Saving the Planet... One Campaign at a Time: Understanding Engagement in Incentivized Environmental Sustainability Campaigns

Sammanfattning

Sustainable consumption is increasingly important as environmental challenges intensify, placing greater pressure on firms to encourage pro-environmental behavior. In this context, advertising is used to influence attitudes, intentions and behaviors, with incentives argued as an effective strategy. However, limited research has examined what drives engagement in real-world sustainability campaigns. This study examines the extent to which an extended Theory of Planned Behavior model explains individuals' intentions to engage in incentivized environmental sustainability campaigns. The model incorporates environmental concern, perceived incentive attractiveness, advertising attitude and brand attitude, and examines both behavioral intention and behavioral expectation. Using a quantitative approach, a stimulus-based online survey grounded in McDonald's Sweden's campaign "Deal with the Trash" was conducted among Swedish respondents (N = 427), enhancing ecological validity through the use of a real-world campaign stimulus. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results show that perceived incentive attractiveness, subjective norms and brand attitude are positively associated with intention, while attitude, perceived behavioral control and environmental concern are not significantly associated with intention. Advertising attitude is positively associated with brand attitude, while its direct relationship with intention is negative or non-significant, with brand attitude mediating this relationship. Further, environmental concern is positively associated with attitude. The findings highlight the contextual nature of Theory of Planned Behavior and identify perceived incentive attractiveness as the dominant predictor of intention, outweighing internal attitudinal drivers. This challenges traditional Theory of Planned Behavior assumptions and emphasizes the importance of incentives, social influence, and brand perception in incentivized environmental sustainability campaign.