How and when Narcissism and faith in humanity drive sustainable consumption

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine how and when narcissism and faith in humanity simultaneously influence product reuse. Despite its critical role in promoting sustainability, scholars have paid scant attention to product reuse as a reliable aspect of sustainable consumer behavior. Moreover, research on personality traits as drivers of sustainable consumption has mostly focused on the Big Five personality traits. We posit that the effects of consumers' narcissism and faith in humanity on product reuse are explained by social exclusion and are conditional on subjective norms. We test our hypotheses using two experiments and three cross-sectional surveys. We find that while narcissism has a negative effect on product reuse, faith in humanity has a positive effect on product reuse. We also observe that social exclusion mediates the effects of narcissism and faith in humanity, and that subjective norms positively moderate the relationships between narcissism and product reuse. This study highlights the importance of product reuse as a key indicator of sustainable consumption and offers novel insights into the how and when consumers engage in product reuse.