Psychological reactance in assertive green advertising: addressing the role of individual values

Purpose Grounded in the psychological reactance theory, this study aims to explore more effective strategies to promote environmentally friendly mobility preferences by examining the interplay between individual value orientations, perceived freedom threats, reactance and assertive language in advertisements promoting sustainable mobility on consumers’ attitude toward such ads. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire was distributed to 400 participants. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. Findings The study demonstrates that when seeing assertive ads that promote environmentally friendly mobility options, a prevalent biospheric (hedonic) value orientation leads to a significantly lower (higher) perceived threat toward the ad. This was not the case when seeing the non-assertive ad. While assertiveness in ads has a greater positive influence on the relationship between perceived freedom threat and reactance, non-assertiveness has a greater negative effect on the relationship between perceived reactance and attitude toward green ads. Practical implications Organizations promoting sustainable mobility should tailor advertisements to audience values. For groups with shared values, direct and assertive messages work. For broader audiences, emphasize message attractiveness over assertiveness. Originality/value The study investigates the influence of assertive message framing and individual value orientations on the reactance process in the context of environmentally friendly mobility. It finds individual value orientations to be a significant factor in the reactance process, further extending the psychological reactance theory. Moreover, it revalidates reactance as a construct consisting of anger and negative cognition.