The Hedonic Bias: Why Consumers Perceive Hedonic Consumption as Having Higher Carbon Footprints
Prof. Lili WANG
Professor
Associate Chair of Department of Marketing
School of Management
Zhejiang University
Date: 7 May 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 10:30-12:00
Venue: E22-G015
Host: Prof. Xinyue ZHOU, Distinguished Professor in Marketing
Abstract
Across eight studies, we identify a hedonic bias in carbon-footprint perception: although utilitarian consumption often generates larger carbon footprints in practice, consumers intuitively perceive hedonic purchases as more carbon intensive. This bias arises from a “hedonic = wasteful” lay belief, whereby hedonic consumption is seen as inherently more wasteful. We further show that this bias has important downstream consequences, leading consumers to punish hedonic offerings and reducing their real-world choice when environmental responsibility is salient. At the same time, the bias can be strategically leveraged: for low-carbon products, utilitarian (vs. hedonic) framing increases advertising effectiveness.
Speaker
Prof. Lili WANG is a Professor of Marketing, Associate Chair of the Department of Marketing, and Doctoral Advisor at the School of Management, Zhejiang University. She is also a recipient of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars.
Her research focuses on consumer behavior, with recent work examining consumer self-control, interactions between products and consumers, the effects of anthropomorphism on consumption, and service recovery and managerial responses. Her research has been published in leading SSCI journals, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, as well as top Chinese journals such as Management World and Acta Psychologica Sinica.
All are welcome!
