Platform governance literature has primarily focused on the platform owner’s perspective, overlooking how complementors can effectively influence governance changes. Our research highlights complementors’ activities, examining how a social justice narrative helps them gain support for change efforts. Across three studies, we (a) identify a novel mechanism, the Robin Hood perception, and explain why this narrative is effective in generating support; (b) show that hypocrisy accusations harm the narrative, in turn reducing support; and (c) find that peer firm mobilization shields complementors from this adverse effect. These findings enhance our understanding of how complementors can garner support for governance changes. They pave the way for further research on how actors beyond platform owners can shape the rules and direction of digital platforms.

The growing gender polarization in consumers’ pro-environmental engagement—with women more engaged than men— suggests that organizations should consider gender a key criterion when targeting their cause-related marketing and social advocacy campaigns for environmental causes. However, multilevel analyses of 11 behavioral interventions across 63 countries (N = 56,582) reveal that relying on gender alone is insufficient and can even backfire, uncovering a surprising paradox: The gender gap in pro-environmental engagement widens among liberal consumers, in societies with higher gender equality, and cultures emphasizing care over competition. These gender paradoxes emerge when identities and societal contexts intersect, revealing why interventions ignoring such complexities can fail. Results show that a collective action framing is effective across several identity combinations, while a negative emotional appeal can backfire, par¬ticularly among conservative men in gender-equal countries. A web-based tool helps marketers and policymakers select effective environmental interventions across intersecting individual and country-level factors, enabling targeted advocacy and cause-related marketing.

Despite evidence that people believe that the unhealthier the food, the tastier it is, some studies also suggest the opposing belief—the healthier the food, the tastier it is. A framework is proposed to reconcile this contradiction, and four studies demonstrate that the discrete categorization of foods as healthful versus unhealthful determines which intuition consumers use. When stereotypically unhealthy foods (e.g., candies, ice cream, hot dogs) are encountered, they are automatically categorized as unhealthful and the properties associated with that category (e.g., sweetness, saltiness, fat content) become accessible. Inferences about taste are then based on these properties and the unhealthier the encountered products are (i.e., the higher the sugar and fat content they have), the tastier they are perceived to be (unhealthy = tasty belief). Conversely, when stereotypically healthful foods (e.g., fruits) are encountered, other properties (e.g., freshness, vitamins) become salient, and tastiness is mainly inferred based on these properties, leading to the inference that the healthier these foods are (i.e., the more freshness and vitamins they have), the tastier they are perceived to be (healthy = tasty belief). Marketers and policymakers can leverage these findings to understand better when emphasizing healthiness benefits or hurts taste perceptions.

Innovative information technology such as a Carbon Footprint Tracking App can contribute to achieve global climate targets like the 2 ◦C target of the Paris Agreement. This is particularly relevant for countries with strong socio-economic development, which often have high individual carbon footprints but also possess the technological advancements to help mitigate these emissions. This paper explores how carbon footprint feedback and goal-oriented appeals affect consumers' carbon emissions. Focusing on interventions in the food and mobility domains, this research distinguishes the impact of self-related and society-related goals across these focal domains and examines spillover effects on heating and other household activities. Using a Carbon Footprint Tracking App in a longitudinal experimental study with 210 participants over three waves, the following key findings emerge. First, goal activation affects carbon emissions differently across consumption domains. Second, while the obtained evidence points to spillover across domains, the appeals' effectiveness within the same domain is contingent on individual goal prioritization. In particular, behavioral interventions need to target specific goals within each domain, particularly normative and moral goals in the food domain, and hedonic and cost-related goals in the mobility domain.