Consumers’ responses to sustainability initiatives: the impacts of response efficacy and fatalism

Purpose This research aims to explore how sustainability messages focused on different sustainability initiatives influence consumers’ willingness to pay premiums (WTPP) for sustainable products. It further investigates how response efficacy, fatalism, sustainability types and biometric joy help explain the relationship between sustainability initiatives and WTPP for sustainable products. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a quantitative methodology, drawing on data from online experiments and biometric facial expressions. Three experimental studies were carried out to explore consumers’ responses to sustainable products. The proposed hypotheses were tested using between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Hayes’ PROCESS Models. Findings The findings demonstrate that consumers exhibit higher perceived response efficacy and biometric joy, which, in turn, enhance their WTPP for products featuring sustainable ingredients or packaging than those focusing on sustainable manufacturing, logistics or donations. In addition, the results measured and manipulated fatalism were found to significantly moderate the relationship between the manipulation of sustainability initiatives and WTPP through response efficacy and biometric joy. While sustainability initiatives emerged as the primary driver of WTPP, sustainability types (i.e. environmental vs social) also significantly moderated specific relationships depending on the sustainability initiative presented. Research limitations/implications This research highlights the effectiveness of sustainable packaging and ingredients as sustainability initiatives in promoting consumers’ perceived response efficacy, biometric joy and WTPP for sustainable products. It also underscores the role of controlling consumer fatalism in further strengthening these outcomes. Practical implications This research offers decision-makers valuable insights into how consumers perceive various sustainability initiatives and the mechanisms underlying their responses, enabling more effective sustainability communication strategies for brands. Originality/value This research integrated response efficacy, fatalism and biometric joy to address the sustainable consumption attitudes and behaviour gap, offering novel strategies for effective sustainability messaging and future research directions.