Ecological Economics | 2021
How to stimulate environmentally friendly consumption: Evidence from a nationwide social experiment in Japan to promote eco-friendly coffee
Abstract
Abstract We investigate the effect of information provision about environmentally friendly coffee on consumers purchasing behaviors. We use a dataset from a nationwide social experiment in Japan involving over 10,000 vending machines serving brewed coffee. We also provide empirical insights into the potential drivers affecting pro-environmental behavior of consumers through information provision. Our results demonstrate that informing consumers about the product s eco-friendliness significantly increases eco-friendly coffee sales (+7%) only in social spaces (e.g., office buildings) and not in non-social spaces (e.g., shopping malls). Consumers in social spaces might be motivated to purchase eco-friendly coffee to build a “green” reputation among community members after receiving such information.