Saving the world voluntarily: Experimental evidence of gain-loss framing on voluntary pro-environmental behavior

David Hauser and Daniel Bregulla

Ecological Economics, 2024, vol. 226, issue C

Abstract: Empirical research shows that loss framing appears to be a promising tool to promote pro-environmental behavior. However, only a limited amount of experimental research has examined the effect of loss framing on actual behavior. Here, we use a variation of the Work for Environmental Protection Task (Lange & Dewitte, 2022) to study voluntary pro-environmental behavior. In an online experiment (N = 897), we find a trend of higher working efforts in the LOSS frame. However, this effect is small and marginally statistically significant. Interestingly, as explorative analyses suggest, the effect of loss framing is consistent for people with low and high intrinsic values to protect the environment.

Keywords: Framing; Loss Aversion; Pro-Environmental Behavior; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D90 Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:226:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924002416

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108344

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