The Moderating Effect of Green Advertising on the Relationship between Gamification and Sustainable Consumption Behavior: A Case Study of the Ant Forest Social Media App

The end of the twentieth century saw increased research on sustainability issues, particularly consumer consumption patterns and their environmental impact. As consumers become more aware of the need to shift consumption habits toward green initiatives, a broader set of methods encouraging sustainab...

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Published inSustainability Vol. 15; no. 4; p. 2883
Main Authors Huang, Miao, Mohamad Saleh, Mohamad Saifudin, Zolkepli, Izzal Asnira
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2023
Subjects
Advertising
Attitudes
Behavior
Case studies
Computer & video games
Consumer behavior
Consumption (Economics)
Green marketing
Marketing research
Social media
Social networks
Sustainability
Sustainable consumption
Sustainable development
Sustainable use
User behavior
User experience
United Kingdom
China
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Summary:The end of the twentieth century saw increased research on sustainability issues, particularly consumer consumption patterns and their environmental impact. As consumers become more aware of the need to shift consumption habits toward green initiatives, a broader set of methods encouraging sustainable living should be sought. Due to the popularity of gamification in apps and other technology-related solutions, little research has been conducted to investigate gamification and advertising as a strategy to promote sustainable consumption. Using convenience sampling, this study surveyed 305 Ant Forest app users to investigate the relationship between gamification, perceived enjoyment, and sustainable consumption while observing green advertising as a moderating effect. The findings show that green advertising does not moderate gamification experience or perceived enjoyment but does moderate perceived enjoyment and sustainable consumption. Given that the study samples were university students, it is surprising to learn that gamification and green advertising have no relationship, thus denying the gamification experience to encourage sustainable behavior among China’s youth. As a result, marketers pursuing green initiatives should keep this impactful result in mind when implementing gamified features in user-experience apps. Gaming is seen uniquely for pleasure and enjoyment, not for creating behavioral change and awareness.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su15042883