Green incentives on digital payment platforms act as key behavioral tools to steer consumer sustainable decisions. Using a motivational, opportunity, and capability framework, this study analyzes how common incentives (like green points and carbon footprint visualization) function. It aims to clarify the internal process that translates these external prompts into pro-environmental behavior. Current mechanisms, however, face practical limits. Users often experience "behavioral fatigue" as incentives show diminishing returns. A lack of clarity in environmental benefit transmission can decouple the feedback loop. Moreover, short-term stimuli often fail to foster lasting value recognition. To address these issues, we propose optimization pathways: hierarchical dynamic incentive design, visual environmental benefit feedback chains, and value internalization cultivation systems. These solutions provide theoretical paradigms and practical references for platforms aiming to build long-term guidance mechanisms for sustainable ecological behavior.
Tongqing et al. (2025) studied this question.