Yudong Zhang

In the digital age characterized by information overload, consumers facing an abundance of product choices often rely on established cognitive patterns to make rapid decisions (Gershman & Cikara, 2...

With the deep integration of network information technology and social platforms, the quantified data sharing of consumers’ green behaviors is reshaping the participation logic of individual and group green consumption. Using a pilot experiment and two scenario-based experiments, this study investigates how self-quantification influences consumers’ green behavioral autonomy and sustained willingness under different contextual conditions from a community network perspective. The results indicate that, in promoting goal-oriented green consumption, self-quantification significantly reduces consumers’ green behavioral autonomy by enhancing group identity but does not influence their sustained participation willingness. However, consumers under egoistic goal appeals demonstrate higher behavioral autonomy and sustained participation willingness compared to those under altruistic goal appeals. In defensive goal-oriented green consumption, self-quantification effectively enhances consumers’ green behavioral autonomy by weakening group identity and positively promotes their sustained participation willingness. Nevertheless, consumers under egoistic goal appeals outperform those under altruistic goal appeals in both behavioral autonomy and sustained willingness. This study makes three key contributions: it extends the application boundaries of self-quantification theory, reveals the differential effect mechanisms of self-quantification in community environments, and provides new theoretical perspectives and practical guidance for the sustainable development of green consumption.

The dissemination and practice of green consumption behavior is an important issue in promoting sustainable development. With the advent of the digital age, social media platforms have become an important channel for promoting green consumption. The expression of language style has become an increasingly important factor influencing consumer attitudes. From the perspective of consumer perception, this study used three situational simulation experiments (n total = 304) to explore the mechanism by which the “Versailles Literature” language style impacts the feelings and behaviors of audiences of the green consumption behavior of the poster, and to examine the mediating roles of ostentation perception and hypocrisy perception. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. The research findings showed that, compared with “non-Versailles Literature”, this style significantly reduces positive attitudes toward green consumption while increasing perceptions of bragging and hypocrisy. Furthermore, the strength of social ties between the consumer and the poster plays a moderating role in the effect of language style; specifically, when posts come from strangers, consumers perceive a stronger sense of bragging and hypocrisy. The research results will provide practical guidance for individuals and enterprises to effectively promote the concept of green consumption on social media, helping enterprises avoid the negative reactions brought about by conspicuous green consumption behaviors and exaggerated or false promotion of environmental behaviors, such as “greenwashing”.

Consumers are increasingly engaging in green consumption practices through the lens of self-quantification. Both the pursuit of positive green data outcomes at the individual level and the comparison and even competition among green data at the community level may lead to insincere green behaviors such as “performative green engagement” beyond the positive outcomes of tracking and measuring one’s green consumption. Compared to outcome-oriented studies exploring the impact of self-quantification on the outcomes of consumers’ green behaviors, this research focuses on the deeper sincerity of behaviors beyond outcomes, comprehensively analyzing the influence of self-quantification on the sincerity of consumers’ green behaviors and their sustained willingness for green consumption. The scenario-based experimental results confirmed that under low situational involvement, in promoting goal-oriented green consumption, self-quantification leads consumers to participate less in substantive environmental activities, with weaker internal motivation, lower sincerity, and weaker sustained willingness for green behaviors. In defensive goal-oriented green consumption, self-quantification encourages consumers to engage more in necessary energy-consuming activities, with stronger internal motivation, higher sincerity, and stronger sustained willingness for green behaviors. Under high situational involvement, consumers with mechanisms for self-quantification and those without exhibit similar levels of green behavior sincerity, with no significant difference in sustained willingness. The findings provide guidance for stakeholders in green consumption to more scientifically quantify the self, promoting proactive and sincere approaches to achieve the sustainable and healthy development of green consumption.

