Search Changes Consumers' Minds: How Recognizing Gaps Drives Sustainable Choices

2026-04-09

AI Summary

Consumers often struggle to enact responsible consumption due to the intention–behavior gap. This study investigates how information search facilitates ethical consumption decisions through a task-based experiment (N=308), integrating survey and behavioral data. Findings reveal that the critical driver of behavioral change is not the act of searching itself nor pre-existing ethical intentions, but rather consumers’ recognition and subsequent remediation of their knowledge gaps. Active information search heightened the perceived importance of ethical attributes, and participants who successfully identified and addressed their knowledge deficits significantly adjusted their purchasing behavior and reported stronger intentions for future sustainable consumption. These results underscore the central role of metacognition—specifically, awareness and regulation of one’s knowledge—in bridging the gap between ethical intentions and actual sustainable choices.

Abstract

Despite a growing desire among consumers to shop responsibly, translating this intention into behaviour remains challenging. Previous work has identified that information seeking (or lack thereof) is a contributing factor to this intention-behaviour gap.In this paper, we hypothesize that searching can bridge this gap - helping consumers to make purchasing decisions that are better aligned with their values. We conducted a task-based study with 308 participants, asking them to search for information on one of eight ethical aspects regarding a product they were actively shopping for. Our findings show that actively searching for such information led to an overall increase in the importance participants' assigned to ethical aspects.However, it was the recognition and understanding of ethical considerations, rather than ethical intentions or search activity, that drove shifts towards more responsible purchasing decisions. Participants who acknowledged and filled knowledge gaps in their decision making showed significant behaviour change, including increased searching and a stronger desire to alter their future shopping habits. We conclude that responsible consumption can be considered a partial information problem, where awareness of one's own knowledge limitations may be the catalyst needed for meaningful consumer behaviour change.

Problem

• intention-behaviour gap
• responsible consumption
• ethical decision-making
• information seeking
• consumer behaviour

Innovation

• information gap
• responsible consumption
• search behavior
• intention-behaviour gap
• ethical decision-making