Social norms and plastic avoidance: Testing the theory of normative social behaviour on an environmental behaviour

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 594-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Borg ◽  
Jim Curtis ◽  
Jo Lindsay
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Avoidance Testing

scholarly journals Social Norms and Pro-Environmental Behaviour

2018 ◽  
pp. 179-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Keizer ◽  
P. Wesley Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Environmental Behaviour

scholarly journals Pro-Environmental Behaviours and Value-Belief-Norm Theory: Assessing Unobserved Heterogeneity of Two Ethnic Groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezlika M. Ghazali ◽  
Bang Nguyen ◽  
Dilip S. Mutum ◽  
Su-Fei Yap
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Value Belief Norm Theory

Previous environmental sustainability studies have examined only limited type of pro-environmental behaviour (PEB; e.g., recycling), but have not explored relationships among various types or dimensions of PEBs. This paper explores six types of PEBs (i.e., activist, avoider, green consumer, green passenger, recycler and utility saver) and investigates their antecedents and interrelationships between two ethnic groups—Malays and Chinese in Malaysia. Survey data from 581 respondents, comprising 307 Malays and 274 Chinese, were used to assess the research model. To conduct multi-group analysis, the study used partial least squares structural equation modelling in SmartPLS 3. The study extends the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory by using social norms to predict PEBs. The results suggest that social norms predict each type of PEB, in contrast to other constructs in VBN theory, except for utility-saving behaviours. The findings also reveal some similarities as well as differences between Malays and Chinese, indicating that the two ethnic groups are not homogeneous. The study is the first to simultaneously study six types of PEB and to examine the differences between Malays and Chinese on PEB constructs and offers a valuable contribution to the literature by extending VBN theory to social norms and PEB.

scholarly journals Overestimating one’s ‘green’ behavior: Better-than-average bias may function to reduce perceived personal threat from climate change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Leviston ◽  
Hannah Velure Uren
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Average Effect ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Personal Threat ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Environmental Behaviours ◽  
Better Than

The actions of others, and what others approve of, can be a powerful tool for promoting pro-environmental behaviour. A potential barrier to the utility of social norms however are cognitive biases in how we perceive others, including the better-than-average effect. This effect describes the tendency for people to think they are exceptional, especially when compared with their peers. In order to investigate the role of the better-than-average effect in the context of climate-relevant pro-environmental behaviour, we administered questions as part of a larger online survey of 5,219 nationally representative Australians. Participants were asked to report whether they engaged in a list of 21 pro-environmental behaviours, and then asked to estimate how their engagement compared with the average Australian. Over half of our participants ‘self-enhanced’; they overestimated their engagement in pro-environmental behaviours relative to others. ‘Self-enhancement’ was related to reduced perceptions of personal harm from climate change, more favourable assessments of coping ability, less guilt, and lower moral and ethical duty to take action to prevent climate change. These relationships held when participants sceptical about anthropogenic climate change were removed from analyses. We discuss the implications of the findings for the use of social norms in promoting pro-environmental behaviour.

scholarly journals Non-selfish behaviour: Are social preferences or social norms revealed in distribution decisions?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap ◽  
Konstantinos Matakos ◽  
Nina Sophie Weber
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Social Preference ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Pareto Criterion ◽  
Perceived Social Norms

People frequently behave non-selfishly in situations where they can reduce their own payoff to help others. It is typically assumed that such pro-social behaviour arises because people are motivated by a social preference. An alternative explanation is that they follow a social norm. We test with two survey experiments (N=2,408) which of these two explanations can better explain decisions people make in a simple distribution game under three different elicitation mechanisms. Unlike previous studies, we elicit preferences and perceived social norms directly for each subject. We find that i) norm-following better explains people’s distributive choices compared to social preferences and ii) lack of confidence in one’s social preference –itself explained by weaker social identification— predicts norm-following. Our findings imply that the Pareto criterion has weaker (than previously thought) foundations for welfare evaluations, but this effect may be attenuated in societies with stronger social identification. Perhaps unexpectedly, but unsurprisingly given i) above, we find that different mechanisms for eliciting social preferences have no effect on distribution decisions.

scholarly journals A Social Norms Intervention Going Wrong: Boomerang Effects from Descriptive Norms Information

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Richter ◽  
John Thøgersen ◽  
Christian Klöckner
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Food Group ◽  
Descriptive Norm ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Boomerang Effect ◽  
Sustainable Seafood ◽  
Boomerang Effects ◽  
Food Pictures

A large body of research supports the idea of social norms communication promoting pro-social and pro-environmental behaviour. This paper investigates social norms communication in the field. Signs prompting consumers about sustainable seafood labels and informing them about other consumers’ sustainable choices were displayed in supermarkets in Norway and Germany. Seafood sales (sustainably labelled versus unlabelled products) were observed before, during, and after the implementation of the signs. The expected change towards more sustainable choices was generally not found. In Norway, the choice of sustainable seafood increased in the prompt-only condition, but the effect was neutralised when social norms information was added. In Germany, social norm messages lead to a decline in sustainable choices compared to baseline, a boomerang effect. Overall, an increase in the purchase of seafood (both sustainably labelled and unlabelled) was noted during the intervention. A second study was carried out to further explore the finding that consumers were mainly primed with “seafood” as a food group. In a laboratory setting, participants were confronted with stereotypical food pictures, combined with short sentences encouraging different consumption patterns. Subsequently, they were asked to choose food products in a virtual shop. Confirming the findings of Study 1, participants chose more of the groceries belonging to the food group they were primed with. These studies suggest that social norms interventions—recently often perceived as “the Holy Grail” for behaviour change—are not as universally applicable as suggested in the literature. According to this study, even descriptive norm messages can produce boomerang effects.

Does gender matter? Attitude towards waste charging policy and pro-environmental behaviours

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Ming Wut ◽  
Peggy Ng ◽  
Hing-Ki, Mike Kan ◽  
Chiu, Samuel Fong
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Purposeful Sampling ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Environmental Behaviours

Purpose A waste charging policy had been implemented in major Asian cities like Taipei and Seoul years ago. Hong Kong is not yet to charge household rubbish, which is one of the major municipal solid waste sources. Landfill places will be exhausted in a year or two in the city. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of waste charging policies by exploring relationships among social norms, lifestyles, attitudes towards waste charging policy and pro-environmental behaviour. Design/methodology/approach Purposeful sampling was used in this study to recruit university students to take part in the survey. Purposeful sampling helps to make a “highly credible sample” (Gall et al., 2006, p.185). This study distributed questionnaires to respondents aged over 18 years. Among them, there were 404 valid questionnaires (35.6% male; 64.4% female) that were returned with a response rate of 53.9%. Findings It is found that attitude towards waste charging policies affects pro-environmental behaviour through lifestyles and social norms. Female respondents’ pro-environmental behaviours are affected by their lifestyles and social norms. But male respondents’ lifestyle is affected by their attitude towards policy. Attitude towards charging policy does not have an impact on young people's pro-environmental behaviours. Originality/value Social acceptance towards any environmental policy is a must for its final outcome. It is because attitude towards any environmental policy is a starting point to affect pro-environmental behaviours. Female respondents are more engaged in pro-environmental behaviour compared to male. Almost all big cities encourage the re-use, re-cycle and reduce of waste. Before designing and implementing relevant policy, stakeholder participation is important. The new environmental policy usually has stricter measures, such as heavier charge on municipal waste. Policymakers are advised to obtain solid arguments and data support to convince stakeholders.

scholarly journals The Impact of an Authoritarian Personality on Pro-Environmental Behaviour for Air Pollution Mitigation through Interactions with Social Norms

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 9301
Author(s):  
Jiawen Cao ◽  
Jin Chen
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Impact

This study examines how risk perception and authoritarian personality affect public engagement in mitigating air pollution. Data were collected (n = 2010) from 13 Chinese cities with varying air pollution gradients using questionnaires. The results demonstrated that air pollution was significantly correlated with people’s risk perception and concern about air pollution, which significantly affected their pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). However, high-risk perceptions undermine the public’s self-efficacy and reduce people’s PEB in the private sphere. People with high scores of the authoritarian personality type were reluctant to engage in PEB in the private sphere; interestingly, it can also be transformed into a stronger PEB in the public sphere via social norms. Thus, this study suggests that educational activities can break the negative link between authoritarianism and environmentalism, leading to behavioural change. Hence, it is essential for education programs to harvest positive outcomes via adaptive approaches for varying authoritarian personalities.

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