An exploration of motivations to conserve energy in public area

Abstract

Abstract The study contributes insight to the understanding of underlying cognition to behave eco-responsibly. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into motivation influencing a pro-environmental behavior (i.e. turning off a light). The aim of the study is to contribute to the understanding of decision-making regarding consumer behavior of energy conservation. More precisely, this research explores the behavioral effect of normative and guilt-inducing messages, and a combination of both. This research is based on an experiment which displayed five messages inciting individuals to turn off the light when they leave a room. 960 users of public toilets in a shopping center were involved in the experiment. This research used a quasi-experimental method. Results show that injunctive and persuasive messages do not increase a user’s likeliness to turn a light off while normative and guilt-inducing messages do increase this behavior. A combination of normative and guilt-inducing messages also increase the frequency of this pro-environmental behavior. These comparisons allow us to conclude that decisions to turn off a light use the automatic system 1 described by Khaneman. In this case, behavior is not motivated by altruism but by social influence. Moreover, findings argue in favor of normative messages to influence behavior. The aim of the study is to propose practical solutions to improve the communication of organizations targeting energy conservation. The research concludes that communicating on normative information could change environmental behavior in public- access buildings.