Spillover effects of household waste separation policy on electricity consumption: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

Xu, Lin; Ling, Maoliang

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.10.028

Cited by 38 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There is some evidence cross-nationally to support the theory that the chance of adopting a novel pro-environmental behavior increases when behaviors are conceptually related in a Danish study (Thøgersen and Ölander, 2003; Thøgersen, 2004), share similar routines or resources in an Australian context (Margetts and Kashima, 2017) and the United Kingdom (Littleford et al, 2014). Uptake of a new behavior may also be facilitated if an individual has previously engaged in a more difficult action (Xu et al, 2018), comparable to the “ Foot-In-The-Door ” effect, in which compliance with a task performance request increases following compliance with a more difficult initial request (Scott, 1977; Truelove et al, 2014). While such findings are encouraging, they also imply that spillover effects may be limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite such support, some of the evidence for behavioral spillover comes from self-reported intentions rather than observed behavior change (Xu et al, 2018), and from correlational study designs that cannot rule out reverse causality or the influence of common factors (Thøgersen, 2012). Longitudinal studies offer more reliable support.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thøgersen and Ölander (2003) reported on a Danish study that found associations between increased engagement in recycling and subsequent increases in organic food purchasing and public transport use measured at three time points. More recently, in a Chinese study, Xu et al (2018) observed that engagement in household waste separation catalyzed a subsequent reduction in domestic energy consumption over a three-year period, mediated by changes in self-perception. In another study extracting purchasing behavior from supermarket scanner data covering 8000 Danish households over 20 months, Juhl et al (2017) found that consumers who started to buy organic items in one product category subsequently purchased organic items in more and more categories over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reflecting on Behavioral Spillover in Context: How Do Behavioral Motivations and Awareness Catalyze Other Environmentally Responsible Actions in Brazil, China, and Denmark?

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Responding to serious environmental problems, requires urgent and fundamental shifts in our day-to-day lifestyles. This paper employs a qualitative, cross-cultural approach to explore people’s subjective self-reflections on their experiences of pro-environmental behavioral spillover in three countries; Brazil, China, and Denmark. Behavioral spillover is an appealing yet elusive phenomenon, but offers a potential way of encouraging wider, voluntary lifestyle shifts beyond the scope of single behavior change interventions. Behavioral spillover theory proposes that engaging in one pro-environmental action can catalyze the performance of others. To date, evidence for the phenomenon has been mixed, and the causal processes governing relationships between behaviors appear complex, inconsistent and only partly understood. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by investigating accounts of behavioral spillover in three diverse cultural settings using qualitative semi-structured interviews. The analysis shows that while around half of participants overall who were questioned recalled spillover effects, the other half had not consciously experienced spillover. There were few significant differences across cultures, though some forms of spillover effects were reported more in some cultures than others. More environmentally engaged participants across all three countries were significantly more likely to experience spillover than those who were less engaged. Accounts of within-domain spillovers were most commonly reported, mainly comprising waste, resource conservation and consumption-related actions. Accounts of between-domain spillover were very rare. Recollection of contextual and interpersonal spillover effects also emerged from the interviews. Our findings suggest that more conscious behavioral spillover pathways may be limited to those with pre-existing environmental values. Behavioral spillover may comprise multiple pathways incorporating conscious and unconscious processes. We conclude that targeting behavioral catalysts that generate more socially diffuse spillover effects could offer more potential than conventional spillover involving a single individual.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reflecting on Behavioral Spillover in Context: How Do Behavioral Motivations and Awareness Catalyze Other Environmentally Responsible Actions in Brazil, China, and Denmark?

