Proactive social learning and green product consumption: Evidence from new energy vehicle sales in China
研究公众主动搜索气候变化信息（主动社会学习）如何促进中国新能源汽车销售，发现基于影响的学习比基于原因的学习更有效，且地方社会规范会增强这一效应。
Growing literature on social norms points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions to spur prosocial purchase behaviors. This article studies the effects of proactive social learning, a dynamic social norm formation process measured by the public's online normative information acquisition regarding climate change, on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. Drawing on model–month sales data, we provide robust evidence that citizens' broad searches for information about climate change or global warming boost local NEV sales. By distinguishing between search topics, we find that impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. City-level analysis further reveals that local social norms formed through economic openness, public literacy, and strategic government interventions enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding proactive social learning embedded in localized social norms in promoting prosocial consumer decisions. • We study the effects of proactive social learning on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China. • We find citizens' broad searches for information about climate change boost local NEV sales. • Impact-based learning has a greater influence on NEV sales than reason-based learning. • Local social norms enhance proactive social learning-driven NEV sales. • Proactive social learning is important in promoting prosocial consumer decisions.