IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joepsy/v97y2023ics0167487023000296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non-monetary reinforcement effects on pro-environmental behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Lange, Florian
  • Dewitte, Siegfried

Abstract

While non-monetary reinforcement is often discussed as a promising intervention technique, systematic research on its effectiveness for the promotion of pro-environmental behavior has been scarce. This lack of research is likely due to the difficulty of studying non-monetary reinforcement within existing study designs. Here, we examined the effects of non-monetary reinforcement using a recently developed and validated pro-environmental behavior task. In two preregistered studies (total N = 997), participants could repeatedly choose to exert actual effort in exchange for donations to an environmental organization. Their choices were either followed by potentially reinforcing stimuli (e.g., words of praise superimposed on positively valenced pictures) or not. When accompanied by cheerful animal pictures, these stimuli significantly promoted pro-environmental effort expenditure in Study 2, but not in Study 1. Longer-term effects and spillover to non-reinforced behavior were also examined, but not conclusively supported. These findings illustrate the potential of the presented experimental approach for studying the effectiveness of non-monetary reinforcement in societally relevant domains.

Suggested Citation

  • Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2023. "Non-monetary reinforcement effects on pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:97:y:2023:i:c:s0167487023000296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2023.102628
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487023000296
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.joep.2023.102628?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lange, Florian & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2020. "Positive affect and pro-environmental behavior: A preregistered experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Gwozdz, W. & Reisch, L. & Eiben, G. & Hunsberger, M. & Konstabel, K. & Kovacs, E. & Luszczki, E. & Mazur, A. & Mendl, E. & Saamel, M. & Wolters, M., 2020. "The effect of smileys as motivational incentives on children’s fruit and vegetable choice, consumption and waste: A field experiment in schools in five European countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    3. Kanay, Ayşegül & Hilton, Denis & Charalambides, Laetitia & Corrégé, Jean-Baptiste & Inaudi, Eva & Waroquier, Laurent & Cezera, Stéphane, 2021. "Making the carbon basket count: Goal setting promotes sustainable consumption in a simulated online supermarket," TSE Working Papers 21-1191, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    4. Momsen, Katharina & Ohndorf, Markus, 2022. "Information avoidance, selective exposure, and fake (?) news: Theory and experimental evidence on green consumption," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. repec:elg:eechap:15612_4 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Florian Lange & Laurens De Weerdt & Laurent Verlinden, 2021. "Reducing Plastic Bag Use Through Prosocial Incentives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-9, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Castro-Santa, Juana & Drews, Stefan & Bergh, Jeroen van den, 2023. "Nudging low-carbon consumption through advertising and social norms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    2. Kevin Bauer & Andrej Gill, 2024. "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Algorithmic Assessments, Transparency, and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 226-248, March.
    3. Katharina Momsen & Markus Ohndorf, 2022. "Seller Opportunism in Credence Good Markets – The Role of Market Conditions," Working Papers 2022-10, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    4. Richard Völker & Sven Grüner, 2023. "Animal protection and information avoidance," Chapters, in: Cass R. Sunstein & Lucia A. Reisch (ed.), Research Handbook on Nudges and Society, chapter 7, pages 109-128, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Saeed Gholamrezai & Vahid Aliabadi & Pouria Ataei, 2021. "Understanding the pro-environmental behavior among green poultry farmers: Application of behavioral theories," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16100-16118, November.
    6. Loukas Balafoutas & Esther Blanco & Raphael Epperson, 2024. "Targeted Information and Sustainable Consumption: Field Evidence," Working Papers 2024-10, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    7. Belot, Michèle & James, Jonathan, 2022. "Incentivizing dietary choices among children: Review of experimental evidence," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Momsen, Katharina & Ohndorf, Markus, 2023. "Information avoidance: Self-image concerns, inattention, and ideology," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 386-400.
    9. Mata, André & Vaz, André & Mendonça, Bernardo, 2022. "Deliberate ignorance in moral dilemmas: Protecting judgment from conflicting information," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Jennifer Hanson & Janelle Elmore & Marianne Swaney-Stueve, 2020. "Food Trying and Liking Related to Grade Level and Meal Participation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-11, August.
    11. Yilong Xu & Mikolaj Czajkowski & Nick Hanley & Leonhard Lades & Charles N. Noussair & Steven Tucker, 2024. "The Effects of Emotions on Stated Preferences for Environmental Change: a re-examination," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Waikato.
    12. Völker, Richard & Gruener, Sven, 2023. "Wollen wir überhaupt wissen, wie der Status quo im Tierschutz ist?," OSF Preprints pbyfg, Center for Open Science.
    13. Amy Isham & Judith Geusen & Birgitta Gatersleben, 2022. "The Influence of Framing Plant-Based Products in Terms of Their Health vs. Environmental Benefits: Interactions with Individual Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Bachmann, Kremena, 2024. "Do you have a choice?: Implications for belief updating and the disposition effect," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Xingping Cao & Junlin Qiu & Leyu Wang & Gefen Zhou, 2022. "An Integrative Model of Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior Based on the Dual Path of Rational Planning and Embodied Emotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-19, June.
    16. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2023. "Pro-environment Attitudes and Worker Commuting Behavior," IZA Discussion Papers 16279, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Jeremy Straub & Matthew Spradling & Bob Fedor, 2022. "Assessment of Factors Impacting the Perception of Online Content Trustworthiness by Age, Education and Gender," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-66, March.
    18. Haverkamp, Thilo K.G. & Welsch, Heinz & Ziegler, Andreas, 2023. "The relationship between climate protection activities, economic preferences, and life satisfaction: Empirical evidence for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    19. Zhe Zhang & Siyu Peng, 2022. "Licensing Effect in Sustainable Charitable Behaviors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-16, December.
    20. Yanyan Zhang & Tat-Huei Cham & Chuen Khee Pek & Choi-Meng Leong, 2024. "Is face and information availability important in green purchasing among young consumers?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:97:y:2023:i:c:s0167487023000296. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.