Interventions to encourage sustainable consumption

Dam, Y.K. van

doi:10.19041/apstract/2016/2-3/6

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Environmental campaigns frequently appeal to several motivations at the same time in an attempt to achieve maximum impact on behavior. Policy makers, for example, use slogans such as “Save Money, Save Energy, Save the Environment” [1], which is expected to be effective based on the premise that some people value the environment, whereas others value the financial benefits of saving energy [2]. Although some studies support this premise [3–5], Schwartz et al [6] showed the contrary; appealing to both financial and environmental benefits of an energy saving program at the same time was less effective than appealing to the environmental benefits alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which construal level combinations generate the most effective interventions? A field experiment on energy conservation

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many campaigns targeting pro-environmental behavior combine multiple approaches without properly understanding how these different approaches interact. Here we study the effect of such combinations. We apply construal level theory to classify different intervention approaches, which can either be at a high construal level (abstract and distant) or at a low construal level (concrete and proximal). In a field experiment we recruited 197 students living in one-person apartments in an all-inclusive student housing facility. We objectively measured their individual electricity and warm water use, and measured psychological variables through surveys. We expected that the (commonly considered superior) combination between a high and a low construal level approach would be least effective. Participants were randomly assigned to a 2(Construal Level: low vs. high) × 2(Social Distance: low vs. high) plus control condition mixed-model design targeting a reduction in warm water use. Our findings suggest that a congruent combination at a high construal level (i.e., the high construal level condition combined with the high social distance condition) has the largest effect on warm water use and that spillover to electricity use is most likely to occur when a high construal level is used (i.e., high social distance). Moreover, especially participants who valued nature and the environment less were most strongly influenced by the combination of two high construal level approaches. In sum, our study suggests that when designing interventions one should consider the construal level and when targeting pro-environmental behavior high construal levels appear most appropriate.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which construal level combinations generate the most effective interventions? A field experiment on energy conservation

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social norms have been found to be most effective when they activate guilt within participants [59]. If the respondents in the social norm condition are aware that others in their community (in this case, other UK citizens) are reducing their environmental impact, they could be motivated to make commitments to low-consumption behaviours out of anticipated guilt or shame [60]. Therefore, activating social norms in conjunction with inducing hypocrisy is likely to produce an interaction effect whereby social norms have a larger effect on decreasing consumption when hypocrisy has been induced.…”

Section: Social Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Acceptance of Low-Consumption Governance Approaches: The Effect of Social Norms and Hypocrisy

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tackling over-consumption of resources and associated emissions at the lifestyle level will be crucial to climate change mitigation. Understanding the public acceptability of policy aimed at behaviour change in this domain will help to focus strategy towards effective and targeted solutions. Across two studies (n = 259, 300) we consider how policy approaches at different levels of governance (individual, community, and national) might be influenced by the inducement of hypocrisy and the activation of social norms. We also examine the influence of these experimental manipulations upon behavioural intention to reduce consumption (e.g., repair not replace, avoiding luxuries). Dynamic social norm framing was unsuccessful in producing an effect on policy acceptance or intentions to reduce consumption. Information provision about the impact of individual consumption on global climate change increased support for radical policies at the national level (banning environmentally harmful consumption practices) and the community level (working fewer hours, sharing material products, collaborative food cultivation), yet the inducement of hypocrisy had no additional effect. This is in contrast to individual-level behavioural intentions, where the inducement of hypocrisy decreased intentions to engage in high-consumption behaviour. This paper concludes with implications for low-consumption governance.

show abstract

“…They argue that an individual's values are likely to play a greater role in the process of abstraction in relation to the psychological distance of an event. Thus, mental representation or construal consequently influences how reality may be constructed and experienced (van Dam & van Trijp, 2016). This entails that key aspects of an event that are congruent with an individual's (or organizational) values have a greater chance of taking precedence in decision making.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alignment of the buyers' interests in sustainability issues with the SMEs' practices can lead to sustainable value creation (Moore & Manring, 2009). The degree of customers' influence over a firm's ability to create sustainable value may be linked to their construal of the psychological distance in relation to sustainable value creation (van Dam & van Trijp, 2016). First, customers who have a short time perspective are more likely, than customers who have a longer time perspective, to put minimal pressure on SMEs that exhibit a limited interest in sustainable value creation.…”

Section: Customersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The psychological distance and construal level perspectives of sustainable value creation in SMEs

Mzembe

2020

Sustainable Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines internal organizational factors and external antecedents of sustainable value creation by small medium enterprises (SMEs) and constructs a framework that integrates, at both levels, the theories of psychological distance and construal level from the field of psychology. This research provides an explanation as to why sustainable value creation remains a complex issue, and why many SMEs' engage with sustainable value creation to varying degrees. This paper particularly highlights how owner/managers of SME may construe different dimensions of psychological distance and apply their understanding to their response to different antecedents of sustainable value creation. Finally, by adopting the psychological distance perspective, this paper highlights the conditions under which internal and external organizational and factors can affect SMEs' propensity to create sustainable value. It further concludes by highlighting areas for further research.

show abstract

Interventions to encourage sustainable consumption

Cited by 15 publications

References 75 publications

Which construal level combinations generate the most effective interventions? A field experiment on energy conservation

Which construal level combinations generate the most effective interventions? A field experiment on energy conservation

Policy Acceptance of Low-Consumption Governance Approaches: The Effect of Social Norms and Hypocrisy

The psychological distance and construal level perspectives of sustainable value creation in SMEs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About