From Data to Sustainable Decisions : The Impact of Verifiable Carbon Information on Consumer Behaviour

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Geist, Annika ; Körner, Marc-Fabian ; Strüker, Jens ; Valett, Lynne ; Zwede, Till:
From Data to Sustainable Decisions : The Impact of Verifiable Carbon Information on Consumer Behaviour.
In: Proceedings of the 34th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2026. - Mailand, Italien , 2026 . - 23

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Climate crisis demands credible sustainability communication, yet consumers struggle to assess the reliability of products’ environmental claims. This study examines how different verification mechanisms – manufacturer claims, third-party certification, and digital verification – shape consumer decision-making and perceived utility. Drawing on Random Utility Theory, a Best-Worst Scaling experiment with 122 participants compares preferences across two product types. Quantitative results show that digitally verifiable carbon information significantly boosts perceived utility and choice likelihood, with attribute weights favouring digital verification (β=2.02|0.81) over manufacturer claims (reference) and third-party certifications (β=-0.9|-1.86). We also find that price sensitivity (β=-0.21|-0.41) constrains this impact for low-involvement goods. The study contributes to Information Systems (IS) research on cognition and human behaviour by showing that digital verification acts as a credibility signal, shaping cognitive evaluation and decision-making. It links these insights to Green IS and digital trust, demonstrating how algorithmic verifiability may reduce information asymmetry and enhance credibility in sustainability communication.