Author, Institution: Linas Pupelis, Kaunas University of Technology
Science area, field of science: Social Sciences, Management, S003
Research Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Beata Šeinauskienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, S003)
Dissertation Defence Board of Management Science Field:
Prof. Dr. Žaneta Gravelines (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, S003) – chairperson
Prof. Dr. Karina Adomavičiūtė-Sakalauskė (Vilnius University, Social Sciences, Management, S003)
Prof. Dr. Viltė Auruškevičienė (ISM University of Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Management, S003)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aistė Dovalienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, S003)
Prof. Dr. Vesna Žabkar (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Social Sciences, Management, S003)
Dissertation defence meeting will be at Rectorate Hall of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio 73-402, Kaunas)
The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of Kaunas University of Technology (Gedimino 50, Kaunas) and on the internet: L. Pupelis el. dissertation.pdf
© L. Pupelis, 2026 “The text of the thesis may not be copied, distributed, published, made public, including by making it publicly available on computer networks (Internet), reproduced in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical or other means. Pursuant to Article 25(1) of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania, a person with a disability who has difficulties in reading a document of a thesis published on the Internet, and insofar as this is justified by a particular disability, shall request that the document be made available in an alternative form by e-mail to doktorantura@ktu.lt.”
Annotation: Despite growing global efforts to promote environmental sustainability, consumption levels continue to grow, contributing to environmental degradation. Traditional policy instruments have proven insufficient to curb overconsumption, highlighting the need to better understand the behavioural foundations of consumer decision-making. Consumer materialism, defined as a value orientation emphasizing possessions as indicators of happiness and success, has traditionally been associated with unsustainable consumption. However, recent studies suggest that under certain conditions materialism may also foster pro-environmental behaviour, particularly when sustainable choices signal social status or identity, pointing to the possible coexistence of opposing evaluative systems within consumers’ attitudes. Building on this perspective, the dissertation applies the Dual-Attitude Model to examine how implicit and explicit attitudes toward materialism jointly shape pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour, and how cognitive load moderates these effects. An experimental research design is employed, combining an Implicit Association Test, explicit materialism activation, and a simulated online shopping task. The empirical results demonstrate that consumers with positive implicit and negative explicit materialism, especially under low cognitive load, exhibit stronger pro-environmental behavioural tendencies, providing new insights into mechanisms underlying pro-environmental consumer behaviour. The dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour paradoxes and advances behavioural explanations of pro-environmental decision-making.