While research suggests that information policies have thepotential to reduce environmental pollution by allowing customers or investors
to choose products or prefer companies with a smaller environmental footprint,
we still have little understanding about the conditions under which people
respond to information about environmental performance and act on it. In this
research, we test the effect of intrinsic motivations, social norms and
reputation as potential motivators in the context of energy conservation
behavior. We implement a field experiment where we provide consumers with
private and public information about their energy usage. Private information in
the form of real time feedback helps consumers understand their energy usage and
lowers the cost of conservation. Public information in the form of energy
display posters about consumers’ individual energy usage allowed consumers to
experience reputation benefits from conspicuous conservation. The results of
the year-long experiment in the residence halls at the University of California
Los Angeles, show that reputational concerns effectively motivated heavy
electricity users to reduce consumption by 15 percent. Public information in
conjunction with private information was more effective than private
information alone to motivate conservation behavior.
For
more information on this talk, or other Policy Area seminars, please visit:
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x3681.xml