Global Identity and Preference for Environmentally Friendly Products: The Role of Personal Responsibility

This research tests the idea that a salient global identity positively affects people’s willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products. Results from a large-scale multi-nation survey (N = 75,934) as well as two studies (N = 322) conducted in Singapore supported this prediction. We found that participants with a more (vs. less) dominant global identity indicated greater support for environmentally friendly products and exhibited increased pro-environmental behavior. We further show that the effect is driven by a stronger feeling of personal responsibility toward the environment among individuals who possess a dominant global identity. Findings from this research suggest that the formation of stronger global identity, a psychological consequence of increasing globalization, can have an important impact on people’s pro-environmental behavior.