A Towel Less: Social Norms Enhance Pro-Environmental Behavior in Hotels

Abstract

Previous research has shown that normative appeals to engage in environmentally friendly behavior were most effective when they were accompanied by a provincial norm (e.g., when norms matched individuals' immediate situational circumstances). Analyzing hotel guests' towel-use during their stay, the current study tests whether messages employing provincial norms were more effective in reducing towel-use than standard environmental messages. In line with previous findings, guests of two hotels used significantly fewer towels when provincial normative appeals--rather than standard environmental messages--were communicated. These findings corroborate to the body of research demonstrating the power of social norms on environmental behavior.

Keep on Rockin’ in a (Plastic-)Free World: Collective Efficacy and Pro-Environmental Intentions as a Function of Task Difficulty

“…Finally, in order to test the unique contribution of our proposed model, we assessed additional constructs that relate to pro-environmental action. Descriptive and injunctive norms (e.g., [38][39][40][41][42]) as well as attitudes (e.g., [5]) were selected for this study.…”

Using social norms in smart meters: the norm distance effect

“…Participants who received a message asking for towel reusage worded as B75% of the guests who stayed in this room…^were more likely to reuse their towels than participants asked by the wording B75% of the guests…^ Schultz et al 2008;Reese et al 2014). It may be that such physical closeness increases conformity because people are more inclined to compare themselves to others when others are closer (physical as well as psychological).…”

Affixing the theory of normative conduct (to your mailbox): Injunctive and descriptive norms as predictors of anti-ads sticker use

“…Its predictions were tested in various social and environmental psychological studies e for example on behaviors like littering (Cialdini et al 1990; Kallgren, Reno, & Cialdini, 2000;Reno, Cialdini, & Kallgren, 1993), towel reuse in a hotel setting Reese, Loew, & Steffgen, 2014;Schultz et al, 2008), wood theft (Cialdini, 2003), energy conservation (G€ ockeritz et al, 2010;Nolan, Schultz, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius, 2008), and recycling behavior (Schultz, 1999). Cialdini et al (1990) distinguish two types of social norms e injunctive and descriptive norms.…”

“…Generally, this type of norm is referred to as specific norm , provincial norm or local norm (Fornara et al, 2011), of which we will use the latter in this paper. In a study by Goldstein et al (2008) the local descriptive norm (determined by hotel guests in exactly the same room) showed to have a stronger impact on towel-reuse behavior than a general descriptive norm (communicated by the behavior of all hotel guests; see also Reese et al, 2014). So far, research with an actual behavior measure has only focused on descriptive norms with a local nature.…”