Personal Water Conservation Norms Measure

Schultz, P. Wesley; Messina, Alyssa; Tronu, Giuseppe; Limas, Eleuterio F.; Gupta, Rupanwita; Estrada, Mica

doi:10.1037/t52826-000

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Like previous research findings, no difference emerged between the no-contact comparison group and the information-only control group (Schultz et al, 2016). Subsequent analyses evaluated the differences between the treatment groups and the information-only control group.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

“…The results of the information-only strategy corroborated much of the intervention research (Bolderdijk et al, 2013;Geller, 1981;Schultz et al, 2016;Staats, Wit, & Midden, 1996): simply communicating an environmental problem and/or solution(s) failed to decrease water consumption. Both commitment groups and the strong warning-only condition used significantly less water during the intervention month compared to the information-only control (see Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Additionally, an information-only strategy was evaluated to ascertain the effects of simply educating households about water restrictions. Previous research has found that the mere provision of information is generally ineffective at promoting pro-environmental behavior (Bolderdijk, Gorsira, Keizer, & Steg, 2013;Geller, 1981;Schultz, Messina, Tronu, Limas, Gupta, & Estrada, 2016;Staats, Wit, & Midden, 1996; see Abrahamse, Steg, Vlek, & Rothengatter, 2005 for review in energy domain). As such, it was hypothesized that all treatment groups (excluding households that did not make a commitment when given the opportunity) would produce greater immediate water reductions compared to the information-only control condition.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupling social norms and commitments: Testing the underdetected nature of social influence

Jaeger

Schultz

2017

Journal of Environmental Psychology

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Coupling social norms and commitments: Testing the underdetected nature of social influence 1.1 Introduction The onslaught of diverse and pressing environmental problems-from losses of natural habitat, species, and potable water, to a changing climate and a rapidly growing human population-necessitates empirically derived solutions. Because environmental problems chiefly stem from human behavior, environmental psychologists have much to contribute as specialists in the development and assessment of pro-environmental interventions. Nearly four decades of research investigating the factors driving conservation behavior have produced an array of demand management strategies tailored to specific populations and contexts (Schultz, 2014). Normative information is a long-studied social influence strategy in social and environmental psychology that has been especially successful at promoting conservation

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupling social norms and commitments: Testing the underdetected nature of social influence

Jaeger

Schultz

2017

Journal of Environmental Psychology

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“…[Insert Table I about here] Almost all considered studies report positive ATEs (see Column 7 in Table I) of social comparisons on households' electricity, gas or water conservation. These effects range from 26 percent (Schultz et al, 2016) to as little as just over one percent (Ayres et al, 2013). Interestingly, relatively large resource-saving effects of over five percent are found for both residential energy and water use; see, e.g., Brent et al (2015) for water, Dolan and Metcalfe (April 2015) for gas, and Sudarshan (2017) for electricity.…”

Section: Brief Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Comparisons in Real Time: A Field Experiment of Residential Electricity and Water Use*

Kažukauskas

Broberg

Jaraitė

2021

Scandinavian J Economics

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A large body of literature shows that the provision of social comparisons can cause households to reduce residential energy and water use. In this paper, we carry out a field experiment that contributes to this literature in two important ways. First, we study a social comparison treatment that is continuous and communicated via pre-installed in-home displays, which are salient and updated in real time. Second, we estimate the effects of provision of social comparisons on two distinguished resources-electricity and water-in the same experimental setting. We find that, on average, our social comparison reduces daily residential energy consumption by 6.7 percent but has no effect on overall residential water use. The electricity savings are impersistent and occur in the evening hours, which only slightly overlap with peak hours. We argue that electricity conservation due to social comparisons is driven by short-run changes in households' electricity saving behavior.

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“…In the information and motivation (IM) condition, customers were provided a motivation message about how others in the community are saving water (descriptive norms derived from interview results) and the basic information about the drought, but no behavioral tips. The use of a social comparison message as motivation follows from prior work that suggests this to be one of the most effective means of prompting motivation (e.g., Schultz et al, 2016). These social comparisons (a strong social norm) have been shown to be more effective than general pro-social messaging (a weak social norm; Ferraro & Price, 2013).…”

Section: Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How managers can reduce household water use through communication: A field experiment

Hodges¹,

Kuehl²,

Anderson³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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As populations increase and droughts intensify, water providers are using tools such as persuasive messaging to decrease residential water use. However, district-led messaging campaigns are rarely informed by psychological science, evaluated for effectiveness, or strategically disseminated. In collaboration with a water district, we report a field experiment among single-family households using persuasive messaging based on the information-motivation-behavioral skills model (IMB). We randomly assigned 10,000 households to receive different mailings and measured household water use. All messaging reduced water consumption relative to the control. On average, water use dropped 0.68 HCF (509 gallons) per household in the first month. Had all 10,000 single-family, occupied, non-agricultural residences been mailed the IMB messaging, more than 5 million gallons would have been saved in the first month. The effects declined but persisted for approximately three months and were three to six times greater in households with high water use (75th-90th percentiles) relative to average water use. These findings suggest that combining message elements from the IMB model can reduce residential water use and that targeting high-use households is particularly cost-effective.

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Personal Water Conservation Norms Measure

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Coupling social norms and commitments: Testing the underdetected nature of social influence

Coupling social norms and commitments: Testing the underdetected nature of social influence

Social Comparisons in Real Time: A Field Experiment of Residential Electricity and Water Use*

How managers can reduce household water use through communication: A field experiment

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