Chinese consumers’ exposure to Weibo posts, awareness, and behavioral tendency regarding environmental issues

Abstract

The study’s objective is to examine Chinese consumers' exposure to Weibo posts, their environmental awareness, and behavioral tendency regarding environmental issues. This study examines the association between Chinese consumers' exposure to Weibo posts and awareness regarding environmental issues and the relationship between environmental awareness and consumer behavior. An online survey collected data from 200 individuals aged 18 to 59 exposed to Greenpeace, Weibo Environmental Protection, or other ecological posts on Weibo between October 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021.

The findings indicated that respondents have a neutral exposure to Weibo posts (M=2.90), with the most exposure to text posts. Environmental awareness (M=3.78) suggested that respondents exposed to environmental posts on Weibo agreed with China's present environmental issues. Additionally, respondents agreed that they tend towards green behavior (M=4.06). Also, this study discovered a weak positive correlation between environmental awareness and Weibo exposure among Chinese consumers (r =0.292). Between environmental awareness and behavioral tendencies, there was a moderately positive correlation (r =0.507). Thus, this study implied that some green enterprise, government, or media platforms wishing to promote the concept of green products and lifestyles could enliven future environmental posts with additional exciting text and photos to increase consumer exposure, awareness, and behavioral tendency regarding ecological issues.