ORIGINAL PAPER The Effect of Negative Message Framing on Green Consumption: An Investigation of the Role of Shame Cesare Amatulli 1 • Matteo De Angelis 2 • Alessandro M. Peluso 3 • Isabella Soscia 4 • Gianluigi Guido 3 Received: 3 November 2016 / Accepted: 7 July 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract Despite society’s increasing sensitivity toward green production, companies often struggle to find effec- tive communication strategies that induce consumers to buy green products or engage in other environmentally friendly behaviors. To add clarity to this situation, we investigated the effectiveness of negative versus positive message framing in promoting green products, whereby companies highlight the detrimental versus beneficial environmental consequences of choosing less versus more green options, respectively. Across four experiments, we show that negatively framed messages are more effective than positively framed ones in prompting consumers to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. More importantly, we find that anticipated shame is the emotion responsible for this effect. Furthermore, both environmental concern and the type of product promoted serve as moderators; thus, the mediating role of anticipated shame is attenuated when environmental concern is low and the product is a luxury one. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and man- agerial implications of our work, along with its limitations and some directions for future research. Keywords Communication Á Green consumption Á Negative emotions Á Negative framing Á Pro-environmental behavior Á Shame Introduction Green products are those manufactured with attention to minimizing the exploitation of natural resources, the use of toxic materials, or the emission of waste and pollutants (Haws et al. 2014; Lin and Chang 2012). Industry evidence shows that companies across various sectors are increas- ingly interested in producing and marketing environmen- tally sustainable products (Delmas and Cuerel Burbano 2011; Romani et al. 2016). For example, Walmart is working with its suppliers to commercialize greener products (Haws et al. 2014). Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Company is highly committed to developing a new gen- eration of vehicles that promise to reduce CO 2 emissions by 90% between 2010 and 2050 (Toyota 2015). In the apparel industry, companies such as H&M, C&A, and Puma are investing more resources in the development of greener products made with organic cotton (Organic Cot- ton Report 2013). The first three authors are listed in alphabetical order and contributed equally to the article. & Cesare Amatulli cesare.amatulli@uniba.it Matteo De Angelis mdeangelis@luiss.it Alessandro M. Peluso alessandro.peluso@unisalento.it Isabella Soscia isabella.soscia@skema.edu Gianluigi Guido gianluigi.guido@unisalento.it 1 Ionian Department of Law, Economics and Environment, University of Bari, Via Duomo, 259, 74123 Taranto, Italy 2 Department of Business Management, LUISS University, Viale Romania, 32, 00197 Rome, Italy 3 Department of Management and Economics, University of Salento, Ecotekne Campus, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy 4 Department of Marketing, SKEMA Business School, 60 rue Dostoı ¨evski, 06902 Sophia Antipolis, France 123 J Bus Ethics DOI 10.1007/s10551-017-3644-x