Messages promoting the environmental movement try to establish normative beliefs (NBs), stressing
that consumers should purchase and be willing to pay more for products that do not harm the
environment. Through two studies measuring willingness-to-pay (WTP) intentions and WTP behavior,
NBs do relate positively to WTP intentions for organic products. However, NBs do not relate
positively to actual WTP directly, nor do they relate indirectly through the mediating role of WTP
intentions. These same results are found for locally produced offerings, suggesting that those who
rely on NBs to affect WTP behavior may only be successful in increasing WTP intentions.