The advent of the new century, with its marked increase in goods and services consumption, has drawn widespread attention to the resultant global depletion of natural resources and severe environmental damage (Ajibade and Boateng, 2021; Awewomom et al., 2024). Current global material consumption has reached 92.1 billion tons annually, doubling over the past four decades (Krausmann et al., 2017). Simultaneously, global carbon emissions have increased by half since the beginning of the 21st century, with the energy sector accounting for three-quarters of these emissions in 2020 [International Energy Agency (IEA), 2021]. In this critical context, a study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2019) highlights that adopting circular economy principles emphasizing product longevity and recyclability could reduce global carbon emissions by 39% and virgin resource consumption by 28% by 2050. Advocacy for sustainable consumption, therefore, undeniably holds important contemporary significance (Moisander, 2007). Sustainable consumption involves consumers choosing environmentally friendly goods and services during purchase and usage – those that inflict minimal damage on the environment, are easily recyclable, have a longer lifespan, and do not pollute the environment, thus realizing sustainable utilization of resources and maintaining environmental harmony (Van der Werff et al., 2021).

In the 21st century, people’s consumption habits and choices have a profound impact on environmental conservation. Modern consumers no longer only focus on the quality, price, and popularity of products but also on their environmental attributes, supporting environmental protection through their consumption behavior (Moisander, 2007). This change in consumption concept requires time for consumers to gradually understand the impact of their consumption behavior on the environment and willingly adopt environmentally friendly practices in everyday life.

Green self-accountability, a significant element of individual identity recognition, further influences their purchasing decisions, thereby imbuing sustainable consumption with more social significance (Mishra et al., 2021). Green self-accountability refers to an individual’s aspiration to meet their environmental self-standards (Xia et al., 2022). Many have realized that environmental protection goals can be genuinely achieved only through collective effort. Previous research primarily focused on the relationship between green self-accountability and consumers’ sustainable choices (Nair and Little, 2016), showing a prominent positive impact of green self-accountability on purchasing green products. This demonstrates that consumer choice goes beyond product quality, price, and popularity to a greater emphasis on environmental attributes (Pedersen, 2000).

Despite the increasing focus on environmental sustainability, consumers still face considerable challenges in choosing green products that have higher environmental performance but lower popularity (Ali et al., 2023). This is largely due to such products often failing to cater to their needs for individual satisfaction and social recognition (Connolly and Prothero, 2008). For instance, some green products may be priced higher or their designs may not meet consumer esthetic standards, leading to hesitation in purchasing green products.

Consumers experience a cognitive dissonance or internal conflict when forced to choose between satisfying personal needs and purchasing environmentally friendly products. It is essential, therefore, to delve deeper into the psychology and behaviors of consumers faced with such internal conflict, exploring the role of temporal distance and anticipated emotional reactions in fostering green self-accountability and driving purchasing behavior. Temporal distance refers to individuals’ perception of how far an event is from the present. It influences people’s preferences, judgments, and behavioral responses by affecting their construal level of events or objects, playing a significant role in consumers’ purchase intentions (Trope and Liberman, 2000). When consumers are in a distant temporal perspective, corresponding to a high construal level, their personal environmental self-standards become more salient. They experience a stronger sense of connection between their actions and both others’ welfare and environmental protection. Consequently, their desire to fulfill environmental self-standards intensifies, thereby promoting green purchasing behavior (Wu et al., 2015; Kaiser and Wilson, 2004). Green self-accountability forms the intrinsic motivation behind sustainable consumption behaviors, and anticipated emotional reactions may influence expectations about purchasing green products, thereby indirectly affecting their purchase decisions.

