Table 3 Overview of major theories...

Table 3

Overview of major theories observed in the GPB domain

Theories	N	Key antecedents and determinants	Theoretical assumptions	Main empirical studies
Theory of planned behavior (TPB)	78	Attitude towards the behavior (AtB), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC)	In TPB, intentions are assumed to predict actions, to the extent that the individual is capable of performing the behavior. By broadening the original TRA with the inclusion of PBC, the TPB accumulated a substantial amount of evidence supporting its prediction of intention through the combined effect of a positive evaluation (AtB) towards the target entity, perceived social pressures (SN), and ability to perform the behavior (PBC). Although scholars over the years have recognized how TPB offers a parsimonious account of purposive behavior, the model's sufficiency is often challenged, with multiple attempts to extend it. The role of SN is questioned by some, as it tends to have a relatively weak or nonsignificant predictive power. Meta-analyses also reveal that, despite the significant amount of Intentions' variance explained, a more modest success is reported with concerns to bridging the intention–behavior gap	Ahmad et al. (2020), Chen and Tung (2014), Elhoushy (2020), Hosta and Zabkar (2021), Kim and Han (2010), Kim et al. (2013), Lee et al. (2015), Liu et al. (2020), Minton et al. (2018), Moon (2021)
Value-belief-norm (VBN)	17	Values (e.g. biospheric, altruistic, egoistic), new ecological paradigm (NEP), awareness of consequences (AC), ascription of responsibility (AR), personal norms (PN)	VBN theory is characterized by a causal chain of variables moving from the more general and stable values, to more specific beliefs (about the consequences and causes of environmental problems and the individual's personal responsibility for such issues). It postulates that AC and AR beliefs are shaped by general environmental values (assessed by the NEP measure) and implies that particular beliefs (AC, AR) mediate the influence of values on “pro-environmental” PN, shaping one's willingness to act	Choi et al. (2015), Eid et al. (2021), González-Rodríguez et al. (2020), Hartmann et al. (2018)
Norm activation model (NAM)	14	Awareness of Consequences, Ascription of Responsibility, Personal Norms	NAM theorizes that one's intention or behavior is influenced by personal (or moral) norms; and the level of problem awareness and ascribed responsibility contribute to initiating the process. The moral obligation to perform (or refrain from) specific actions is argued as the decisive and most proximal variable of pro-social intention within the framework. However, the relationships among the NAM variables are unclear to some authors, which propose alternative sequences of effects. Nevertheless, a large number of studies offers empirical support for its core premises in pro-social contexts	Han et al. (2015, 2021), He and Zhan (2018), Kim and Seock (2019), Shin et al. (2018)
Theory of consumption values (TCV)	9	Perceived consumption value (e.g. functional, social, emotional, conditional, epistemic value)	The theory focuses on values that explain why consumers choose to buy or not to buy (or use/not use) a specific product, and why consumers choose one product type over another. Three fundamental propositions are retained: (a) that consumer behavior is a function of various consumption values, (b) that these values have different contributions in any purchase situation, and (c) that all values are independent from each other. Evidence points out a multidimensional conceptualization of such values, with strong predictive ability in the context of buying green products/services	Biswas and Roy (2015a, b), Gonçalves et al. (2016), Khan and Mohsin (2017), Kim and Park (2017), Suki (2016), Zhang et al. (2020)
Affective–behavior–cognitive (ABC), cognitive–affective–behavior (CAB)	7	Knowledge or attitude (e.g. cognitive component, environmental attitude), affective beliefs	The ABC theory states that behavior (B) results from a combination of attitudinal variables (A) and contextual factors (C). While exploring the intricate interactions between situation/domain-specific (contextual) and psychological factors, for extending the understanding on pro-environmental consumer choices, rational-based models are integrated with ABC constructs (or CAB variations) to explain more variance than the traditional, unaugmented versions	Goh and Balaji (2016), Hage et al. (2009), Hansmann et al. (2020), Yadav et al. (2019)
Goal-framing theory (GFT)	5	Consumption goals and motivations (e.g. gain, hedonic, normative goals)	Grounded on the concept of values as guiding principles of life (which help to shape the judgments consumers make about the world around them), GFT studies in this domain focus on the impact of values on environmentally-friendly actions, relating the value orientation to guiding goals (or motivations) that determine “green” behaviors. For that effect, GFT examines three different types of goals that govern PEBs in a given situation: hedonic, gain, and normative. Thus, values reflect self-relevant overarching goals that may motivate consumers, influenced by situational cues	Barbopoulos and Johansson (2016), Liobikiene and Juknys (2016), Miao and Wei (2013), Shin and Kang (2021)
Model of goal-directed behavior (MGB)	4	Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, positive and negative anticipated emotions, desires, frequency and recency of past behavior (FPB, RPB)	Based on the assumption that desires provide a direct motivational impetus for behaviors, MGB reinterprets the TPB premises by successfully adding additional constructs. Emotions are included as a major antecedent, desires as the integrative mediator variable, and FPB/RPB capture additional variance to the rational and attitudinal-based TPB determinants. The affective/emotional part of the decision process is argued as key for activating the motivational desire to pursue goal-seeking actions	Escadas et al. (2019), Han and Yoon (2015), Hwang et al. (2019), Odou and Schill (2020)