The era of self-quantification in green consumption has dawned, encompassing everything from monitoring electricity usage to tracking carbon emissions. By leveraging technological tools to track self-related data pertaining to green behavioral activities, individuals develop self-knowledge and engage in reflection, which in turn influence their participation and even behavioral decisions regarding green activities. Nevertheless, sustainability in consumers’ green behavior is paramount, hinging not merely on participation outcomes but also on behavioral innovation within green activities. Distinct from prior research, this study delves into behavioral preferences transcending mere participation outcomes. It examines the influence of self-quantification on consumers’ green behavioral innovation from the lens of sustainability, elucidating the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that govern self-quantification’s effect on the diversity and novelty of consumers’ green behaviors. Drawing on findings from multiple situational experiments, we demonstrate that, in contrast to non-self-quantification, a promotional (defensive) goal orientation tends to diminish (intensify) the innovation of consumers’ behavioral choices. Additionally, consumers’ cognitive flexibility acts as a mediator in the relationship between self-quantification and behavioral innovation, contingent upon their goal orientation. Furthermore, the level of goal concreteness in behavioral activities serves as a moderator, influencing the impact of self-quantification on consumers’ cognitive flexibility under different goal orientations. By investigating the mechanisms through which self-quantification shapes consumers’ green behavioral innovation under varying conditions, this study offers valuable insights for enterprises seeking to guide consumers toward innovative and sustainable green consumption practices.

As individuals are involved in self-quantification, increasing fields are applying self-quantification with technical support, and a clear understanding of the influencing mechanism and effect boundary of self-quantification is indispensable. Focusing on the field of physical fitness, under different goal settings, the influencing mechanisms of self-quantification on an individual’s participation performance (outcome, experience, persistence intention) and behavioral decision-making (category selection, novelty-seeking) are analyzed and confirmed. The results show that when there is no goal, self-quantification will enhance outcome salience, thus enhancing the individual’s participation outcome and selection for highly healthy categories; self-quantification will reduce perceived enjoyment, thus damaging participation experience and novelty-seeking, but does not affect the persistence intention. When there is a goal, self-quantification will enhance perceived certainty, thus reducing the individual’s participation outcome and selection for highly healthy categories; self-quantification will enhance perceived enjoyment, thus improving the participation experience, persistence intention, and novelty-seeking. Compared to descriptive analysis of phenomena, through laboratory and field experiments, this research confirms the influencing mechanism and effect boundary of self-quantification on an individual’s activity participation performance in real situations. This provides a theoretical basis for understanding the targeted behavioral decision-making patterns of individuals in different types of self-quantification activities.

Purpose: In this article, the elementary notions and aggregation operations of single-valued neutrosophic parameterized complex fuzzy hypersoft set (sv-NPCFHSS) are characterized initially. Then by using matrix version of sv-NPCFHSS, a decision-support system is constructed for the evaluation of real estate residential projects by observing various risk factors.Design/methodology/approach: Two approaches are utilized in this research: set-theoretic approach and algorithmic approach. The first approach is used to investigate the notions of sv-NPCFHSS and its some aggregations whereas the second approach is used to propose an algorithm for designing its decision-support system by using the aggregation operations like reduced fuzzy matrix, decision matrix, etc. of sv-NPCFHSS. The adopted algorithm is validated in real estate scenario for the selection of residential project by observing various risk factors to avoid any expected investment loss.Findings: The proposed approach is more flexible and reliable as it copes with the shortcomings of literature on sv-neutrosophic set, sv-neutrosophic soft set and other fuzzy soft set-like structures by considering hypersoft setting, complex setting and neutrosophic setting collectively.Research limitations/implications: It has limitations for complex intuitionistic fuzzy hypersoft set, complex neutrosophic hypersoft set and other complex neutrosophic hypersoft set-like models.Practical implications: The scope of this research may cover a wide range of applications in several fields of mathematical sciences like artificial intelligence, optimization, MCDM, theoretical computer science, soft computing, mathematical statistics etc.Originality/value: The proposed model bears the characteristics of most of the relevant existing fuzzy soft set-like models collectively and fulfills their limitations.

Looking at the contradiction between the prevalence of self-quantification and unclear applicable boundaries, the objective of this study is to examine the internal mechanism of how self-quantification influences consumers’ participation and behavioral decision-making in green consumption activities. Based on the goal setting theory, a series of research hypotheses were proposed. Four experiments were designed and performed in different situations with different subjects. Through the analysis of variance and bootstrap testing, the experimental data were analyzed and processed. The results show that, under specific goals, consumers with low self-quantification participate more in promotional activities and less in defensive activities. In promotional green consumption activities, self-quantification enables consumers with (without) goal requirements to reduce (enhance) their participation performance, and choose high-intensity promotional activity categories less (more) with better (worse) participation experience. In defensive green consumption activities, self-quantification enables consumers with (without) goal limitations to enhance (reduce) participation performance and choose high-intensity defensive categories more (less) with better (worse) participation experience. The conclusions can provide enlightenment for enterprises to guide consumers to participate in green consumption activities.