Overall, this study aims to investigate the impact of green self-accountability and temporal distance on purchasing environmentally-friendly products with less popularity, and reveal the mediating effect of anticipated guilt and pride on the interaction between green self-accountability and temporal distance. Compared to existing research, the unique contribution of this study lies in its pioneering integration of temporal distance into the research framework examining green self-accountability and purchasing behavior, revealing its crucial role in moderating consumer decision-making. For instance, while Tran and Paparoidamis' (2021) study primarily focused on the direct relationship between self-accountability and consumers’ sustainable choices without considering the influence of temporal distance, and Trope and Liberman's (2000) research investigated the impact of temporal distance on behavioral decision-making without connecting it to green consumption behavior, the current study bridges this research gap by integrating green self-accountability with temporal distance. Furthermore, it elucidates the mediating mechanism of anticipated emotional responses. These findings not only deepen our understanding of green consumption behavior but also provide theoretical foundations for businesses to design marketing strategies across different temporal frameworks.

Research suggests that self-accountability plays a critical role in influencing consumers’ purchase behaviors for green products (Tran and Paparoidamis, 2021). Consumers with an established environment-conscious identity tend to assume responsibility for their purchasing choices, motivating them toward the acquisition of green products (Alagarsamy et al., 2021). A heightened sense of personal responsibility has been found to positively impact consumers’ ecological behaviors, particularly evident during green purchases (Gatersleben et al., 2002).

Previous research has explored how an individual’s sense of environmental responsibility impacts their green buying behaviors. Findings indicate a strong positive correlation between an individual’s sense of environmental responsibility and their environmentally-friendly purchasing activity. This suggests that responsibility acts as a predictor for green consumer behavior (Jung and Cho, 2023). Research by Naparin and Astuti (2025) indicated that consumers’ awareness and concern regarding environmental issues could potentially amplify their likelihood of making environmentally friendly purchases. Van der Werff et al. (2014) have similarly suggested that consumers displaying an established sense of environmental responsibility are more likely to engage in green buying behavior.

On the flip side, consumers who believe environmental responsibility resides with others or organizations are more inclined toward non-green consumption. Khare’s (2015) research underscores the relationship between green self-accountability and environmentally friendly purchasing behavior. It suggests green self-accountability may act as a key influencer of consumers’ environmentally friendly purchasing behavior, a notion supported by data from Indian consumers. Elsantil’s (2021) study similarly identified a positive relationship between green self-accountability and environmentally friendly purchasing behavior, especially in the Arabian Gulf region. The study’s contribution mainly lies in revealing the relationship between consumer’s green purchasing behavior, green self-accountability, social influence, and eco-labeling.

In conclusion, the proposition that green self-accountability enhances consumers’ likelihood of purchasing green products holds, as substantiated by ample supporting studies.

Under recent temporal distance, green self-accountability can effectively enhance consumers’ green purchasing behavior. This could be due to consumers perceiving their green purchasing behavior having a significant positive effect on the environment, thus further enhancing their enthusiasm toward purchasing green products (Walker et al., 2014; Steg et al., 2015). Consumers may view their behavior of purchasing green products as a manifestation of them upholding environmental responsibility (Nguyen et al., 2024), and believe their actions can directly contribute to the improvement of environmental quality (Kaplan et al., 2024). Under near temporal distance, consumers’ green self-accountability may be further enhanced by the observable positive effects of environmentally friendly actions (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002), thereby promoting environmentally focused purchasing decisions (Verplanken and Holland, 2002). Additionally, other studies have discovered that consumers’ green self-accountability may impact their consumption choices (Luchs et al., 2010; De Groot and Steg, 2009), and that they are more willing to accept higher prices when purchasing green products (Pickett‐Baker and Ozaki, 2008).

According to research by Mishra et al. (2024), future-oriented emotions of self-pride and guilt play a crucial role in affecting environmentally friendly behaviors, particularly in the realm of green purchases. These emotions may elevate consumers’ expectation of their actions either having a positive (pride) or negative (guilt) repercussion (Dwyer et al., 2015). Additionally, research by Haj-Salem et al. (2022) suggested these expected emotions of pride and guilt play a part in shaping consumers’ receptivity to green products – a correlation that’s amplified when consumers possess a high level of environmental responsibility and contemplate environmental behaviors within a proximal timeframe.

