Behavioural Sustainability Messaging in Organisational Settings: Exploring the Moderating Role of Individual-Level Cultural Values

Abstract

Motivating sustainable choices is difficult in organisational contexts, where decisions involve competing priorities, incentives, and multiple stakeholders. While behavioural science has developed effective nudges for individuals, much less is known about what works in organisational settings – a missed opportunity given their environmental footprint. In fact, listed companies alone are responsible for approximately 40% of all harmful emissions. Furthermore, nudges are not culturally neutral; their effectiveness depends on how decisionmakers interpret cues like loss, exclusivity, and authority, all of which are shaped by cultural values. To address this, we conducted an online vignette experiment, testing whether individual- and country-level cultural values moderate the effect of behaviourally framed messages on business decision-makers’ likelihood of engaging with a digital platform designed to promote sustainability transparency in the global relocation sector. Participants (N=659) from the UK, USA, and India were randomly assigned to one of four message conditions (Loss Framing, Urgency-Exclusivity, Messenger Effect, Control). They then completed measures on platform and message perceptions, and cultural values (CVSCALE). The loss-framed message was rated as the most persuasive, and persuasiveness mediated the effect of the loss-framed message on platform engagement. Moderation analyses revealed that loss framing was less effective among participants high in collectivism and more effective with higher long-term orientation. The effectiveness of the messenger effect increased with higher masculinity and long-term orientation. This study highlights the need for culturally attuned interventions and opens avenues for field-based validation. For practitioners, it also offers actionable insights for designing more effective sustainability communications in global business settings.