Antecedents and Consequences of Conspicuous Green Behavior on Social Media–Model Questionnaire

1. Abstract

The Antecedents and Consequences of Conspicuous Green Behavior on Social Media Model (CGB-SMM), developed by Elaine Wallace and Isabel Buil (2023), is a comprehensive structural measurement instrument engineered to evaluate the socio-cognitive drivers, psychological antecedents, manifestations, and behavioral outcomes of green signaling within virtual platforms. Specifically designed to examine modern pro-environmental public expression, the instrument incorporates constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) alongside concepts of digital self-presentation, such as vulnerable narcissism, virtual self-identity, and like-seeking behaviors. The inventory comprises 56 original items adapted from foundational psychometric frameworks, including the seminal works of Icek Ajzen (1991, 2006) for TPB constructs, Dumas et al. (2017) for digital like-seeking dynamics, and Hendin and Cheek (1997) for the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS).

The CGB-SMM captures nine principal latent constructs: Perceived Behavioral Control (4 items), Attitude toward green behavior (6 bipolar semantic differential items), Subjective Norms (4 items), Pro-environmental Intention (3 items), Normative Like-Seeking Behavior (6 items), Deceptive Like-Seeking Behavior (5 items), Narcissism (10 items), Conspicuous Green Behavior (4 items), and Pro-Environmental Behavior (14 retained items across eco-driving/transport, eco-shopping and eating, waste reduction, conservation, and political activism). The measurement tool utilizes a blend of 7-point Likert scales, 7-point bipolar semantic differential anchors, and 5-point behavioral frequency metrics. Psychometrically validated with adult Instagram users in the United States ($M_{\text{age}} = 33.67$), the measurement model demonstrated robust internal consistency across all latent dimensions, with Cronbach’s alpha ($lpha$) and composite reliability ($ ext{CR}$) values consistently surpassing the 0.70 benchmark. Convergent validity was established with average variance extracted ($ ext{AVE}$) metrics exceeding 0.50, while discriminant validity was verified using the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio ($ ext{HTMT}$), where all ratios fell below 0.90 with bootstrap confidence intervals excluding unity. The CGB-SMM serves as an empirical instrument for investigating environmental communication, greenwashing, online self-enhancement, and authentic ecological conservation.

2. Keywords

Conspicuous Green Behavior, Social Media Psychology, Theory of Planned Behavior, Virtual Self-Identity, Narcissism, Like-Seeking Behavior, Pro-Environmental Behavior, Environmental Attitudes, Structural Equation Modeling, Digital Self-Presentation, Green Signaling

3. Authors

The Antecedents and Consequences of Conspicuous Green Behavior on Social Media Model Questionnaire was designed and validated by:

• Elaine Wallace: Professor of Marketing at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland, H91 TK33. Email: [email protected].
• Isabel Buil: Professor of Marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, Universidad de Zaragoza, Gran Vía 2, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain. Email: [email protected].

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Antecedents and Consequences of Conspicuous Green Behavior on Social Media Model (CGB-SMM) is to conceptualize, quantify, and empirically validate the socio-psychological mechanisms driving conspicuous conservation displays across visually oriented social networking platforms, most notably Instagram. In contemporary digital consumer society, individual commitment to ecological sustainability is increasingly mediated through public online platforms. Social networking sites act as dynamic digital stages where individuals project curated self-narratives, signal virtue, and solicit peer validation. While pro-environmental behaviors have traditionally been conceptualized as private, altruistic actions aimed at resource preservation, the digital age has popularized “conspicuous green behavior”—the explicit publicizing of ecological practices to signal prosocial status, moral rectitude, and personal identity.

Prior psychological investigations often assessed environmental engagement in isolation from modern communication dynamics, neglecting how algorithmic engagement, virtual feedback loops, and digital self-identity transform environmentalism into social currency. The CGB-SMM addresses this theoretical and empirical void. Grounded in consumer behavior and cyberpsychology, the instrument investigates whether public pro-environmental signaling reflects authentic ecological lifestyle commitments or operates primarily as a manifestation of impression management, normative conformity, or self-absorbed status-seeking. By evaluating antecedent personality traits alongside cognitive appraisals and downstream behavioral outcomes, the scale enables researchers to disentangle “slacktivism” or performative virtue signaling from substantial pro-environmental commitment across multiple domains, including sustainable transport, low-impact diets, household conservation, and political activism.

