A Study on the Cognitive, Normative, and Affective Factors That Enhance the Pro-Environmental Behaviors of Consumers in the Context of Drone Food Delivery Services

The current study examined consumers’ sustainable behavior in the context of eco-friendly drone food delivery services. It thus focused on the cognitive triggers, normative factors, and affective triggers in forming pro-environmental intentions. This study more specifically developed a comprehensive framework that included cognitive triggers, which included environmental awareness, ascribed responsibility, biospheric value, environmental concern, and perceived effectiveness, personal norm, and affective triggers, which included positive anticipated emotion and negative anticipated emotion, subjective norm, and pro-environmental intentions. The 312 samples were randomly extracted through an online survey company in Korea, which targeted individuals who have dined out within the last six months. A theoretical model that included mediation and causal hypotheses was proposed and tested by conducting structural equation modeling. The data analysis results indicated that the four dimensions of the cognitive triggers, such as ascribed responsibility, biospheric value, environmental concern, and perceived effectiveness, positively affect personal norm, and consequently have a positive effect on positive anticipated emotion. In addition, subjective norm aids in regards to enhancing personal norm and pro-environmental intentions. The study consequently contributes knowledge that addresses the acknowledged research gap and provides practical suggestions for green marketing strategies in regards to promoting the services.