Social Observation Mitigates the Negative Impact of Money Priming on Green Consumption

Money plays an important role in consumer decisions, yet its impact on green consumption has been studied primarily through attitudinal measures, with less attention to actual behaviour, and the moderating role of social observation remains unclear. To address this gap, this research investigates the effects of money priming and social observation on green consumption behaviour. In Experiment 1, participants first completed a scrambled-sentence task and then a consumption choice task. Results indicated that money priming significantly decreased green consumption. Experiment 2 further examined the moderating role of social observation. It was found that money priming reduced green consumption only under non-observable conditions; when decisions were observable, this negative effect disappeared. Overall, these findings demonstrate that while money priming exerts a negative effect on green consumption, social observation can counteract it. These findings suggest that increasing the social visibility of green consumption can promote sustainable development.