The scale possesses broad utility across diverse empirical and applied domains:

• Applied Environmental Psychology: Assists researchers in evaluating whether social media environmental campaigns foster genuine behavior change or merely cultivate performative digital rituals that substitute for meaningful carbon-reduction actions.
• Marketing and Consumer Behavior: Enables consumer insight analysts and sustainability officers to measure how green brand endorsements, eco-labeling, and digital brand advocacy interact with peer-to-peer recognition dynamics online.
• Digital Ethics and Cyberpsychology: Provides mental health and digital communications scholars with standardized scales to measure how subclinical personality traits, such as vulnerable narcissism and digital approval-seeking, drive online posting behaviors.
• Public Policy and NGO Campaign Design: Guides public policy architects in designing digital interventions that leverage social norm reinforcement while minimizing deceptive self-aggrandizement.

5. Psychological Construct

The CGB-SMM models conspicuous green behavior as an intersection of socio-cognitive evaluation, digital self-presentation, underlying personality structure, and multi-domain environmental action. The scale operationalizes nine primary latent psychological constructs:

Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)

Rooted in socio-cognitive agency and self-efficacy theory, Perceived Behavioral Control reflects an individual’s subjective appraisal of their capacity, autonomy, and resources to adopt pro-environmental actions over an upcoming period. Rather than measuring objective barriers, PBC assesses perceived internal capability and environmental controllability (e.g., assessing whether lifestyle modifications toward sustainability are perceived as completely self-determined and executable).

Attitude (ATT)

Attitude captures the respondent’s overall evaluative judgment regarding pro-environmental practices. Operationalized via bipolar semantic differential dimensions, this construct bifurcates into instrumental (utilitarian) and experiential (affective) evaluations. The instrumental dimension captures judgments of societal utility, moral worth, and personal benefit (e.g., Harmful vs. Beneficial, Worthless vs. Valuable), while the experiential dimension captures hedonic appraisals of green living (e.g., Dull vs. Exciting, Unenjoyable vs. Enjoyable).

Subjective Norms (SN)

Subjective norms reflect the perceived social pressure exerted by significant referent others. This construct measures both injunctive norms (what influential people expect the individual to do, and the moral requirement to comply) and descriptive norms (the observed behavioral patterns of valued peers and identification with social referents). It assesses the social surveillance context under which sustainability is enacted.

Pro-Environmental Intention (INT)

Operating as the immediate cognitive antecedent to overt physical behavior within the TPB framework, intention captures the conscious, planned exertion of effort toward executing ecological behaviors over a defined temporal horizon (e.g., within the forthcoming month). It measures intentional commitment, planning, and goal pursuit.

Normative Like-Seeking Behavior (NLSB)

Normative like-seeking behavior operationalizes benign, socially accepted tactical self-presentation maneuvers utilized by digital users to maximize social engagement, peer validation, and content reach on Instagram. These behaviors include deploying curated visual aesthetics, adding relevant hashtags, optimizing post timing, and cross-platform content syndication.

Deceptive Like-Seeking Behavior (DLSB)

Contrasting with normative curation, deceptive like-seeking represents inauthentic, manipulative, or commercially engineered engagement strategies. This construct captures behaviors that artificially inflate public indicators of popularity and approval, including purchasing algorithmic followers, buying artificial post likes, utilizing digital photo modification software to distort physical appearance, reposting deleted content to capture secondary attention, and engaging in transactional engagement networks (e.g., “like for like”).

Narcissism (NAR)

The CGB-SMM conceptualizes narcissism primarily through the lens of covert, vulnerable, or hypersensitive narcissism, adapted from Hendin and Cheek’s (1997) psychometric operationalization. Unlike grandiose narcissism characterized by overt dominance and exhibitionism, vulnerable narcissism involves intense self-absorption, heightened sensitivity to external evaluation, social fragility, entitlement, and feelings of interpersonal alienation. Within green signaling, this psychological state frequently motivates virtuous public posturing to compensate for internal vulnerabilities and solicit external affirmation.

