Conscious Commerce -- Digital Nudging and Sustainable E-commerce Purchase Decisions

Abstract: So-called 'fast fashion' consumption, amplified through cost-effective e-commerce, constitutes a major factor negatively impacting climate change. A recently noted strategy to motivate consumers to more sustainable decisions is digital nudging. This paper explores the capability of digital nudging in the context of green fashion e-commerce. To do so, digital default and social norm nudges are tested in an experimental setting of green fashion purchases. An online experiment (n=320) was conducted, simulating an online retail scenario. Results failed to show statistically significant relationships between nudging strategies and purchase decisions. However, explorative analyses show a backfiring effect for the combination of nudges and thus, reveal a hitherto neglected impact of participants' identification on the effectiveness of the digital nudging strategies. Consequently, this study contributes to digital nudging literature and informs practice with new insights on effective choice architectures in e-commerce.