The role of environmental literacy, psychological distance of climate change, and collectivism on generation Z's collaborative consumption tendency

Abstract

Parallel with increasing concerns about climate change and the emergence of sharing platforms, collaboration in consumption has become prominent, especially among Generation Z consumers. Drawing upon the self-determination and construal-level theories, the present study proposes a pioneering moderated-mediation model that delineates Generation Z consumers' collaborative consumption tendency. Data were collected among 455 respondents in an emerging economy (i.e., Turkey) via a non-probabilistic purposive sampling technique. Furthermore, a covariance-based structural equation modeling was utilized to test the proposed causal relationships between environmental literacy, collaborative consumption tendency, the psychological distance of climate change, and collectivism. The study findings highlighted that environmental literacy affects collaborative consumption tendency, while the strength of the relationship is augmented for respondents who were self-reportedly collectivists. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the psychological distance of climate change mediates the relationship between environmental literacy and collaborative consumption tendency, while the magnitude of the mediation effect is amplified in collectivist participants. Based on the empirical findings, the present study extends self-determination and construal-level theory while offering strategic directions and insights for sharing platform industry.