IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lsg/lsgwps/wp133.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Exploring beliefs about bottled water and intentions to reduce consumption: The dualeffect of social norm activation and persuasive information

Author

Listed:
  • Sander Van Der Linden

Abstract

Mass consumption of bottled water is contributing to a multitude of environmental problems, including; water wastage, pollution and climate change. The aim of this study is to advance a social-psychological understanding of how to effectively reduce bottled water consumption. An online survey experiment was conducted among students of a Dutch public university to examine outcome-beliefs about drinking less bottled water while subsequently testing three strategies for behavioural change. Respondents (n= 454) were randomly allocated to four different conditions (an information-only, social norm-only, a combination of both or a control group). It was hypothesized that the combination (i.e., norm-induced information provision) would be most persuasive and elicits the greatest change in intention. Results were consistent with this hypothesis. Findings also show that while beliefs about health, taste, water quality, lifestyle, the environment and perceived alternatives are all correlated with bottled water consumption, belief strength varies significantly based on rate of consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Sander Van Der Linden, 2013. "Exploring beliefs about bottled water and intentions to reduce consumption: The dualeffect of social norm activation and persuasive information," GRI Working Papers 133, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    • Handle: RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WP133-Exploring-beliefs-about-bottled-water-intentions-to-reduce-consumption.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Judith I.M. De Groot & Wokje Abrahamse & Kayleigh Jones, 2013. "Persuasive Normative Messages: The Influence of Injunctive and Personal Norms on Using Free Plastic Bags," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Gilg, Andrew & Barr, Stewart, 2006. "Behavioural attitudes towards water saving? Evidence from a study of environmental actions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 400-414, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Barbara Borusiak & Andrzej Szymkowiak & Bartłomiej Pierański & Katarzyna Szalonka, 2021. "The Impact of Environmental Concern on Intention to Reduce Consumption of Single-Use Bottled Water," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    2. repec:aud:audfin:v:21:y:2019:i:50:p:105 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Iuliana Raluca Gheorghe & Victor Lorin Purcarea & Consuela Mãdãlina Gheorghe, 2019. "Pro-Environmental Behavior and Bioeconomy: Reflections on Single-Bottled Water Consumption," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 21(50), pages 105-105, February.
    4. Yuling Zhang & Jie Zhang & Yuyao Ye & Qitao Wu & Lixia Jin & Hongou Zhang, 2016. "Residents’ Environmental Conservation Behaviors at Tourist Sites: Broadening the Norm Activation Framework by Adopting Environment Attachment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-16, June.

    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. Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2011. "Farmers adoption of integrated crop protection and organic farming: Do moral and social concerns matter?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1536-1545, June.
    2. Liang Lu & David Deller & Morten Hviid, 2019. "Price and Behavioural Signals to Encourage Household Water Conservation: Implications for the UK," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(2), pages 475-491, January.
    3. Enns, Alfred, 2022. "Die Bedeutung klimaschutzfördernder Entwicklungsprojekte und die Rolle der Salienz der ökologischen Norm für den internationalen Klimaschutz," KCN Schriftenreihe, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KCN KompetenzCentrum für nachhaltige Entwicklung, volume 3, number 3 edited by FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KompetenzCentrum für nachhaltige Entwicklung (KCN).
    4. Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges, 2010. "Household Adoption of Water-Efficient Equipment: The Role of Socio-Economic Factors, Environmental Attitudes and Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(4), pages 539-565, August.
    5. Maria Carmela Aprile & Damiano Fiorillo, 2016. "Water Conservation Behavior and Environmental Concerns," Discussion Papers 6_2016, CRISEI, University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    6. Olivier Beaumais & Anne Briand & Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges, 2010. "What are Households Willing to Pay for Better Tap Water Quality? A Cross-Country Valuation Study," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10051, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    7. Djiby Racine Thiam & Ariel Dinar & Hebert Ntuli, 2021. "Promotion of residential water conservation measures in South Africa: the role of water-saving equipment," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(1), pages 173-210, January.
    8. Donatella Baiardi, 2021. "What do you think about climate change?," Working Papers 477, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2021.
    9. Ying Zhao & Yani Bao & Wai Ling Lee, 2019. "Barriers to Adoption of Water-Saving Habits in Residential Buildings in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Verena Berger & Ulf Schrader, 2016. "Fostering Sustainable Nutrition Behavior through Gamification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Tian Kang, 2022. "Construction and Empirical Analysis of Citizens' Water Literacy Evaluation Index System: A Structural Equation Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(4), pages 1393-1411, March.
    12. Gao, Hongchao & Wei, Tong & Lou, Inchio & Yang, Zhifeng & Shen, Zhenyao & Li, Yingxia, 2014. "Water saving effect on integrated water resource management," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 50-58.
    13. Kenneth A. Baerenklau & Kurt A. Schwabe & Ariel Dinar, 2014. "The Residential Water Demand Effect of Increasing Block Rate Water Budgets," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 90(4), pages 683-699.
    14. Marek Nowacki & Joanna Kowalczyk-Anioł & Yash Chawla, 2023. "Gen Z’s Attitude towards Green Image Destinations, Green Tourism and Behavioural Intention Regarding Green Holiday Destination Choice: A Study in Poland and India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, May.
    15. Groothuis, Peter A. & Cockerill, Kristan & Mohr, Tanga McDaniel, 2015. "Water does not flow up hill: determinants of willingness to pay for water conservation measures in the mountains of western North Carolina," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 88-95.
    16. Meyer, Andrew, 2015. "Does education increase pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 108-121.
    17. Kenneth A. Baerenklau & Kurt A. Schwabe & Ariel Dinar, 2014. "The Residential Water Demand Effect of Increasing Block Rate Water Budgets," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 90(4), pages 683-699.
    18. Despina Manouseli & S. M. Kayaga & R. Kalawsky, 2019. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Residential Water Efficiency Initiatives in England: Influencing Factors and Policy Implications," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(7), pages 2219-2238, May.
    19. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2009. "Determinants of residential water demand in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1756-1769, April.
    20. Sabrina Eisenbarth & Louis Graham & Anouk S. Rigterink, 2021. "Can Reminders of Rules Induce Compliance? Experimental Evidence from a Common Pool Resource Setting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(4), pages 653-681, August.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:lsg:lsgwps:wp133. 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: The GRI Administration (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/grlseuk.html .

    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.