Conspicuous Green Behavior (CGB)

Conspicuous green behavior represents the core signaling construct of the model. It captures the deliberate, public display of eco-friendly actions, lifestyle commitments, and environmental awareness on visual social networks to signal prosocial status, moral goodness, and personal rectitude. Items capture motivational drivers, including broadcasting personal support, establishing moral credentials (“so that people know I am a good person”), demonstrating personal caring, and cultivating positive impression management (“makes me look good”).

Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB)

Pro-environmental behavior constitutes the downstream behavioral outcome, operationalized across five distinct domains of conservation practice:

• Eco-driving/Transport Actions: Assesses personal mobility choices that minimize greenhouse gas emissions, such as gentle driving techniques, public transit utilization, active transit (walking/cycling), journey consolidation, and voluntary flight reductions.
• Eco-shopping and Eating: Measures ethical and sustainable consumption patterns, such as purchasing certified organic or local foods, reducing meat intake, and selecting items with minimal packaging.
• Waste Reduction: Measures circular resource management actions, including household composting, repairing items, and salvaging worn goods.
• Conservation: Evaluates routine domestic resource conservation habits, including switching off unneeded lighting, reducing shower durations, and running water efficiently.
• Political Actions: Measures active engagement in civic and political environmental stewardship, such as petitioning legislative representatives or joining climate protests.

6. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical architecture of the CGB-SMM is an extended integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) with Costly Signaling Theory (Zahavi, 1975) and Symbolic Interactionist Identity Theory (Goffman, 1959). The classic TPB posits that human social action is guided by three cognitive factors: beliefs about behavioral consequences (attitude), beliefs regarding normative expectations (subjective norms), and beliefs about personal capability and facilitation (perceived behavioral control). These three constructs aggregate to form behavioral intentions, which function as the immediate precursor to actual behavior.

Wallace and Buil (2023) recognized that the classical TPB, while robust in explaining unobserved and private household actions, is limited when applied to hyper-visible online environments. In the virtual sphere, behavior is frequently mediated by identity construction, algorithmic incentives, and visual public displays. The CGB-SMM expands upon this foundation through three theoretical augmentations:

1. The Virtual Self-Identity and Goffman’s Dramaturgy

Drawing upon Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical sociology, social networking platforms function as “front-stage” venues where individuals curate performances for virtual audiences. The “virtual self” is an idealized, socially rewarded digital manifestation of the self-concept. When individuals integrate pro-environmentalism into their virtual self-identity, green actions cease to be merely private resource conservation; they transform into symbolic markers deployed for social standing. Conspicuous green behaviors thus function as communicative signals designed to elicit positive social feedback.

2. Costly Signaling and Competitive Altruism

Costly Signaling Theory proposes that individuals often engage in behaviors that carry personal costs (in time, effort, or financial expenditure) to communicate unobservable qualities—such as prosociality, altruism, cooperativeness, or high status—to potential mates and allies. In environmental contexts, this manifests as competitive altruism: individuals display green practices precisely because doing so signals that they possess sufficient resources, ethical awareness, and social consciousness to prioritize collective welfare over individual self-interest. In digital contexts, however, posting about green actions is relatively low-cost (“slacktivism”), leading to potential tensions between performative online signaling and actual offline sacrifice.

3. Personality and Digital Approval-Seeking Mechanisms

The CGB-SMM integrates the psychological dynamics of vulnerable narcissism (Hendin & Cheek, 1997) with like-seeking behaviors (Dumas et al., 2017). Vulnerable narcissists often experience a persistent need for external validation, accompanied by an underlying fear of negative evaluation. The CGB-SMM models how this personality profile drives individuals to deploy both normative tactics (aesthetic curation, hashtags) and deceptive tactics (buying followers, manipulative filtering) alongside conspicuous green posts. By incorporating these dimensions, the model explains how public green signaling mediates the relationship between personality traits, cognitive attitudes, and tangible offline environmental behaviors.

