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Encouraging Individual Contributions to Net-Zero Organizations: Effects of Behavioral Policy Interventions and Social Norms

Author

Listed:
  • Karola Bastini

    (Technische Universität Berlin)

  • Rudolf Kerschreiter

    (Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Maik Lachmann

    (Technische Universität Berlin)

  • Matthias Ziegler

    (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

  • Tim Sawert

    (Freie Universität Berlin
    Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)

Abstract

To contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of climate-friendly organizational behavior, we study the potential of behavioral policy interventions and social norms to foster individual contributions to organizational decarbonization initiatives. We investigate the effects of different types of behavioral policy interventions (default nudges vs. short-term boosts) in isolation and when they are combined with normative appeals to adopt climate-friendly behaviors in an organizational context. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, we find that default nudges generally induced higher individual contributions to organizational carbon compensation programs than short-term boosts. Moreover, injunctive social norm information decreased the effectiveness of both types of behavioral interventions but affected the effectiveness of short-term boosts to a stronger extent than the effectiveness of default nudges. Contributing to the nascent literature on motivating climate change mitigating behaviors in organizational contexts, we additionally explore whether factors such as personality traits, pro-social and pro-environmental beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, and the degree of organizational identification exert an influence on the effectiveness of the interventions and provide qualitative insights into participants’ reasoning for their decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Karola Bastini & Rudolf Kerschreiter & Maik Lachmann & Matthias Ziegler & Tim Sawert, 2024. "Encouraging Individual Contributions to Net-Zero Organizations: Effects of Behavioral Policy Interventions and Social Norms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(3), pages 543-560, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:192:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05516-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05516-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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