How consumers process environmental advertising claims: A dual-pathway model of rational and emotional responses

Amidst growing consumer concern for environmental sustainability, firms increasingly leverage environmental advertising claims to promote green products. To construct a theoretical model of how environmental advertising claims influence consumers' green purchasing intention, this study integrates the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, the Affect-Reason-Involvement (ARI) model, attribution theory, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework compromising consumer characteristics with information processing, including information content, processing mechanisms and outcomes. Experiment 1 (n = 189) revealed that substantive claims significantly outperform associative claims in enhancing purchase intentions, and that perceived greenwashing negatively mediates this relationship, while green warmth positively mediates the relationship between claim type and purchase intention. Experiment 2 (n = 193) demonstrates that environmental concern and environmental knowledge jointly moderate the effect of environmental advertising claims on purchase. Consumers with low environmental concern will not be interested in any environmental information. Therefore, there is no difference in the persuasive effect of either substantive claims or associative claims. When individuals have high motivation and ability, they tend to rely on central cues, i.e., substantive claims have a better persuasive effect. When a person has high motivation and low ability, they tend to use peripheral cues, i.e., associative claims are more effective in the persuasive effect. Collectively, these findings advance our understanding by establishing an integrative framework that delineates how the interplay between message characteristics (claim type), psychological mechanisms (rational and affective processing), and individual differences (environmental concern and knowledge) shapes consumer responses to green advertising. It also provides actionable insights for designing credible environmental advertisements and segmenting green consumers.