7. Validity

The psychometric properties of the CGB-SMM were established by Wallace and Buil (2023) using rigorous validation procedures within a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework. The empirical evaluation utilized a cross-sectional sample of adult Instagram users residing in the United States, representing diverse demographic backgrounds.

Convergent Validity

Convergent validity evaluates the extent to which indicator variables reflect their corresponding theoretical construct. In accordance with the classical benchmark criteria established by Fornell and Larcker (1981), convergent validity is supported when the Average Variance Extracted ($ ext{AVE}$) for each latent construct exceeds the 0.50 threshold, demonstrating t\hat the latent construct accounts for more than half of the variance in its indicator items. In the measurement model validation of the CGB-SMM, all latent constructs exhibited$ ext{AVE}$ values consistently above 0.50. Furthermore, all retained item factor loadings demonstrated statistical significance at the $p < 0.01$ level, with standardized regression weights exceeding the 0.60 threshold.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity confirms that operationalized constructs represent empirically distinct dimensions. The CGB-SMM was evaluated using the contemporary Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio of Correlations ($ ext{HTMT}$), a more sensitive criterion than traditional Fornell-Larcker matrix comparisons (Henseler et al., 2015). All computed$ ext{HTMT}$ values fell below the conservative 0.90 threshold (and below the stricter 0.85 benchmark across the majority of constructs). Crucially, non-parametric bootstrapping procedures confirmed that the 95% bootstrap confidence intervals for all latent construct pairs did not include the value 1.0, establishing empirical distinctiveness between related constructs (such as Conspicuous Green Behavior, Normative Like-Seeking, and General Environmental Intention).

Common Method Bias (CMB)

Because all survey indicators were collected via self-report instruments, the authors assessed potential common method bias. Full collinearity assessments were conducted across all constructs. The highest recorded Variance Inflation Factor ($ ext{VIF}$) across the structural model was 2.36. Because this value is substantially below the established critical threshold of 3.3 (Kock, 2015), the findings demonstrate that common method bias does not meaningfully contaminate the measurement or structural relationships.

8. Reliability

The internal consistency and item reliability of the CGB-SMM constructs were evaluated using both traditional and modern psychometric indicators. Reliability assessments confirmed that the measurement scales display high stability and measurement precision across all latent dimensions:

• Cronbach’s Alpha ($lpha$): Evaluated across all nine primary constructs (and secondary PEB sub-dimensions). In all instances, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeded the widely accepted psychometric standard of 0.70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994), with core constructs such as Conspicuous Green Behavior, Attitude, and Narcissism demonstrating coefficients above 0.85.
• Composite Reliability ($ ext{CR}$): Because Cronbach’s alpha can underestimate internal consistency in multidimensional reflective models with unequal factor loadings, composite reliability was computed for all measurement models. The $ ext{CR}$ values across all latent variables surpassed the 0.70 benchmark, indicating strong internal shared variance among the assigned indicators.
• Item-Level Reliability: In the initial structural measurement analysis, individual indicator factor loadings were evaluated against the 0.50 cutoff criterion. Only one item from the Narcissism inventory failed to meet this standard (displaying a standardized parameter estimate $< 0.50$) and was removed. Following this refinement, all remaining standardized factor loadings exceeded 0.60 ($p < 0.001$), confirming item-level reliability.

9. Factor Analysis

The underlying factor structure of the CGB-SMM was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Initial Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) models tested the tenability of the hypothesized reflective measurement configuration. The analysis confirmed the presence of distinct socio-cognitive, personality, digital behavior, and multi-domain action factors.

During the measurement refinement phase, two items were identified as psychometrically deficient and removed:

1. Narcissism Item: One item from the original 10-item Hypersensitive Narcissism inventory exhibited a standardized factor loading below 0.50, indicating insufficient shared variance with the core latent construct. Its deletion improved the construct’s overall $ ext{AVE}$ and model fit.
2. Pro-Environmental Behavior Item: Within the waste reduction sub-dimension, the item “Recycle” (PEB10) was removed during the empirical validation process. In modern urban American populations, recycling behaviors frequently represent institutionalized, legally mandated, or curbside-default activities that lack variance and correlate poorly with voluntary, discretionary conservation actions.

