Still Waters Run Deep: Comparing Assertive and Suggestive Language in Water Conservation Campaigns

Abstract

Abstract:The current work focuses on non-price policies to achieve residential water conservation, specifically on water conservation campaigns. The authors report the results of a large-scale longitudinal field experiment encouraging residential water conservation among 1500 households. The effectiveness of two commonly-used message phrasings is compared: an assertive and a suggestive message. Assertive messages employ a commanding tone, such as "You must conserve water", whereas suggestive messages employ a more gentle approach, as in "Please consider conserving water". Despite the ubiquitous use of assertive phrasing in pro-social messages, and previous research that suggests that, in some cases, assertive language can increase message compliance, the authors show here that the suggestive, gentler, message language can make a more accentuated change in residential water conservation behavior. This may stem from the status of water as a basic needs resource, which may reduce the appropriateness of freedom restricting language, such as an assertive tone.

Advances in the Economic Analysis of Residential Water Use: An Introduction

“…These papers cover a large number of countries (Spain, France, Jordan, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Lithuania, Peru, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Colombia, India and Unites States of America). Some papers deal with the impact of water metering on residential water use (i.e., [46][47][48]), while others consider pricing policies (i.e., [49,50]), non-price policies (i.e., [51,52]) or the performance of water services (i.e., [53,54]). All selected papers contribute to a better understanding of residential water use, and they provide relevant results for policy-makers in charge of water management.…”

Water Conserving Message Influences Purchasing Decision of Consumers

“…Additionally, participants from Florida, a state that has experienced some levels of drought, had greater sensitivity to water conserving messaging than consumers from states that experience little to no drought. In a study that compared assertive (e.g., "You must use less water") and suggestive (e.g., "It is worthwhile to save water") messaging, the use of a suggestive message had a greater effect on influencing water conserving habits than did an assertive message [23]. In an eye-tracking study that compared garden and retail signage for different environmentally friendly plant production methods, subjects preferred plants grown using environmentally friendly production methods (versus conventional).…”

Why should we save water? Education on water conservation for villagers of Tianyar, Bali

“…The positive impacts were enabled through intensive discussions as part of the water saving campaign during the FGDs and the water saving activities that should be independently performed by participants at home. Other contributing factors to the success of the water conservation program come from the use of suggestive message as suggested by Katz et al [5] and Landon [6] and the accommodation of participants' need to have information on water saving in the agricultural sector; which was accommodated in the third FGD. It is recommended that similar program in the future follow the same pattern to achieve the same success; and even beyond.…”

“…Another important aspect of a water conservation program is the use of language in the campaigns. Katz et al [5] studied the comparative results of using two types of message, an assertive and a suggestive message phrasing in residential water conservation program among 1500 households. Assertive messages use a commanding tone, such as "You must conserve water," whereas suggestive messages employ a gentler language, such as "Please consider conserving water."…”

“…The results show that the suggestive message language is more potential to accentuate change in residential water conservation behavior. Furthermore, Katz et al [5] suggest that this might be due to the status of water as a basic needs resource, which may reduce the effectiveness of freedom-restricting language as implemented in an assertive tone. The relative success of the suggestive, or persuasive, message was also found by Landon et al [6] representing the importance of language to achieve efficient households' residential water use.…”