Nostalgia prompts sustainable product disposal

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Consumers' product‐disposal behaviors impact the environment, businesses, society, and consumer well‐being. This research explores if and how consumers' disposal behaviors are influenced by sentiments of nostalgia. Four experimental studies are conducted, two on student samples and two on general population, to test our hypotheses. Study 1 shows that compared with collective nostalgia, personal nostalgia elicits higher intention to keep and reuse products. In contrast, collective nostalgia elicits higher intention to donate and recycle products. Both personal nostalgia and collective nostalgia reduce intention to throw away. Study 2 further corroborates the negative impact of personal nostalgia and collective nostalgia on throw away intention. Study 3 finds that the positive effect of personal nostalgia on keep and reuse intention is mediated by self‐continuity. Finally, study 4 demonstrates that collective efficacy mediates the positive effect of collective nostalgia on donate and recycle intention. This study has theoretical contributions and practical implications for scholars and policy makers.