I did good, and we did bad: The impact of collective versus private emotions on pro-environmental food consumption

• Emotions guide consumers pro-environmental consumption.
• Function private emotions versus collective emotions unclear.
• Three studies show importance of positive private and negative collective emotions.
• Attribution theory is used to explain the differences across private and collective emotions.

Consumers’ food consumption patterns are one of the main problems that is associated with environmental concerns. Emotions play an important role in guiding consumers toward pro-environmental consumption, although it is not clear how the functions of emotions that are experienced due to one’s own behavior (private emotions) or due to the behavior of groups to which one belongs (collective emotions) compare. We proposed that due to the attribution bias, positive private and negative collective emotions are the most effective in guiding intentions. Indeed, the current paper shows that positive private and negative collective emotions have the strongest effect on intention to buy organic food in the three studies that are described. This paper offers theoretical implications regarding the function of emotions and practical implications that might be used to encourage pro-environmental food consumption.