scholarly journals What Works for Whom? Investigating Adolescents’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7313
Author(s):  
Mykolas Simas Poškus
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Sustainable Transportation ◽  
Extended Model ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
What Works ◽  
Clustering Approach ◽  
Predicting Behavior ◽  
Electricity Conservation

Pro-environmental behavior has been extensively studied using general models of predicting behavior; however, these models have very limited value in making inferences about individuals. To address this shortcoming, a person-oriented investigation of five pro-environmental behaviors differing in complexity was carried out using a clustering approach. A total of 863 adolescents (mean age 15.72 (SD = 1.1), 53.5% female) filled in the Big Five Inventory and measures of recycling, water conservation, electricity conservation, sustainable consumption, and sustainable transportation use based on an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). TPB models were investigated in empirically derived clusters of individuals that differ by their personality traits. The results suggest that individuals in different personality clusters could be reached effectively through different means when trying to promote pro-environmental behaviors and different pro-environmental behaviors should not be regarded as homogeneous.

scholarly journals Temporal Distance and Descriptive Norms on Environmental Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Construal-Level Theory

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402091457
Author(s):  
Hee Sun Park ◽  
Ezgi Ulusoy ◽  
Soe Yoon Choi ◽  
Hye Eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Significant Difference

Rapid urbanization has beset sustainable consumption. Although many countries are increasingly taking pro-environmental stances, most countries continue to have a low recycling rate and a high littering rate. This study examines the effect of temporal distance as a part of Construal-Level Theory and descriptive norms on pro- and contra-environmental behaviors (i.e., recycling and littering) cross-culturally. Participants were recruited from the United States and South Korea, and randomly assigned to one of five versions of the survey. Findings indicated stronger intention to recycle for the distant future (only 3-year) and no significant difference for littering. Americans showed higher likelihood to recycle than Koreans while Koreans showed higher likelihood to litter when temporal distance was disregarded. Situational descriptive norms showed significant differences cross-culturally, but the interaction of culture and time distance was not visible. Theoretical implications for Construal-Level Theory research and practical implications for environmental policymakers in encouraging pro-environmental behaviors are discussed.

scholarly journals How to SHIFT Consumer Behaviors to be More Sustainable: A Literature Review and Guiding Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine White ◽  
Rishad Habib ◽  
David J. Hardisty
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Consumer Behaviors ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
Individual Self

Highlighting the important role of marketing in encouraging sustainable consumption, the current research presents a review of the academic literature from marketing and behavioral science that examines the most effective ways to shift consumer behaviors to be more sustainable. In the process of the review, the authors develop a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing and encouraging sustainable consumer behavior change. The framework is represented by the acronym SHIFT, and it proposes that consumers are more inclined to engage in pro-environmental behaviors when the message or context leverages the following psychological factors: Social influence, Habit formation, Individual self, Feelings and cognition, and Tangibility. The authors also identify five broad challenges to encouraging sustainable behaviors and use these to develop novel theoretical propositions and directions for future research. Finally, the authors outline how practitioners aiming to encourage sustainable consumer behaviors can use this framework.

Elite and ethical: The defensive distinctions of middle-class bicycling in Bangalore, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manisha Anantharaman
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
High Status ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Social Practice Theory ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Learning Skill ◽  
Consumption Practices

This article applies social practice theory to study the emergence of sustainable consumption practices like bicycling among the new middle classes of Bangalore, India. I argue that expansions of bicycling practices are dependent on the construction of defensive distinctions, which I define as distinctions that draw equally on lifestyle-based and ethics-based discourses to normalize bicycling among Bangalore’s middle classes. With their environmental discourses and signage, middle-class cyclists make claims to being ethical actors and ecological citizens concerned about global environments. Their high-end bicycles and special gear enable them to maintain their social status in personal and professional circles, despite adopting what is an essentialized and stigmatized mobility practice in a social context where personal automobiles are a dominant symbol of respectability and propertied citizenship. These defensive distinctions are anchored in communities that facilitate social learning, skill-building, and the creation of collective identities. I highlight the importance of considering the role of ethical discourses in consolidating “low-status” social practices among “high-status” class fractions and discuss the implications of promoting sustainable consumption through the othering of the poor. By applying a social practice analytic to study middle-class bicycling practices, this article makes a significant contribution to the growing literature that investigates the applicability of practice-based approaches to environmental behaviors and sustainable consumption in a novel context.

scholarly journals Contest-Based and Norm-Based Interventions: (How) Do They Differ in Attitudes, Norms, and Behaviors?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Bergquist ◽  
Andreas Nilsson ◽  
Emma Ejelöv
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Electricity Saving ◽  
Electricity Conservation

Setting up a contest is a popular means to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Yet, research on contest-based interventions is scarce while norm-based interventions have gained much attention. In two field experiments, we randomly assigned 79 apartments to either a contest-based or a norm-based electricity conservation intervention and measured kWh usage for 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. Results from both studies showed that contest-based interventions promote intensive but short-lived electricity saving. In Study 1 apartments assigned to a norm-based intervention showed more stable electricity saving (low intensity and long-lasting). Study 2 did not replicate this finding, but supported that participants in the norm-based intervention also engaged in non-targeted behaviors. These results emphasize the importance of identifying how different intervention techniques may activate different goals, framing both how people think about and act upon targeted pro-environmental behaviors.

