IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/wirecc/v10y2019i1ne562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Applying social influence insights to encourage climate resilient domestic water behavior: Bridging the theory‐practice gap

Author

Listed:
  • Ellin Lede
  • Rose Meleady

Abstract

Water scarcity is one of the most pressing issues of our time and it is projected to increase as global demand surges and climate change limits fresh water availability. If we are to reduce water demand, it is essential that we draw on every tool in the box, including one that is underestimated and underutilized: social influence. Research from the psychological sciences demonstrates that behavior is strongly influenced by the behavior of others, and that social influence can be harnessed to develop cost‐effective strategies to encourage climate resilient behavior. Far less attention has been paid to investigate water‐related interventions in comparison to interventions surrounding energy. In this paper, we consider the application of three social influence strategies to encourage water conservation: social norms; social identity; and socially comparative feedback. We not only review their empirical evidence base, but also offer an example of their application in the residential sector with the aim of highlighting how theoretical insights can be translated into practice. We argue that collaborations between researchers and industry are essential if we are to maximize the potential of behavior change interventions to encourage climate resilient water behavior. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Behavior Change and Responses

Suggested Citation

  • Ellin Lede & Rose Meleady, 2019. "Applying social influence insights to encourage climate resilient domestic water behavior: Bridging the theory‐practice gap," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:10:y:2019:i:1:n:e562
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.562
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/wcc.562?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
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mi, Lingyun & Gan, Xiaoli & Sun, Yuhuan & Lv, Tao & Qiao, Lijie & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Effects of monetary and nonmonetary interventions on energy conservation: A meta-analysis of experimental studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Kinga Hoffmann-Burdzińska & Agata Stolecka-Makowska & Olaf Flak & Marcin Lipowski & Mariusz Łapczyński, 2022. "Consumers’ Social Responsibility in the Process of Energy Consumption—The Case of Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Emma Weitkamp & Lindsey McEwen & Patty Ramirez, 2020. "Communicating the hidden: toward a framework for drought risk communication in maritime climates," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 831-850, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:wirecc:v:10:y:2019:i:1:n:e562. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1757-7799 .

    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.