Effective Pro-environmental Communication: Message Framing and Context Congruency Effect

Song, Jiehang; Lin, Zhibin; Zheng, Chundong

Abstract

This research investigates the effectiveness of two types of message framing in pro-environmental communication: prescriptive versus proscriptive appeals in daily and tourism contexts. Two experimental studies were conducted. Study 1a focused on natural park and street park scenarios, while Study 1b examined hotel and office scenarios. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and further explored the mediating role of anticipated pride and guilt. The results indicate that in tourism contexts, prescriptive-framed appeals are more effective than proscriptive-framed appeals, whereas in daily contexts, proscriptive-framed appeals are more effective. Furthermore, the message framing-context congruency effect is mediated by the anticipated pride and guilt. These findings fill a literature gap by revealing the interaction between message framing and context in pro-environmental communication, providing insights for managers to customize appeals, using prescriptive-framed messages in tourism contexts and proscriptive-framed messages in daily contexts, while leveraging anticipated pride and guilt to motivate eco-friendly actions.

Citation

Song, J., Lin, Z., & Zheng, C. (2025). Effective Pro-environmental Communication: Message Framing and Context Congruency Effect. Journal of Travel Research, 64(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231206989

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 25, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 31, 2023
• Publication Date: 2025-01
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 28, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Travel Research
• Print ISSN: 0047-2875
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-6763
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 64
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231206989
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1752079