I am worth more than you think I am: Investigating the effects of upcycling on event attendees' recycling intention

Abstract The event industry generates a significant amount of solid waste and creates substantial adverse environmental and economic impacts. Promoting event attendees' recycling behaviors is critical for minimizing such negative impacts. This study examined effective ways to promote event attendees' intention to recycle by exploring three aspects in green messages: product transformation salience (PTS) levels (upcycling versus recycling), message framing (gain- versus loss-framing), and anthropomorphism (anthropomorphic versus non-anthropomorphic). The results indicated that upcycling (versus recycling) messages generated more positive reactions toward recycling among event attendees, especially when the messages were gain-framed. This joint effect between PTS levels and message framing varies by different anthropomorphism levels. The study also examined the underlying mechanism of the proposed effects and identified that perceived tangibility of the recycling benefit was a full mediator between green messages and attendees' attitude and intention toward recycling. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.