Sustainable development: The effects of environmental policy disclosure in advertising

Abstract Sustainable development is a key issue for society. Beside corporate's efforts, consumers should have responsibilities for environmental protection and consider sustainable coexistences between future generations and natural ecosystems. In this study, a 4 × 2 factorial between‐subject experiment is adopted to develop eight environmental policy disclosure scenarios based on different environmental advertising claims (product orientation, process orientation, image orientation, and environmental fact) and eco‐labels (available/unavailable) to explore the effect of consumer attitudes and behaviors. This study's results show that environmental advertising claims have significant effects on consumers' attitudes. The product, process, and image orientation advertising, along with advertising with eco‐labels, can induce more positive attitudes and stronger purchase intentions. Individuals with greater environmental concerns have a significant positive attitude toward environmental advertising. Consumer attitudes toward environmental advertising also have positive effects on purchase intentions and sustainable consumption behaviors. Finally, this study offers useful findings, practical implications, and insights.