Mathieu, Charlotte (2024) The Credibility of Climate Advocates and the Adoption of Plant-Based Diets: the Influence of Advocate Type and Personal Dietary Lifestyles. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Amidst pressing environmental challenges, forming effective strategies to cultivate sustainable dietary habits are crucial. Advocates can be useful to motivate others to adopt new behaviours – but what characteristics define an effective advocate for behaviour change in the face of the climate crisis? This online experimental study investigated the effectiveness of vegan advocacy in promoting plant-based diets by exploring the roles of climate researchers and climate activists, as well as the alignment between advocates' dietary lifestyles and their vegan advocacy. In a two-by-two design, 203 participants were shown two vignettes: one about the advocate’s role, and one about their personal dietary lifestyle. Advocate’s role did not directly affect interest in plant-based meals. However, climate activists were perceived as less credible than climate researchers (β = -0.35, p = .043), positively impacting interest in plant-based meals (β = 0.42, p = .003). Moreover, advocates whose dietary lifestyle was inconsistent with their advocacy were perceived as less credible (β = -0.53, p = .038), with good model fit (R2 = .279). The credibility loss due to this behaviour-advocacy inconsistency was greater for climate activists than for climate researchers, making researchers more robust against credibility loss due to endorsing different dietary lifestyles. Practical implications include the importance of portraying advocates as credible through consistent behaviour, and utilising climate researchers in vegan communication campaigns to ensure credibility.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Kok, C.A. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Apr 2024 09:50 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Apr 2024 09:50 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3286 |
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