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Also, emphasizing environmental benefits of electricity savings did lead to positive spillover to reducing waste in China. However, waste was not reduced when people received monetary incentives to reduce their energy, suggesting that incentives may reduce positive spillover effects (Xu et al, 2018). Our findings may provide insight into these mixed findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spillover Benefits: Emphasizing Different Benefits of Environmental Behavior and Its Effects on Spillover

Werff

Steg

2018

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To reduce environmental problems, people need to consistently engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Many environmentally friendly actions not only benefit the environment, but can also save money. Research suggests that emphasizing monetary benefits of pro-environmental behavior may hinder positive spillover to other pro-environmental behaviors. Yet, it is unclear why and under which circumstances this is the case. We propose that spillover effects depend on how emphasizing different types of benefits affects environmental self-identity, as a stronger environmental self-identity is more likely to lead to other pro-environmental actions. We hypothesize that emphasizing monetary benefits of pro-environmental behavior is less likely to strengthen environmental self-identity than emphasizing environmental benefits, and therefore not likely to lead to positive spillover. We tested our hypotheses in four experiments. In Study 1, we found that emphasizing the environmental benefits of pro-environmental behavior strengthened environmental self-identity, and resulted in positive spillover compared to not emphasizing any benefits or emphasizing monetary benefits. However, these results were not replicated in Study 2 that included a larger student sample. Yet, Study 3, including a large sample of the general population, showed that emphasizing monetary benefits weakens environmental self-identity and thereby leads to less spillover than emphasizing environmental benefits or not emphasizing any benefits. Similarly, Study 4 suggests that emphasizing monetary benefits may weaken environmental self-identity and decrease positive spillover compared to emphasizing environmental benefits or no benefits. Our findings suggest that environmental self-identity is not easily influenced by emphasizing different types of benefits of behavior, and consequently, spillover behavior is not easily promoted or inhibited. Yet, emphasizing monetary benefits may be a risk in some cases, as it may inhibit positive spillover.

show abstract

“…Early studies focused on the influencing factors affecting farmers' participation in waste sorting [6][7][8][9][10], such as value perception [11], values [12], consumer awareness [13], social pressure [14], emotions [5], green information [15]. In recent years, some researchers have focused on the spillover effect of the waste sorting behavior (WSB), [16] found that WSB has a spillover effect on urban household electricity consumption. Some studies used experimental methods to analyze whether the option of recycling increases resource consumption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spillover Influence of Household Waste Sorting on Green Consumption Behavior by Mediation of Environmental Concern: Evidence from Rural China

Wang

Yang

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The spillover effect of environmental behavior has been of wide concern in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of household waste sorting on green consumption (behavioral spillover) and the possible psychological mechanisms involved in such spillover of environmental concern. Though it is important, insufficient attention has been paid to exploring the relationship, and the process of its formation, between waste sorting and green consumption. To narrow this gap, survey data collected in 2018 from 688 rural households from Shaanxi Province in western China were used. The propensity score matching method was employed to measure the effect of waste sorting on rural households’ green consumption. The mediating model was employed to investigate the path of influence in the relationship between waste sorting and green consumption. The results showed that waste sorting behavior positively spilled over into green consumption, with a net effect of 0.205. Environmental concern has a mediating effect on the relationship between waste sorting and green consumption behavior, with a mediating effect of 0.3177. In summary, household waste sorting behavior has a spillover effect on green consumption behavior as a result of the mediation effect of environmental concern. The results of this article fill in our knowledge on the spillover effects of waste sorting behavior in developing countries. Policy makers and regulators should vigorously advocate and implement waste sorting behavior, increase farmers’ concern for the environment, and promote their participation in green consumption behavior, so as to maximize the spillover effect.

show abstract

Spillover effects of household waste separation policy on electricity consumption: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

Cited by 38 publications

References 68 publications

Reflecting on Behavioral Spillover in Context: How Do Behavioral Motivations and Awareness Catalyze Other Environmentally Responsible Actions in Brazil, China, and Denmark?

Reflecting on Behavioral Spillover in Context: How Do Behavioral Motivations and Awareness Catalyze Other Environmentally Responsible Actions in Brazil, China, and Denmark?

Spillover Benefits: Emphasizing Different Benefits of Environmental Behavior and Its Effects on Spillover

The Spillover Influence of Household Waste Sorting on Green Consumption Behavior by Mediation of Environmental Concern: Evidence from Rural China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About