Social norm nudging and preferences for household recycling

Czajkowski, M., Zagórska, K. and Hanley, N. (2019) Social norm nudging and preferences for household recycling. Resource and Energy Economics, 58, 101110. (doi: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2019.07.004)

Abstract

Previous research on pro-environmental behaviours has shown that nudges can be effective in changing behaviour in some settings. However, to be a useful policy tool, nudges should have stable, predictable impacts on targeted behaviours. In this paper, we use a randomized experiment to test one specific nudge, namely the communication of a descriptive social norm. The paper examines whether the effects of such a nudge on stated preferences for household recycling are indeed stable and predictable in terms of household willingness to pay for waste collection contracts requiring more recycling effort by households. Three aspects of the social norm are varied: its absolute level, the geographic proximity, and whether relative performance information is included. We find that while respondents generally respond positively to social norm information, the effect is not necessarily monotonic, with the highest social norm levels not necessarily being the most effective, in fact discouraging some respondents from sorting. In addition, whether and how respondents react to the social norm information strongly depends on their current engagement level, with respondents who sort a lot reacting in a negative manner.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The data collection was funded by the National Science Centre of Poland (Sonata 10, 2015/19/D/HS4/01972). Mikołaj Czajkowski has been supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 19-26812X) within the EXPRO Program "Frontiers in Energy Efficiency Economics and Modelling - FE3M". Katarzyna Zagórska gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Centre of Poland (Preludium 10, 2015/19/N/HS4/03365).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Czajkowski, Dr Mikolaj and Hanley, Professor Nicholas and Zagórska, Ms Katarzyna
• Authors: Czajkowski, M., Zagórska, K., and Hanley, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School; College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Resource and Energy Economics
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0928-7655
• ISSN (Online): 1873-0221
• Published Online: 18 July 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Elsevier
• First Published: First published in Resource and Energy Economics 58:101110
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher