Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption
Abstract
Why are men less likely than women to embrace environmentally friendly products and behaviors? Whereas prior research attributes this gender gap in sustainable consumption to personality differences between the sexes, we propose that it may also partially stem from a prevalent association between green behavior and femininity, and a corresponding stereotype (held by both men and women) that green consumers are more feminine. Building on prior findings that men tend to be more concerned than women with gender-identity maintenance, we argue that this green-feminine stereotype may motivate men to avoid green behaviors in order to preserve a macho image. A series of seven studies provides evidence that the concepts of greenness and femininity are cognitively linked and shows that, accordingly, consumers who engage in green behaviors are stereotyped by others as more feminine and even perceive themselves as more feminine. Further, men’s willingness to engage in green behaviors can be influenced by threatening or affirming their masculinity, as well as by using masculine rather than conventional green branding. Together, these findings bridge literatures on identity and environmental sustainability and introduce the notion that due to the green-feminine stereotype, gender-identity maintenance can influence men’s likelihood of adopting green behaviors.
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Brough et al. (2016) señalan que la disposición de los hombres a participar en comportamientos ecológicos y respetuosos con el medio ambiente puede ser vista por muchos de ellos como algo femenino que afecta su masculinidad si actúan responsablemente.
“Brough et al, (2016) también señalan que la disposición de los hombres a participar en comportamientos ecológicos y respetuosos con el medio ambiente puede ser visto por muchos de ellos como algo femenino que afecta su masculinidad si actúan responsablemente.”
From Perspectiva de género en las empresas. Hacia la igualdad laboral a través de la responsabilidad social empresarial=Gender perspective in companies. Towards labor equality through corporate social responsibility (2021) · cites this paper as Brough et al, (2016)
Brough et al. afirman que la inhibición de los hombres para participar en comportamientos ecológicos podría mitigarse mediante la afirmación masculina y la marca masculina, por ejemplo, haciendo que los comportamientos ecológicos también tengan nombre masculino.
“A pesar de este estereotipo, afirman que esta inhibición de los hombres para participar de comportamientos ecológicos se podría mitigar mediante la afirmación masculina y la marca masculina, por ejemplo, haciendo que comportamientos ecológicos y respetuosos con el medio ambiente también tengan nombre masculino.”
From Perspectiva de género en las empresas. Hacia la igualdad laboral a través de la responsabilidad social empresarial=Gender perspective in companies. Towards labor equality through corporate social responsibility (2021) · cites this paper as Brough et al, (2016)
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“To do this, we used a Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT; Karpinski and Steinman 2006) to measure participants’ implicit attitudes toward the perceived gender-affiliation and greenness of products.”
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Arsel, Z., Crockett, D., & Scott, M. L. (2022) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucab057 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
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Minority influence in climate change mitigation
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- Authors
- Brough, A. R., Wilkie, J. E. B., Ma, J., Isaac, M. S., & Gal, D.
- Affiliations
- Utah State University (US)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Peking University (CN)
- Seattle University (US)
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Brough, Aaron R.
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Research
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-08-04
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 567-582
- ISSN
- 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5277
- OpenAlex
- W2485672443
- Cited by
- 751
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 122 · 2024: 108 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 97 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 16
- FWCI
- 71.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Consumer Research (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
- Keywords
- sustainable consumption, masculinity, femininity, green branding, environmental concern, gender stereotypes
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