Implicit attitudes toward green consumer behaviour

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of implicit (automatic) attitudes to explain the weak attitude-behaviour relationships often found in green consumer behaviour research. Therefore, not only explicit but also implicit attitudes toward green consumer behaviour were measured by means of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Explicit measures revealed positive attitudes, while the IAT showed more positive attitudes toward the ecological than toward the traditional product (Experiment 1) or no differences in these attitudes (Experiment 2 and follow-up study). When existing products were involved, implicit attitudes related to behavioural intention, even where the explicit attitude measure did not.