How much is too much? The role of complex information in environmental communication settings

Over the past two decades the connection among information, consumer behavior and the environment has received significant attention. A growing interest exists in the role that information has in the encouragement of environmentally-preferable products. Nevertheless, its implications are by no means yet fully understood, and the ultimate objective of promoting sustainable patterns of consumption remains to be seen. The particular case of corporate environmental messages has a history of mixed results, and concerns are mounting around information overload, and the quality and accurateness of the content. In this research I explore information complexity, and credibility, as key constructs that influence environmental communication performance. Recent emphasis on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) information is presented as holding some promise by which improved communication effectiveness of environmental claims may materialize. To accomplish this, two experiments have been conducted. The first one looks in a business-to-consumer (B2C) setting the mechanisms that consumers employ to process messages, and a framework is proposed by which complexity and credibility mediate the effect of attitudinal and behavioral intention variables. Several regression analyses and a Latent Variable Structural Equation Model (LVSEM) were developed based on a sample of about 3,000 subjects. Results from this experiment indicate that although the likelihood that more complex communications in an advertising context makes for poor advertising; the credibility gained through more explicit environmental disclosures, favorably influences the perceptions toward the company and the brand. A second experiment, within a business-to-business (B2B) context, expands these ideas by focusing on a situation where the elaboration opportunity is higher, and where environmental performance is important to the purchaser. With a sample of about 1,000 architects members of the U.S. Green Building Council, environmental performance messages, which are typically considered ancillary in nature, are explored in conjunction with the central (functional) product performance message, and not in isolation, as has been often the case. The main findings from this study indicate that, for this audience, advertisements with environmental messages are more effective than those presenting functional product benefits alone, but only when the messages are substantiated with quantitative and disaggregated information [resulting from LCA studies].