Following these modifications, the reflective measurement model exhibited acceptable overall fit to the empirical data across standard structural equation indices (including $\chi^2/ ext{df}$, Comparative Fit Index [$ ext{CFI}$], Tucker-Lewis Index [$ ext{TLI}$], and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [$ ext{RMSEA}$]). Standardized factor loadings across all remaining latent variables exceeded 0.60 and were statistically significant at the 1% level ($p < 0.01$), confirming a stable factor structure.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Instrument Name: Antecedents and Consequences of Conspicuous Green Behavior on Social Media Model Questionnaire (CGB-SMM).
• Authors: Elaine Wallace and Isabel Buil (2023).
• Assessment Type: Self-report psychometric questionnaire designed for social media users.
• Target Population: Adult social media users (validated with Instagram users aged 18 and older; $M_{\text{age}} = 33.67$).
• Language Available: English.
• Total Item Count: 56 initial operationalized items (54 items retained in the final validated structural measurement model).
• Measurement Structure:
  • Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC): 4 items; 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree).
  • Attitude (ATT): 6 items; 7-point bipolar semantic differential scales (evaluating pro-environmental behavior).
  • Subjective Norms (SN): 4 items; 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree).
  • Intention (INT): 3 items; 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree).
  • Normative Like-Seeking Behavior (NLSB): 6 items; 5-point frequency scale (1 = Never to 5 = Nearly always).
  • Deceptive Like-Seeking Behavior (DLSB): 5 items; 5-point frequency scale (1 = Never to 5 = Nearly always).
  • Narcissism (NAR): 10 items (9 retained); 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree).
  • Conspicuous Green Behavior (CGB): 4 items; 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree).
  • Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB): 17 items (16 retained; 14 active across dimensions post-exclusion); 5-point frequency scale (1 = Never to 5 = Nearly always) across 5 sub-dimensions:
    • Eco-driving/Transport Actions: 5 items.
    • Eco-shopping and Eating: 4 items.
    • Waste Reduction: 3 items (item PEB10 deleted).
    • Conservation: 3 items.
    • Political Actions: 2 items.
• Scoring and Computational Procedures: Latent construct scores are calculated as the unweighted mean or composite factor score of their respective indicator items. High scores reflect greater levels of the measured construct. Sub-dimension scores for PEB can be examined individually or aggregated as a higher-order reflective construct.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Test Year: 2023.
• Copyright and Governance: Copyright © 2023 by Elaine Wallace and Isabel Buil. Published by Elsevier Inc. in the Journal of Business Research.
• Permissions and Accessibility: The measurement model items, scales, and structural methodology are published under standard academic fair-use terms for non-commercial research, academic inquiry, and educational training.
• Commercial Usage: Any commercial deployment, inclusion in proprietary diagnostic software, or corporate market-research consulting requires formal permission and licensing from the authors and the publisher.
• Assessment Fee: There is no fee required for academic researchers and university scholars using the scale for scientific inquiry.

12. References

Below are foundational references and theoretical sources underpinning the CGB-SMM:

• Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
• Ajzen, I. (2006). Constructing a theory of planned behavior questionnaire: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Brief Technical Report, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
• Dumas, T. M., Maxwell-Smith, M., Davis, J. P., & Giulietti, P. A. (2017). Lying or longing for likes? Narcissism, peer influence, and deceptive like-seeking on Instagram. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.037
• Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
• Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.
• Hendin, H. M., & Cheek, J. M. (1997). Assessing hypersensitive narcissism: A reexamination of Murray’s narcism scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 31(4), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.1997.2204
• Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
• Kock, N. (2015). Common method bias in PLS-SEM: A full collinearity assessment approach. International Journal of e-Collaboration, 11(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijec.2015100101
• Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
• Wallace, E., & Buil, I. (2023). Antecedents and consequences of conspicuous green behavior on social media: Incorporating the virtual self-identity into the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Business Research, 157, Article 113549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113549
• Zahavi, A. (1975). Mate selection—A selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 53(1), 205–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(75)90111-3

13. Items of the Scale