How pro-environmental consumption behaviour affects subjective wellbeing: the role of self-enhancement, ways of shopping and locavorism

Purpose Based on the value-attitude-behaviour (VAB) framework, the current research aimed to investigate the influence of organic food consumption, as a type of pro-environmental behaviour (PEB), on consumer subjective wellbeing, by considering (1) attitudes, environmental and health values as antecedents; (2) self-expression process (self-enhancement) and cognitive process (ways of shopping) as two competing mediation routes and (3) locavorism as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach The proposed model was tested using data from a survey of 576 organic food consumers and the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling. Findings Our main findings confirmed a positive influence of the antecedents on consumption behaviour and suggested a stronger mediation effect of ways of shopping in the consumption behaviour–wellbeing link, giving support to the cognitive route. In addition, locavorism was a significant moderator for the cognitive route. Practical implications Promoting organic food can be based on cognitive persuasion by emphasizing objective benefits, such as nutritional facts, over emotional appeals. Moreover, marketing strategies can also increase organic food consumption by highlighting local sourcing, which resonates with locavore consumers. Originality/value Through a moderated-mediation approach, we demonstrate that the cognitive mediation route is contingent on the consumer locavorism, with an attenuation effect suggesting a critical role of locavorism and presenting novel insights for the link between pro-environmental behaviours and consumer subjective wellbeing.