Theories	N	Key antecedents and determinants	Theoretical assumptions	Main empirical studies
Theory of planned behavior (TPB)	78	Attitude towards the behavior (AtB), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC)	In TPB, intentions are assumed to predict actions, to the extent that the individual is capable of performing the behavior. By broadening the original TRA with the inclusion of PBC, the TPB accumulated a substantial amount of evidence supporting its prediction of intention through the combined effect of a positive evaluation (AtB) towards the target entity, perceived social pressures (SN), and ability to perform the behavior (PBC). Although scholars over the years have recognized how TPB offers a parsimonious account of purposive behavior, the model's sufficiency is often challenged, with multiple attempts to extend it. The role of SN is questioned by some, as it tends to have a relatively weak or nonsignificant predictive power. Meta-analyses also reveal that, despite the significant amount of Intentions' variance explained, a more modest success is reported with concerns to bridging the intention–behavior gap	Ahmad et al. (2020), Chen and Tung (2014), Elhoushy (2020), Hosta and Zabkar (2021), Kim and Han (2010), Kim et al. (2013), Lee et al. (2015), Liu et al. (2020), Minton et al. (2018), Moon (2021)
Value-belief-norm (VBN)	17	Values (e.g. biospheric, altruistic, egoistic), new ecological paradigm (NEP), awareness of consequences (AC), ascription of responsibility (AR), personal norms (PN)	VBN theory is characterized by a causal chain of variables moving from the more general and stable values, to more specific beliefs (about the consequences and causes of environmental problems and the individual's personal responsibility for such issues). It postulates that AC and AR beliefs are shaped by general environmental values (assessed by the NEP measure) and implies that particular beliefs (AC, AR) mediate the influence of values on “pro-environmental” PN, shaping one's willingness to act	Choi et al. (2015), Eid et al. (2021), González-Rodríguez et al. (2020), Hartmann et al. (2018)
Norm activation model (NAM)	14	Awareness of Consequences, Ascription of Responsibility, Personal Norms	NAM theorizes that one's intention or behavior is influenced by personal (or moral) norms; and the level of problem awareness and ascribed responsibility contribute to initiating the process. The moral obligation to perform (or refrain from) specific actions is argued as the decisive and most proximal variable of pro-social intention within the framework. However, the relationships among the NAM variables are unclear to some authors, which propose alternative sequences of effects. Nevertheless, a large number of studies offers empirical support for its core premises in pro-social contexts	Han et al. (2015, 2021), He and Zhan (2018), Kim and Seock (2019), Shin et al. (2018)
Theory of consumption values (TCV)	9	Perceived consumption value (e.g. functional, social, emotional, conditional, epistemic value)	The theory focuses on values that explain why consumers choose to buy or not to buy (or use/not use) a specific product, and why consumers choose one product type over another. Three fundamental propositions are retained: (a) that consumer behavior is a function of various consumption values, (b) that these values have different contributions in any purchase situation, and (c) that all values are independent from each other. Evidence points out a multidimensional conceptualization of such values, with strong predictive ability in the context of buying green products/services	Biswas and Roy (2015a, b), Gonçalves et al. (2016), Khan and Mohsin (2017), Kim and Park (2017), Suki (2016), Zhang et al. (2020)
Affective–behavior–cognitive (ABC), cognitive–affective–behavior (CAB)	7	Knowledge or attitude (e.g. cognitive component, environmental attitude), affective beliefs	The ABC theory states that behavior (B) results from a combination of attitudinal variables (A) and contextual factors (C). While exploring the intricate interactions between situation/domain-specific (contextual) and psychological factors, for extending the understanding on pro-environmental consumer choices, rational-based models are integrated with ABC constructs (or CAB variations) to explain more variance than the traditional, unaugmented versions	Goh and Balaji (2016), Hage et al. (2009), Hansmann et al. (2020), Yadav et al. (2019)
Goal-framing theory (GFT)	5	Consumption goals and motivations (e.g. gain, hedonic, normative goals)	Grounded on the concept of values as guiding principles of life (which help to shape the judgments consumers make about the world around them), GFT studies in this domain focus on the impact of values on environmentally-friendly actions, relating the value orientation to guiding goals (or motivations) that determine “green” behaviors. For that effect, GFT examines three different types of goals that govern PEBs in a given situation: hedonic, gain, and normative. Thus, values reflect self-relevant overarching goals that may motivate consumers, influenced by situational cues	Barbopoulos and Johansson (2016), Liobikiene and Juknys (2016), Miao and Wei (2013), Shin and Kang (2021)
Model of goal-directed behavior (MGB)	4	Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, positive and negative anticipated emotions, desires, frequency and recency of past behavior (FPB, RPB)	Based on the assumption that desires provide a direct motivational impetus for behaviors, MGB reinterprets the TPB premises by successfully adding additional constructs. Emotions are included as a major antecedent, desires as the integrative mediator variable, and FPB/RPB capture additional variance to the rational and attitudinal-based TPB determinants. The affective/emotional part of the decision process is argued as key for activating the motivational desire to pursue goal-seeking actions	Escadas et al. (2019), Han and Yoon (2015), Hwang et al. (2019), Odou and Schill (2020)

Note(s): Here, N = number of papers. TRA (theory of reasoned action) studies are included in TPB section. Due to the wide amount of papers reviewed in this investigation, in some cases only a selected subset is mentioned

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