Similarly, Nascimento and Loureiro (2024) highlighted that consumer’s anticipated guilt could enhance their intent to evade non-environmental actions, subsequently driving them toward green purchases. Ultimately, research by Chae et al. (2024) revealed that consumers’ anticipated pride and moral responsibility could boost their willingness to purchase organic products. Overall, anticipated feelings of pride and guilt could serve as integral internal elements in the interplay of environmental responsibility and temporal distance in impacting green purchasing behavior.

In conclusion, anticipated feelings of pride and guilt might serve as a significant mechanism within the dynamic of green self-accountability and temporal distance on green buying activity. These emotions may simultaneous occur alongside considerations of environmental responsibilities and future implications during purchasing decisions, resulting in more eco-friendly acquisitions.

This research delved deeply into the role of environmental self-accountability and temporal distance on the intention to purchase green products. Our subjects comprised of university students, and the study focused on readily available products like shower gel and laundry detergent.

The results underscore that the activation of environmental self-accountability significantly enhances buyer’s intentions, thus corroborating our hypothesis. This observation reinforces the established findings of previous research that individuals mindful of environmental conservation prefer green products (Peloza et al., 2013; Wu, 2014). Furthermore, we observed that the activation of environmental self-accountability drastically influences short purchasing decisions, aligning with the theories of Liberman and Trope (1998) and Wakslak et al. (2008) that people prioritize personal gain when decision-making revolves around immediate purchases. A deeper analysis of the interaction effects reveals that green self-accountability and temporal distance jointly influence green purchase intention. Specifically, the interaction effect is significant for low-involvement products but not for high-involvement products. This finding aligns with construal level theory, which posits that temporal distance shapes individuals’ perception and evaluation of products (Trope and Liberman, 2010). For low-involvement products, the immediacy of purchase decisions amplifies the effect of green self-accountability, whereas for high-involvement products, the extended decision-making process attenuates this effect. This nuanced understanding underscores the importance of simultaneously considering psychological and contextual factors in green consumption research.

In the pursuit of broadening our understanding, we examined the impact of environmental self-accountability on other types of green products. Household appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners were our focus in the second part of our experiment. The results again confirmed that the activation of environmental self-accountability significantly promotes the intention to purchase green products in the near future; thereby strengthening our theoretical hypothesis.

Importantly, our research attempted to demystify the underlying mechanism of environmental-self responsibility. We proposed anticipated emotion as a possible influencing factor, which aligns to the studies by Aaker et al. (2010). Predicted emotion – the preset emotional response to future outcomes, significantly influence purchase behavior. Our data showed that activating environmental self-accountability markedly elevates the anticipated pride of consumers, consistent with earlier studies on anticipated emotions’ impact on purchase decisions (Zeelenberg et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2013).

In summary, by demonstrating the interaction between green self-accountability, temporal distance, and product type, this study extends the understanding of green self-accountability. The findings indicate that activating green self-accountability significantly enhances green purchase intention across different product types, including low-involvement products (e.g., body wash and laundry detergent) and high-involvement products (e.g., refrigerators and air conditioners). However, the strength of this effect varies by product type. For low-involvement products, the impact of green self-accountability on purchase intention is more pronounced in the short term, likely due to their lower cost and higher purchase frequency, which aligns with the construal level theory (Liberman and Trope, 1998; Wakslak et al., 2008). In contrast, for high-involvement products, this effect is more gradual, possibly due to the greater financial commitment and extended decision-making process (Thøgersen, 2005). These findings suggest that marketers should tailor their strategies based on product type, emphasizing immediate benefits for low-involvement products and long-term environmental impacts for high-involvement products.

