Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence

Public resistance to sustainable innovations is oftentimes accompanied by strong negative emotions. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the underlying factors of emotions toward sustainable innovations to facilitate their successful implementation. Based on the Value-Innovation-Congruenc...

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Main Authors: Nadja Contzen, Goda Perlaviciute, Pantea Sadat-Razavi, Linda Steg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661314/full
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author Nadja Contzen
Nadja Contzen
Goda Perlaviciute
Pantea Sadat-Razavi
Linda Steg
author_facet Nadja Contzen
Nadja Contzen
Goda Perlaviciute
Pantea Sadat-Razavi
Linda Steg
author_sort Nadja Contzen
collection DOAJ
description Public resistance to sustainable innovations is oftentimes accompanied by strong negative emotions. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the underlying factors of emotions toward sustainable innovations to facilitate their successful implementation. Based on the Value-Innovation-Congruence model of Emotional responses (VICE model), we argue that positive and negative emotions toward innovations reflect whether innovations are congruent or incongruent with (i.e., support or threaten) people's core values. We tested our reasoning in two experimental studies (N = 114 and N = 246), by asking participants to evaluate innovations whose characteristics were either congruent or incongruent with egoistic values (study 1) or with biospheric values (study 1 and study 2). In line with the VICE model, we found overall that the more an innovation was perceived to have characteristics congruent with these values, and biospheric values in particular, the stronger positive and the weaker negative emotions they experienced toward the innovation, especially the more strongly people endorsed these values. Emotions, in turn, were related with acceptability of innovations. Our findings highlight that emotions toward innovations can have a systematic basis in people's values that can be addressed to ensure responsible decision-making on sustainable innovations.
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spelling doaj.art-04d3c6359ca6475c95c140209fa73ddf2022-12-21T22:23:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-07-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.661314661314Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value CongruenceNadja Contzen0Nadja Contzen1Goda Perlaviciute2Pantea Sadat-Razavi3Linda Steg4Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment Environmental Social Sciences, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Duebendorf, SwitzerlandDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsPublic resistance to sustainable innovations is oftentimes accompanied by strong negative emotions. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the underlying factors of emotions toward sustainable innovations to facilitate their successful implementation. Based on the Value-Innovation-Congruence model of Emotional responses (VICE model), we argue that positive and negative emotions toward innovations reflect whether innovations are congruent or incongruent with (i.e., support or threaten) people's core values. We tested our reasoning in two experimental studies (N = 114 and N = 246), by asking participants to evaluate innovations whose characteristics were either congruent or incongruent with egoistic values (study 1) or with biospheric values (study 1 and study 2). In line with the VICE model, we found overall that the more an innovation was perceived to have characteristics congruent with these values, and biospheric values in particular, the stronger positive and the weaker negative emotions they experienced toward the innovation, especially the more strongly people endorsed these values. Emotions, in turn, were related with acceptability of innovations. Our findings highlight that emotions toward innovations can have a systematic basis in people's values that can be addressed to ensure responsible decision-making on sustainable innovations.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661314/fullsustainable innovationsemotional responsesvaluesvalue implicationsacceptability
spellingShingle Nadja Contzen
Nadja Contzen
Goda Perlaviciute
Pantea Sadat-Razavi
Linda Steg
Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
Frontiers in Psychology
sustainable innovations
emotional responses
values
value implications
acceptability
title Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
title_full Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
title_fullStr Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
title_full_unstemmed Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
title_short Emotions Toward Sustainable Innovations: A Matter of Value Congruence
title_sort emotions toward sustainable innovations a matter of value congruence
topic sustainable innovations
emotional responses
values
value implications
acceptability
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661314/full
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AT godaperlaviciute emotionstowardsustainableinnovationsamatterofvaluecongruence
AT panteasadatrazavi emotionstowardsustainableinnovationsamatterofvaluecongruence
AT lindasteg emotionstowardsustainableinnovationsamatterofvaluecongruence