Can nudges affect students' green behaviour? A field experiment

Ajla Cosic, Hana Cosic () and Sebastian Ille
Additional contact information
Ajla Cosic: Institute of Management – Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Hana Cosic: Institute of Economics – Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies

Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, 2018, vol. 2, issue 1, 107-111

Abstract: Ecological behaviour is impeded both by financial and behavioural hurdles. A growing literature in behavioural economics and psychology suggests the use of non-price intervention nudges over other monetary incentives. We analyse whether nudges are indeed efficient in promoting recycling of resources among young people, and whether the combination of different types of nudges serve as better instruments. The study was performed on primary data from a field experiment conducted among university students in Pisa over a 60-day span. We collected data on 1849 instances of plastic cup recycling at a coffee vending machine at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. Recycling behaviour was measured by the number of plastic cups disposed in the proper dustbin, observed at the end of each day. Results of the experimental treatments showed a significant improvement in the amount of recyclable cups when a combination of nudges was applied.

Keywords: green behaviour; nudge; experiment; abehavioural change; policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D11 D78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://sabeconomics.org/journal/RePEc/beh/JBEPv1/articles/JBEP-2-1-15.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:beh:jbepv1:v:2:y:2018:i:1:p:107-111

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy is currently edited by Michelle Baddeley

More articles in Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy from Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SABE ().