What Makes Greenfluencers Persuasive: The Role of Message Design, Perceived Message Diagnosticity and Perceived Message Authenticity

The recent surge of greenfluencers as the advocates for sustainable lifestyles has gathered considerable attention from marketers and academicians. The paper advances a message-based perspective by examining the efficacy of greenfluencers’ narrative formats and benefit appeals. Greenfluencers’ recommendations often face consumer skepticism; the study investigates the mechanism of perceived mesage diagnosticity and perceived message authenticity in enhancing purchase intentions. Building upon McGuire’s communication matrix, two experimental studies were conducted with active social media Gen Z users. The data was collected from two public state universities of northern India and analyzed using ANOVA and PROCESS models. Study 1 (N = 182) investigates the influence of greenfluencers’ narratives (attribute-based vs. affection-based) on purchase intentions via mediating effects of perceived diagnosticity and perceived message authenticity (R2 = 0.20). Study 2 (N = 290) validates these findings and extends the research to investigate the moderating role of benefit appeals (self vs. other) (R2 = 0.28). The findings confirm that attribute-based narratives (vs. affection) enhanced purchase intention, and this mechanism is contingent upon benefit appeals. Further, the moderated serial mediation effect was significant for self-benefit appeals (−0.052, 95% CI [−0.11, −0.004]). The study contributes to the growing literature of greenfluencer marketing by highlighting the relevance of self-oriented, transparent, and objective narratives in enhancing communication persuasion. The study suggests marketers to reinforce authenticity perceptions with diagnostic cues for effective green campaigns. Practitioners can leverage these insights to craft persuasive greenfluencer campaigns that promote sustainable lifestyles and support sustainable development goals.