual Muslims’ religiosity. However, cultural appeals did not affect Muslims in the United States of America (USA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) differently.