scholarly journals “I Will Start Saving Natural Resources, Only When You Show Me the Planet as a Person in Danger”: The Effects of Message Framing and Anthropomorphism on Pro-Environmental Behaviors that are Viewed as Effortful

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Karpinska-Krakowiak ◽  
Lukasz Skowron ◽  
Lachezar Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Message Framing ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Positive Message ◽  
Message Frame ◽  
Persuasive Power ◽  
Message Appeals

Little is known on how to encourage effortful (rather than effortless) conservation behaviors, and prior research investigated only single (rather than multiple) message appeals in terms of their persuasive power in promoting pro-environmental intentions. The current study uses a framework from evolutionary psychology to propose and test a blend of message appeals that is most likely to drive green behaviors perceived as effortful. An experiment with a 2 (yes versus no anthropomorphic cue) × 2 (negative versus positive message frame) between-subjects design was run, and effort was included as a measured factor. The findings reveal that negatively framed messages are most effective in prompting effortful (but not effortless) pro-environmental intentions only when they are coupled with anthropomorphic cues (no differences between loss and gain messages were found when no anthropomorphism was used). These effects were replicated across two types of behaviors: water conservation and waste reduction.

scholarly journals Gamification to Prevent Climate Change: A Review of Games and Apps for Sustainability

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brauer Group Lab ◽  
Benjamin Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Energy Reduction ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Electronic Games ◽  
Promising Avenue

Gamification, the application of game design principles to a non-gaming context, has been used to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Such principles have been implemented in boardgames, team competitions, electronic games, smartphone apps, and in apps that researchers developed primarily to collect data. We review the games and apps that have been evaluated in empirical research in the last 5 years and provide a list of apps and games that have yet to be tested. Gamification has been used for sustainability education, energy reduction, transportation, air quality, waste management, and water conservation. Although we do not know yet why certain games and apps are more effective than others, gamification appears to be a promising avenue for preventing climate change.

scholarly journals Considering Participants’ Personal Wellness in Conservation-Based Extension Programs: Opportunities for Integrative Development and Evaluation

EDIS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Diaz ◽  
Erica Odera ◽  
Laura Warner
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Extension Programs ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Residential Landscape ◽  
Personal Wellness ◽  
Landscape Water

Extension organizations are at the forefront of water resource issues, using educational programs to drive participant behaviors towards water conservation. The effectiveness of these efforts centers on designing programs with considerations of the factors that will change relevant decisions and behaviors among residential landscape water users. We conducted a statewide study to explore the concept of wellness and well-being, and these characteristics' relationship to water conservation behaviors. Our results show that psychosocial measures influence current and future residential landscape water conservation behaviors differently. Perception of well-being is the more consistent predictor for both current behaviors and future intentions. These results demonstrate an opportunity for those focused on environmental behaviors to pair and embed programs focused on personal well-being to empower communities to work toward achieving conservation goals.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc370

scholarly journals Social Norms Based Eco-Feedback for Household Water Consumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2796
Author(s):  
Ukasha Ramli
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Habit Formation ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Feedback Intervention ◽  
Household Water ◽  
The World

Physical water scarcity is a growing threat to people’s lives around the world. Non-pecuniary interventions that encourage water conservation amongst households are an effective tool to promote sustainable consumption. In a randomised field experiment on 3461 UK households, a social norms based eco-feedback intervention was found to reduce water consumption by around 5.43 L a day or by 1.8% over 29 months. This effect did not persist for the 10 months after the intervention was stopped suggesting a lack of habit formation. Unlike previous studies, households with low consumption at baseline reduced their consumption the most, while high consumers did not. Heterogeneity was also found across quantile treatment effects, where households in the top and bottom quantiles increased their consumption. These results further contribute to the growing evidence on the effectiveness of combining social norms and eco-feedback as an intervention for conservation.

Seven Cognitive Concepts for Successful Sustainable Design

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin MacDonald ◽  
Jinjuan She
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sustainable Products ◽  
Complex Decision Making ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Complex Decision

For the past forty years, social science researchers have studied how to encourage pro-environmental behaviors such as the adoption of recycling programs, water conservation strategies, and purchase of sustainable products. This article presents a synthesis of these research findings as they relate to the design of sustainable products and technologies. Research from environmental psychology, consumer studies, economics, decision sciences, public policy, and behavioral psychology are organized into cognitive concepts that are crucial to the successful purchase and use of sustainable products. The cognitive concepts reviewed are: responsibility, complex decision-making skills, decision heuristics, the altruism-sacrifice link, trust, cognitive dissonance/guilt, and motivation. Product examples are provided to highlight the role of these cognitive concepts in sustainable design. Design recommendations and relevant design methods are discussed. The recommendations require dynamic and on-going coordination between designers, manufacturers, marketers, and government policy-makers to achieve positive changes in individuals’ behaviors. The success of sustainable products depends on the success of this coordination.

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