Furthermore, this study highlights the mediating role of anticipated emotions, providing a psychological mechanism for the observed effects. Practically, our findings suggest that marketers can enhance green purchase intentions by evoking anticipated pride and guilt. For instance, advertising campaigns could emphasize the positive self-image associated with green choices or the negative consequences of environmentally harmful behaviors (Schultz et al., 2007). Policymakers could also leverage these insights to design interventions that promote sustainable consumption.

However, this study has several limitations. First, the main effect of temporal distance on green product choices was not significant. The nonsignificant impact of temporal distance on green consumption behavior may be attributed to the nature of the products examined. For low-involvement products, the immediacy of purchase decisions may obscure the effect of temporal distance, whereas for high-involvement products, the long-term benefits of green products may mitigate the influence of temporal distance (Griskevicius et al., 2012). Additionally, individual differences in time orientation may play a role, as some individuals prioritize long-term environmental benefits regardless of temporal distance (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). Future research should explore these factors to better understand the conditions under which temporal distance influences green consumption.

Second, regarding the emotional mediation, our study confirms that anticipated pride and guilt mediate the relationship between green self-accountability and green purchase intention. However, the underlying mechanisms of these emotions require further investigation. For example, anticipated pride may enhance self-efficacy, motivating individuals to align their behaviors with environmental values (Bandura, 1997). In contrast, anticipated guilt may act as a deterrent against environmentally harmful behaviors by triggering avoidance of negative self-evaluation (Tangney et al., 2007). Future research should examine how these emotions interact with other psychological factors, such as social norms and personal values, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mediation process.

Another limitation of this study is the reliance on a university student sample, which may constrain the generalizability of the findings. The green consumption behaviors of university students may be influenced by their educational background and values. Therefore, future studies should include more diverse samples encompassing different age groups, income levels, and cultural backgrounds to enhance external validity (Henrich et al., 2010). Additionally, the ecological validity of the experimental design could be improved by incorporating real purchase data or field experiments. For example, future research could track actual green product purchases to validate the findings derived from hypothetical scenarios.

Finally, this study selected product types with considerable differences in price range and purchase frequency (e.g., shampoo, laundry detergent, refrigerators, air conditioners) in Experiments 1 and 2, which may have influenced the results. Low-involvement products (e.g., shampoo and laundry detergent) are relatively inexpensive and frequently purchased, leading consumers to focus more on immediate benefits in decision-making. In contrast, high-involvement products (e.g., refrigerators and air conditioners) are more expensive and less frequently purchased, prompting consumers to prioritize long-term benefits (Thøgersen, 2005). These product type differences may have contributed to variations in the effects of green self-accountability and temporal distance on purchase intention. Future research should further control for product type effects, for example, by selecting products with similar price levels and purchase frequencies for comparison, to more accurately reveal the underlying mechanisms of green self-accountability.

Despite several limitations like the demographic of our sample, variability in products etc., our study provides fresh insights into the impact of environmental self-accountability on green consumer behavior and provides empirical evidence for future similar studies in the field. The findings attest the importance of environmental self-accountability in enhancing green product purchases, offering robust theoretical evidence for enterprises promoting green products, particularly environmental marketing strategies. To further understand the mechanistic impact of environmental self-accountability, future research would require an in-depth investigation of its relationship with anticipated emotions, along with potential influential factors.

The current study explored the influence of environmental self-accountability and temporal distance on the intention to purchase green products utilizing an experimental approach, and validated the mediating role of anticipated emotions within this context. The findings denote that sparking environmental self-accountability significantly amplifies an individual’s intention to purchase green products, notably in the context of a short temporal distance. In addition to this, we discovered that anticipated pride entirely mediates between environmental self-accountability and the intention to purchase green products, further revealing the operational mechanisms of environmental self-accountability.

This investigation offers valuable insights into the impact of environmental self-accountability on green purchase intention, providing theoretical support and practical guidance for environmental behavior and promotion.