The impact of self-conscious emotions on willingness to pay for sustainable products

Abstract

Purpose: This paper seeks to explore the effect of emotions on sustainable purchasing in Arab countries, mainly Qatar and Egypt. Design/methodology/approach: The current investigation will empirically examine the effects of self-conscious emotions (private and public) on consumers‘ ‗green‘ purchasing behavior and test whether these actions are mediated by the following emotions: Empathy, pride, and guilt. An online self-report survey was employed to collect data from 234 students and faculty members who are affiliated with Qatar University (Qatar) and Tanta University (Egypt). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to determine what factors directly and indirectly influence one‘s Willingness To Pay (WTP) for sustainable products. Findings: The results showed that private self-consciousness was significantly related to feelings of pride, while public self-consciousness was more closely associated with empathy. Feelings of guilt and pride were more likely to encourage participants to pay greater for sustainable products and services. Originality/value: The link between emotions and sustainable purchasing remains novel in Arab countries. Previous research has found that having ethical awareness toward sustainable purchasing does not amount to purchasing ‗green‘ products. This will be the first study to explore the impact emotions can have on sustainable purchasing.