Securing the grid or preserving the planet? The impact of dynamic norms on electricity sufficiency

Fabien Giauque and Mehdi Farsi

No 26-01, IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research

Abstract: Dynamic social norms have been recognized as a promising approach to promote energy sufficiency. By highlighting trends and future shifts rather than current states, dynamic norms allow for a better focus on emerging norms that are not widely adopted. While existing studies predominantly examine behavioral outcomes, the underlying processes and trade-offs remain to be explored. This paper uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) combined with a randomized controlled trial to study electricity saving preferences under various dynamic norms. An emphasis is placed on the rationale for the norm changes. The results show that dynamic norms framed in terms of growing concerns about energy supply security positively affect electricity saving goal, whereas those framed around climate change do not. The heterogeneity analyses suggest that dynamic norms shape behavior through two complementary mechanisms: they generate new preferences while simultaneously reinforcing existing ones. The concluding analysis identifies four distinct groups that vary systematically in their preferences for electricity sufficiency.

Keywords: Electricity saving; Dynamic Norms; Energy supply security; Climate change; Discrete choice experiment; Latent Class Model; Mixed Logit Model; Value-Belief-Norm Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D91 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages.
Date: 2026-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www5.unine.ch/RePEc/ftp/irn/pdfs/WP26-01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:irn:wpaper:26-01

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Siwar Khelifa ().